Technological Innovation Projects Research Articles

A small garage on the sidelines of a corporation: Should innovative projects be isolated?


 
 
 The article aims to attempt to answer the question of whether innovative projects should be isolated in an organisation. A critical analysis of the literature on the subject reveals a divergence of views on the proper placement of social or technological innovation projects. The research hypothesis formulated holds that the more conducive the innovative project team is to interact with the rest of the organisation and the norms and values within the team are oriented toward learning, the stronger the learning of the project team. The culture metaphor of an organisation was used to verify the research hypothesis. It has been assumed that project team learning means that project team members transform the norms and values previously adhered to in the organisational culture. On the basis of the survey results, it was impossible to accept the research hypothesis. Despite the increase in the intensity of the factors that foster interactions between teams implementing innovative projects and the rest of the organisation, team learning did not increase as originally expected.
 
 

Toward sustainable climate action in advanced economies: Linking information communication technology, technological innovation, economic complexity, and ecological footprint

AbstractInformation and communication technology (ICT), technological innovation, and renewable energy (REN) consumption have been proffered as solutions to the recent environmental tragedies in developed countries. In recent times, ICT diffusion and technological innovation have improved in G7 countries, but the same cannot be said of REN consumption. As such, this study examines the link between ICT, economic complexity, technological innovation, REN, and ecological footprint (EF) for G7 countries over the period 1990–2020. We use three variables (fixed telephone subscriptions [FTS], mobile cellular subscriptions [MCS], and individuals using the internet [IUI]) to represent ICT. The presence of cross‐sectional dependence guides the use of second‐generation econometric methods for slope heterogeneity, unit root, cointegration, and parameter estimation. The augment mean group (AMG) estimator and panel OLS techniques are applied to complement the method of moment quantile regression (MM‐QR) approach. The MM‐QR results suggest that REN consumption and technological innovation impede the EF across all quantile levels (0.1–0.9), whereas economic growth and economic complexity augment the EF in G7 countries. The ICT variables have heterogeneous effects on the EF, suggesting that the impact of ICT on the EF depends on the estimation techniques and proxy for the variable. In line with these outcomes, public policies directed toward funding technological innovation projects are recommended. The funding should specifically focus on environmentally friendly technologies that can guarantee complementarity between reduced environmental damage and increased economic growth.

Major lipids and lipoprotein levels and risk of blood pressure elevation: a Mendelian Randomisation study

BackgroundQuantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) metabolomics techniques provide detailed measurements of lipoprotein particle concentration. Metabolic dysfunction often represents a cluster of conditions, including dyslipidaemia, hypertension, and diabetes, that increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, the causal relationship between lipid profiles and blood pressure (BP) remains unclear. We performed a Mendelian Randomisation (MR) study to disentangle and prioritize the potential causal effects of major lipids, lipoprotein particles, and circulating metabolites on BP and pulse pressure (PP). MethodsWe employed single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with major lipids, lipoprotein particles, and other metabolites from the UK Biobank as instrumental variables. Summary-level data for BP and PP were obtained from the Genetic Epidemiology Research on Adult Health and Aging (GERA) cohort. Two-sample MR and MR Bayesian model averaging approaches (MR-BMA) were conducted to analyse and rank causal associations. FindingsGenetically predicted TG was the most likely causal exposure among the major lipids to increase systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), with marginal inclusion probabilities (MIPs) of 0.993 and 0.847, respectively. Among the majority of lipoproteins and their containing lipids, including major lipids, genetically elevated TG in small high-density lipoproteins (S_HDL_TG) had the strongest association with the increase of SBP and DBP, with MIPs of 0.416 and 0.397, respectively. HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were potential causal factors for PP elevation among the major lipids (MIP = 0.927 for HDL-C and MIP = 0.718 for LDL-C). Within the sub-lipoproteins, genetically predicted atherogenic lipoprotein particles (i.e., sub-very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), intermediate-density lipoprotein (IDL), and LDL particles) had the most likely causal impact on increasing PP. InterpretationThis study provides genetic evidence for the causality of lipids on BP indicators. However, the effect size on SBP, DBP, and PP varies depending on the lipids’ components and sizes. Understanding this potential relationship may inform the potential benefits of comprehensive management of lipid profiles for BP control. FundingKey Research and Development Program of Hubei Province, Science and Technology Innovation Project of Huanggang Central Hospital of Yangtze University, the Hubei Industrial Technology Research Institute of Heart-Brain Diseases, and the Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Centre of Comprehensive Care for Heart-Brain Diseases.

Intervention of innovative education in ideological and political education in colleges and universities on anxiety symptoms of college students with mental disorders

BackgroundWith the increase in social pressure, the anxiety symptoms of college students with mental disorders are increasing year by year. This has harmed their living standards and learning outcomes. The current intervention measures largely overlook the impact of ideological and political education in universities.Subjects and MethodsThe study used a randomized controlled trial design. The experimental group (n=60) adopted innovative ideological and political education interventions, including group discussions, role-playing, and theme reports, with an intervention period of 12 months. The control group (n=60) received routine psychological counseling services. All participants were evaluated at the beginning, duration of 6 months, and end of the study. The Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAM-A) was mainly used for evaluation. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was conducted on the data using SPSS 22.0.ResultsAfter the intervention, compared with the control group, the anxiety symptoms of the experimental group of college students were significantly reduced. After 12 months of intervention, the HAM-A score of the experimental group decreased by an average of 12.1 points, while the average decrease in the HAM-A score of the control group was 3.2 points. The follow-up evaluation also confirmed this result.ConclusionsThis study shows that innovative ideological and political education interventions are significantly superior to conventional psychological counseling services, and effectively reduce anxiety symptoms of college students with mental disorders in clinical practice.AcknowledgementThe 2020 Hubei Skilled Talent Training and Research Center Project (No. 20BJN014); 2020 China University Industry, University and Research Innovation Fund - New Generation Information Technology Innovation Project (No. 2020ITA02052).

Design and verification of a hybrid electrostatic discharge model for Gate-Controlled silicon controlled rectifier

The DC breakdown characteristic of electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device, which is an important indicator of its transparency and circuit compatibility, has received widespread attention. Currently, methods such as Verilog-A hardware description language, circuit-level SPICE simulation, and process-level device modeling cannot simultaneously achieve high accuracy, good convergence, and fast simulation speed. Therefore, in this paper, a hybrid ESD model based on Technology Computer Aided Design (TCAD) device-level simulation, Monte Carlo numerical modeling and Verilog-A behavioral modeling is proposed to characterize the ESD characteristics of gate-controlled silicon-controlled rectifier (GCSCR). A device-level model of GCSCR was established using TCAD, and the working mechanism was simulated. By extracting the electric field from TCAD and using the Monte Carlo modeling method, the DC characteristic of GCSCR was accurately characterized. In addition, the snapback characteristic of the device was successfully simulated by Verilog-A. The effectiveness of the above approaches was further verified based on the 0.18 μm standard BCD (Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS) process. Comparison results indicate that the hybrid model exhibits high simulation accuracy, good convergence and good universality and scalability, providing a simple and effective modeling solution for ESD devices of different structures and sizes.1This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 62174052, 61827812), Hunan Science and Technology Department Huxiang High-level Talent Gathering Project (Grant No. 2019RS1037) and Innovation Project of Science and Technology Department of Hunan Province (Grant No. 2020GK2018).

Managing Uncertainties During the Development Process of Technological Innovation Projects: Lean Startup Contributions

During the development of technological innovation projects, the team has difficulty to identify and managing uncertainties, which represents a challenge to bring the technologies closer to the market. Although there are studies on the management of uncertainties in innovation projects in different contexts of organizations, no studies were found relating to the adoption of Lean Startup (LS) practices and the management of uncertainties during the development of technological project processes in academic environments. Thus, this research aims to identify the uncertainties that can be mitigated during the development of these technological projects using LS practices. A multiple case study was conducted within a Brazilian federal university to fill this gap, analyzing nine technological innovation projects. The research consisted of identifying the uncertainties experienced by the project innovation development team before and after the application of LS practices. In the end, the uncertainties were analyzed in the context of each technological project, considering the mitigation achieved after applying the LS practices, and comparing them with their initial state. As a result, it was observed that the initial uncertainty categories most experienced by the project teams were related to products and resources, especially those related to knowledge and team profile. When evaluating the uncertainties after applying the LS practices, it was possible to observe that the most mitigated uncertainties were related to resources followed by the business model, the latter being the third most experienced in the initial scenario of the project development process. On the other hand, the uncertainties related to products were the ones that presented the least mitigation. Regarding resource uncertainties, the LS practices contributed to the mitigation, specifically those related to process quality, obtaining resources and knowledge, and team profile. As for the uncertainties observed in the business model, better results were observed specifically in those focused on marketing strategy, pilot production, and definition of the revenue model. It is concluded that the LS practices made more significant contributions to the business-related uncertainties than to product-related ones since product-related uncertainties were the ones that obtained the lowest mitigation results.

Analysing Waste in the Development Process of Technological Innovation Projects in a Brazilian Public University

Technological innovation assumes a strategic role in organisational competitiveness. In this sense, it is perceived that universities represent a point of reference for the development of technological projects. The academic innovations arising from these projects are the result of three processes: product development process, business process and technology transfer. During the development of these projects, the team of researchers-entrepreneurs experiences different types of waste. This waste can be studied from the Lean Production Development (LPD) perspective. The LPD constitutes a set of practices capable of mitigating the waste that affects the new product development process (NPD). Aiming to address the scarcity of studies that address incident waste in the NPD of academic projects, this research aims to identify the frequency with which researcher-entrepreneurs experience each category and subcategory of waste during the development of the three processes (technology planning process - TPP; ii) technology transfer planning process - TTPP, and business planning process - BPP), from the perspective of the LPD. These three processes were subdivided into phases: i) initial, ii) intermediate and iii) final. Based on a quali-quantitative approach and using the methodological strategy of multiple case studies, this research analysed the context of nine technological innovation projects developed in a Brazilian federal university. Data were collected using a questionnaire prepared on a Likert scale. Eleven categories and 47 subcategories of waste were analysed in these projects. As a result, it was observed that during NPD, the waste category “waiting” was the most experienced in the different stages of the development of technological innovation, especially the subcategory “unavailability of resources”. Regarding business development and technology transfer processes, the “waiting” category was also the most experienced, except in the initial phase when the “defects” category was more significant. However, analysing the 11 categories of waste, it was observed that the category “defect”, especially the subcategory “information with insufficient quality” was the most experienced in the phases of technological innovation. From the identification of the different categories and subcategories of waste experienced in the context of technological innovation projects, it is clear that this research provides important elements to help identify LPD practices capable of mitigating the waste experienced during the NPD process in the academic environment.

Immune persistence of an inactivated poliovirus vaccine derived from the Sabin strain: a 10-year follow-up of a phase 3 study

In a previous phase 3 clinical trial, we showed that an inactivated poliovirus vaccine derived from the Sabin strain (sIPV) can induce neutralising antibodies against currently circulating and reference wild poliovirus strains. However, the immune persistence of sIPV remains to be evaluated. In this study, 400 participants who were eligible for an early phase 3 clinical trial (Jan 1, 2012-Aug 31, 2014) in Pingle County, GuanXi Province, China, were initially involved in one site. Of the participants in the previous phase 3 clinical trial, sera of 287, 262, 237, and 207 participants were sampled at the ages of 4, 6, 8, and 10 years, respectively, after the prime-boost regimen. Neutralising antibodies against attenuated Sabin strains were detected using these serum samples to determine immune persistence. The serum neutralising antibodies titre of 1:8 against poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3 is considered to be a seroprotection level for polio. The trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01510366. The protective rates against poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3 in the sIPV group were all 100% at 10 years after the booster immunisation, compared with 98.1%, 100%, and 97.1%, respectively, in the wIPV control group after 10 years. After the booster at 18 months, the geometric mean titres (GMTs) of neutralising antibodies against poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3 in the sIPV group were 13,265.6, 7856.7, and 6432.2, respectively, and the GMTs in the control group (inoculated with inactivated poliovirus vaccine derived from wild strain (wIPV)) were 3915.6, 2842.6, and 4982.7, respectively. With increasing time after booster immunisation, the GMTs of neutralising antibodies against poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3 gradually decreased in both the sIPV and wIPV groups. At the age of ten years, the GMTs of neutralising antibodies against poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3 in the sIPV group were 452.3, 392.8, and 347.5, respectively, and the GMTs in the wIPV group 108.5, 154.8, and 229.3, respectively, which were still at a higher-than-protective level (1:8). Both sIPV and wIPV maintained sufficiently high immune persistence against poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3 for at least 10 years after booster immunisation. Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Department, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National High-tech Research and Development Program, the National International Science and Technology Cooperation Project, the Yunnan Application Basic Research Project, the Innovation Team Project of Xie He, the Yunnan International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Project, and the Medical and Technology Innovation Project of Xie He.

An overview of current status, application, and future development about carbon nanotube

Carbon Nanotube (CNTs) could cause inflammation respiratory and blood vessels in the human body. The limitation of arc discharge, laser ablation and CVD hinders the support of large scale demands for technology innovation and civilization-level engineering project,which also encourages and promotes the investment of research and commercial development. This paper discusses the discovered properties, recent application, and production of CNTs by collecting recent open literature. The high-performance machinal properties, electric conductivity, and thermal conductivity of CNTs with related application are experimented and explained. The current problems faced, including toxicity and mass production challenges, are stated, and how they reflect prospects and future directions of CNTs are pointed out in this paper. This study shows that mass demand created by pioneering and breaking construction can accelerate the process of material development.

Five improved sesame reference genomes and genome resequencing unveil the contribution of structural variants to genetic diversity and yield-related traits variation.

Five improved sesame reference genomes and genome resequencing unveil the contribution of structural variants to genetic diversity and yield-related traits variation.

Extended DPL-VIKOR Method for Risk Assessment of Technological Innovation Using Dual Probabilistic Linguistic Information

The main objective of the present study is to evaluate the multicriteria group decision-making problem in risk management for technological innovation projects (TIPs) under dual-probabilistic linguistic information. The suggested approach is based on an enhanced dual probabilistic linguistic-vise kriterijumska optimizacija kompromisno resenje (DPL-VIKOR) technique to assess risk management in TIP employing probabilistic linguistic information. The conventional VIKOR approach is incapable of dealing with the complexity and difficulty of risk assessment in TIP. Therefore, we incorporated the information included in the dual probabilistic linguistic term set. In DPL-VIKOR, we investigated the relationship between the positive ideal solution (PIS) of the alternative and the negative ideal solution (NIS). To deal with the multicriteria group decision-making problem of risk assessment in TIP, we proposed the extended DPL-VIKOR approach rather than the traditional VIKOR method. We compared the findings to those of several decision-making problem techniques and examined the effectiveness and reliability, as well as advantages of the proposed approach. From the comparison and sensitivity analysis, we conclude that the proposed method is more reliable and effective for evaluating the best alternative in risk management problems for TIP.

How does digital finance affect green technology innovation in the polluting industry? Based on the serial two-mediator model of financing constraints and research and development (R&D) investments.

This paper evaluates the importance of combining digital finance with conventional finance and information technology (IT) to bring new opportunities for green technology innovation and transformation within polluting industries. This study builds a theoretical framework "digital finance → financing constraints → R&D investment → green technology innovation" to demonstrate the causal mechanism between digital finance and firms' green innovation by using the serial two-mediator model. The study shows that digital finance could reduce financial constraints and increase R&D investments, thereby improving enterprises' green technology innovation in the long run. Moreover, based on the moderating effect model, we find that digital transformation in a polluting firm tends to strengthen the linkage between digital finance and green technology innovation through supervising the use of loans, reviewing green technology innovation projects, and reducing managers' short-sighted behaviors to avoid agency problems. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analysis shows that the effects of digital finance on green innovation are more apparent in state-owned enterprises and the regions with lower financial development and with higher financial supervision.

Impact of technology innovation strategy on the completion of strategic projects in the electric power subsector in Kenya

This paper examined the impact of technology innovation strategy on the completion of strategic projects in the electric power subsector in Kenya. Motivated by high cost of large projects planned and implemented but got abandoned or delayed, the study sought to model the relationship between technology innovation strategy and the completion of projects. Employing a mixed method approach, this study collected quantitative data, using structured questionnaire, from targeted managers of corporations in the subsector; and used an interview schedule to collect qualitative data from key informants-representatives of the Ministry of Energy, donors and project contractors. A total of 166 respondents out of the targeted 223 filled the questionnaire. Key informants were interviewed until saturation was reached. Factor analysis was used to test reliability and validity of the variable constructs and to confirm that they were suitable for use to generate useful statistics to inform the study. Utilizing SPSS application, a regression model was used to analyze quantitative data. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically. To test the null hypothesis that technology innovation strategy had no influence on the completion of projects, regression analysis turned out a p-value of –which was less than 0.05 and therefore significant. This meant that the null hypothesis was rejected and the alternative hypothesis that technology innovation strategy influenced project completion was not rejected. Culture was found not to moderate the relationship between technology innovation strategy and project completion. Consequently, the study recommended that project implementation agencies increase investments in and prioritize the implementation of technology innovation strategy.

A commentary on "Comparison of surgical outcomes and learning curve for robotic versus laparoscopic living donor hepatectomy: a retrospective cohort study" (Int J Surg 2022; 108: 107000).

Dear Editor, The article by Dr Kim et al.1 was very interesting. This article provided the first analysis in which two minimally invasive surgical techniques, laparoscopic living donor right hemihepatectomy (LLDRH) and robotic living donor right hemihepatectomy (RLDRH), were compared for living donor hepatectomy at a single center. The author found that RLDRH resulted in less intraoperative bleeding but had comparable postoperative outcomes to LLDRH. Moreover, donors with hilar structure anatomic variation were more likely to undergo RLDRH. In addition, the standardized procedures for RLDRH might help set up pure minimally invasive procedures and facilitate the safe implementation of laparoscopic approaches. Despite being inspiring and thought-provoking, we have the following comments: First, the authors used moving average charts for graft-out time and a cumulative sum (CUSUM) analysis to assess the learning curves for RLDRH and LLDRH. The results showed that LLRDH stabilized earlier than RLDRH. The authors recommended LLRDH be performed based on the experience of RLDRH and the same surgical technique because of the difference in duration between the two procedures. However, we believe that the learning curves may not be accurate enough. To be frank, the most important process for RLDRH and LLDRH is partial hepatectomy. In addition to being exposed to this operation during transplantation, surgeons might also use liver resection skills in other operations, such as tumor resection, which is also a learning process for the operator. Therefore, we believe that only including the data of minimally invasive donor hepatectomy as the establishment of learning curve may cause the learning curve to be less accurate. Second, to reduce the bias in patient selection, the authors compared the outcomes of RLDRH and LLDRH in subgroups after 2019. We know that the surgeon in the RLDRH group had already completed 3 years of training before 2019, while that in the LLDRH group had just begun. Patients undergoing living hepatectomy are generally healthy people; thus, we speculate that the surgical approach and the surgeon’s skills are more likely to influence the short-term outcome. Third, the learning curves for both RLDRH and LLDRH showed a tendency to be unstable initially. But they gradually stabilized as the number of procedures performed increased. We hypothesized that if the authors had performed a subgroup comparison of patients after the learning curve had stabilized, they might reduce the bias due to differences in surgical proficiency. Finally, we are not questioning the relevancy of this impactful team study by presenting these comments reflecting some personal opinions we want to communicate with the authors. We appreciate the authors and the International Journal of Surgery for publishing this clinically significant study that will advance the development and progress of living donor hepatectomy. Ethical approval Not available. Sources of funding Chongqing Technology Innovation and Application Development Special Key Project (No. CSTC2021jscx-gksb-N0009). Author contribution S.-Y.Z., Z.-P.L., Y.-S. Y., T. Y.: manuscript preparation. X.-J. W.: critical revision. Final approval of manuscript is done by all authors. Conflict of interest disclosure All authors have declared no conflict of interest. Guarantor Xiao-Jun Wang.

Corrigendum: Calculation model of concrete-filled steel tube arch bridges based on the “arch effect”

Incorrect Author NameIn the published article, All author name was incorrectly written as Wang Shaorui, Li Yingbin*, Liu Zengwu, Cheng Tianlei. The correct spelling is Shaorui Wang, Yingbin Li *, Zengwu Liu, Tianlei Cheng. The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated.Incorrect Funding In the published article, there was an error in the Funding statement. Information about the source of funds was not added to the article. The correct Funding statement appears below.FUNDINGThis work was supported by Science and Technology Innovation Project of Chongqing Education Commission "Construction of Twin Cities Economic Circle in Chengdu-Chongqing Region" (KJCXZD2020032), Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing (cstc2021jcyj-msxm2491), Guangxi Key Research and Development Program (GuikeAB22036007-8), Chongqing Technology Innovation and Application Development Special Key Project (CSTB2022TIAD-KPX0205), This support is gratefully acknowledged. The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated.

Bibliometric Analysis of the Application of Artificial Intelligence Techniques to the Management of Innovation Projects

Due to their specific characteristics, innovation projects are developed in contexts with great volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and even ambiguity. Project management has needed to adopt changes to ensure success in this type of project. Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques are being used in these changing environments to increase productivity. This work collected and analyzed those areas of technological innovation project management, such as risk management, costs, and deadlines, in which the application of artificial-intelligence techniques is having the greatest impact. With this objective, a search was carried out in the Scopus database including the three areas involved, that is, artificial intelligence, project management, and research and innovation. The resulting document set was analyzed using the co-word bibliographic method. Then, the results obtained were analyzed first from a global point of view and then specifically for each of the domains that the Project Management Institute (PMI) defines in project management. Some of the findings obtained indicate that sectors such as construction, software and product development, and systems such as knowledge management or decision-support systems have studied and applied the possibilities of artificial intelligence more intensively.

A deep learning and natural language processing-based system for automatic identification and surveillance of high-risk patients undergoing upper endoscopy: A multicenter study.

Timely identification and regular surveillance of patients at high risk are crucial for early diagnosis of upper gastrointestinal cancer. However, traditional manual surveillance method is time-consuming, and current surveillance rate is below 50%. Here, we aimed to develop a surveillance system named ENDOANGEL-AS (automatic surveillance) for automatic identification and surveillance of high-risk patients. 7874 patients from Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University between May 1 and July 31, 2021 were used as the training set, 6762 patients between August 1 and October 31, 2021 as the internal test set, and 7570 patients from two other hospitals between August 1 and October 31, 2021 as the external test sets. We first extracted descriptions of abnormalities from endoscopic and pathological reports based on natural language processing techniques to identify individuals. Then patients were classified at nine risk levels according to endoscopic and pathological findings, and a deep learning model was trained to identify demarcation line (DL) in gastric low-grade intraepithelial neoplasia (LGIN) using 1561 white-light still images for risk stratification of gastric LGIN. Finally, patients undergoing upper endoscopy were classified and assigned one of ten surveillance intervals according to guidelines. The performance of ENDOANGEL-AS was evaluated and compared with physicians. Patient identification module achieved an accuracy of 100% and 99.91% in internal and external test sets, respectively. Risk level classification module achieved an accuracy of 100% and 99.85% in the internal and external test sets, respectively. DL identification module achieved an accuracy of 87.88%. ENDOANGEL-AS on surveillance interval assignment achieved an accuracy of 99.23% and 99.67% in internal and external test sets, respectively. ENDOANGEL-AS had significantly higher accuracy compared with physicians (99.00% vs 38.87%, p<0.001). The accuracy (63.67%, p<0.001) of endoscopists with the assistance of ENDOANGEL-AS was significantly improved. We established a surveillance system that can automatically identify patients and assign surveillance intervals with high accuracy and good transferability. This work was partly supported by a grant from the Hubei Province Major Science and Technology Innovation Project (2018-916-000-008) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2042021kf0084).

Managers' search practices at the front end of radical manufacturing technology innovations

Managers of manufacturing firms have important tasks in choosing novel technology solutions for the firm's production process. The emergence of ideas for radical manufacturing technology innovations and managers' proactive search for radical ideas and concepts for developing production processes have not been well understood. This study concentrates on managers' search practices at the front end of radical manufacturing technology innovations. We analyzed managers' practices in the early phase of nine radical manufacturing technology innovation projects across three firms. Radical manufacturing technology innovations require acknowledging both process innovations for the manufacturer and product innovations for the equipment supplier. The findings of this study revealed alternative patterns regarding the use of directed and autonomous search processes, internal and external information sources and open and closed supplier searches. This study offers new knowledge on the nature of the information processing task that managers face and on the search practices that managers use at the front end of radical manufacturing technology innovations. The study contributes by differentiating the managers' search practices based on the specific innovation scope in terms of the technology, equipment and production concept. Propositions are offered concerning the drivers and use of managers' search practices at the front end of radical manufacturing technology innovations.

Molecular clusters reveal opportunities for personalised small cell lung cancer immunotherapy

Molecular clusters reveal opportunities for personalised small cell lung cancer immunotherapy

First Report of Maize Seedling Blight Caused by Fusarium pseudograminearum in China.

Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important food and feed crops in China, with a cultivation area of more than 40 million hectares (http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC). In July 2021, a serious maize seeding blight occurred in Changjia Town, Gaoqing Country, Zibo City, Shandong Province, China, and the disease incidence was up to 50% in some fields. The root system of infected plants displayed poor development. The primary roots were brown and rotted. The leaves at the base of the plants were drying up, then the whole plant withered. To determine the cause agent of the disease, symptomatic roots of diseased seedlings were collected and surface-sterilized (70% ethanol for 30 s and 3% sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) for 90 s), subsequently rinsed three times with sterile distilled water, placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA), then incubated at 25°C for 2 days. Two cultures with similar morphological characteristics were purified through single-spore isolation technique and identified by morphology and molecular methods as Fusarium pseudograminearum O'Donnell & T. Aoki 1999. Plentiful macroconidia formed in 5-day-old carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) cultures; microconidia were absent. Macroconidia were thick-walled and curved, usually 3- to 5- septa, 31.6 ± 0.6 μm × 4.8 ± 0.1 μm (n = 50). Colony pigmentation on PDA was pink to red, with white to pink aerial mycelia on PDA cultures was abundant and filled the petri dishes. For molecular identification, the rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) gene and translation elongation factor 1 alpha (TEF-1α) gene of two isolates (SAIA41B and SAIA41C) were amplified with ITS1/ITS4 (White et al., 1990) and EF-1/EF-2 (O'Donnell et al., 1998), respectively. Blastn analysis of both the ITS sequence (accession numbers OM108101 and OM108102) and TEF-1α sequence (accession numbers OM142205 and OM142206) revealed 100% (481/481 bp for ITS and 637/637 bp for TEF-1α) sequence identity with the sequences of F. pseudograminearum reported in GenBank (MW699613 for ITS and JN862232 for TEF-1α). The molecular identification was further confirmed by the F. pseudograminearum species-specific PCR primers Fp1-1/Fp1-2 (Aoki and O'Donnell 1999). The expected 523-bp fragments were obtained for isolates SAIA41B and SAIA41C. In the pathogenicity test, healthy germinating maize roots (Zhengdan958) were inoculated with PDA culture blocks of isolate SAIA41C. Plants inoculated only with PDA culture blocks served as controls. Maize plants were put in petri dishes and placed in an incubator with a 12-h photoperiod at 25 oC and 100% relative humidity. Seven days later, roots of the plants inoculated with isolate SAIA41C were poorly developed and became brown necrotic and rotted, which were identical to the symptoms observed in the fields, whereas the roots of control plants were developed normally. The pathogen was re-isolated from the necrotic tissue of the inoculated roots but not from the control plants, and its identity was confirmed by PCR with the primes Fp1-1/Fp1-2 described above, fulfilling Koch's Postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of maize seedling blight caused by F. pseudograminearum in China. Our finding indicates the potential spread of F. pseudograminearum on maize, and more attention should be paid to prevention and control of maize seedling blight caused by F. pseudograminearum. The author(s) declare no conflict of interest. Acknowledgements: This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 32102181), Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (No. ZR2021QC059), Wheat Industry Technology System of Shandong Province (No. SDAIT-01-10), and Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Project of SAAS (No. CXGC2021A38 and CXGC2021A33).