Chemical composition and physical characteristics of faeces in horses with and without free faecal liquid - two case-control studies.

BACKGROUND: Free faecal liquid (FFL) is a condition in horses characterised by two-phase (one solid and one liquid) separation of faeces. Causes of the condition are unknown, but disturbed hindgut fermentation has been suggested as it may alter biochemical composition and appearance of faeces in equines. However, information on faecal composition in horses with FFL is scarce. Faecal chemical composition (dry matter, osmolality, ash, macro minerals, short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) and pH) and physical characteristics (free liquid, sand, water holding capacity and particle size distribution) were compared in horses with (case) and without (control) FFL in two sub-studies. In sub-study I, faeces from 50 case-control horse pairs in Sweden and Norway were sampled in three sampling periods (SP1-SP3). In sub-study II, faeces from 32 case-control horse pairs in Germany were sampled on one occasion. RESULTS: In sub-study I, faecal concentration and proportion of lactic acid (of total short-chain fatty acids, SCFA) and water holding capacity was lower in case compared to control horses. Other variables (content of dry matter, ash, sodium, calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, sulphur, and concentrations of i-butyric, n-valeric and total SCFA, ammonia-N as proportion of total N, and pH) were similar in faeces from case and control horses. In sub-study II, all analysed variables were similar in faecal samples from case and control horses. Faecal particle size distribution was similar in case and control horses, but the proportion of larger particles (2 and 1 mm) were lower and proportion of smaller particles (< 1 mm) was higher in sub-study I compared to in sub-study II. CONCLUSIONS: To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to investigate faecal chemical composition and physical characteristics in horses with FFL. Case and control horses had similar total SCFA, pH and osmolality, indicating that hindgut fermentation was similar. However, small differences in concentration and proportion (of total SCFA) of lactic acid and water holding capacity of faeces were shown and are of interest for further studies of horses with FFL.

The relationship between R&D, the absorptive capacity of knowledge, human resource flexibility and innovation: Mediator effects on industrial firms.

This paper analyzes data from 1666 Spanish industrial firms to test how some human resource (HR) flexibility dimensions mediate the relationship between research and development (R&D) efforts and the absorptive capacity of knowledge (AC). The results show that external R&D experts and core employee training partially mediate the relationship between R&D effort and AC, whereas temporary employment does not mediate that relationship. These findings seem to suggest that HR flexibility dimensions that are more knowledge-intensive are more influential on the development of absorptive capabilities. Another finding is that the mediator effects of HR and AC are positively related to innovation performance, suggesting that firms may combine them more effectively with R&D efforts to enhance innovation.

Balancing innovation and exploitation in the fourth industrial revolution: Role of intellectual capital and technology absorptive capacity.

Industry 4.0, which features the Internet of things (IoT), cloud computing, big-data, digitalization, and cyber-physical systems, is transforming the way businesses are being run. It is making the business processes more autonomous, automated and intelligent, and is transmuting the organizational structures of businesses by digitalizing their end-to-end business processes. In this context, balancing innovation and exploitation-organization's ambidexterity-while stepping into the fourth industrial revolution can be critical for organizational capability. This study examines the role of intellectual capital (IC)-human capital, structural capital and relational capital-in balancing the innovation and exploitation activities. It also examines the role of technology's absorptive capacity in the relationship between IC and organizational ambidexterity (OA). Data were collected from 217 small and medium enterprises from the manufacturing sector of Pakistan using a closed-ended Likert scale-based questionnaire. The study employs partial least square-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) for data analysis. Findings indicate a profound influence of all dimensions of IC, both overall and by dimensions on organizations' ambidexterity. Findings also exhibit a significant partial mediating role of technology absorptive capacity (TAC) in the association of IC and ambidexterity. The findings of the study emphasize the creation of specific policies aimed to develop IC of a firm, which in turn can enable a firm to maintain a balance between innovation and market exploitation activities. The study integrates the TAC with the IC-OA relationship, which is the novelty of the study.

Towards successful digital transformation through co-creation: a longitudinal study of a four-year implementation of digital monitoring technology in residential care for persons with dementia.

BACKGROUND: Implementation of digital monitoring technology systems is considered beneficial for increasing the safety and quality of care for residents in nursing homes and simultaneously improving care providers' workflow. Co-creation is a suitable approach for developing and implementing digital technologies and transforming the service accordingly. This study aimed to identify the facilitators and barriers for implementation of digital monitoring technology in residential care for persons with dementia and wandering behaviour, and explore co-creation as an implementation strategy and practice. METHODS: In this longitudinal case study, we observed and elicited the experiences of care providers and healthcare managers in eight nursing homes, in addition to those of the information technology (IT) support services and technology vendors, during a four-year implementation process. We were guided by theories on innovation, implementation and learning, as well as co-creation and design. The data were analysed deductively using a determinants of innovation framework, followed by an inductive content analysis of interview and observation data. RESULTS: The implementation represented radical innovation and required far more resources than the incremental changes anticipated by the participants. Five categories of facilitators and barriers were identified, including several subcategories for each category: 1) Pre-implementation preparations; 2) Implementation strategy; 3) Technology stability and usability; 4) Building competence and organisational learning; and 5) Service transformation and quality management. The combination of IT infrastructure instability and the reluctance of the IT support service to contribute in co-creating value with the healthcare services was the most persistent barrier. Overall, the co-creation methodology was the most prominent facilitator, resulting in a safer night monitoring service. CONCLUSION: Successful implementation of novel digital monitoring technologies in the care service is a complex and time-consuming process and even more so when the technology allows care providers to radically transform clinical practices at the point of care, which offers new affordances in the co-creation of value with their residents. From a long-term perspective, the digital transformation of municipal healthcare services requires more advanced IT competence to be integrated directly into the management and provision of healthcare and value co-creation with service users and their relatives.

Evaluating the combined effects of gravity and compression on the fluid handling properties of surgical dressings.

OBJECTIVE: A new test method is described which provides a convenient technique for assessing the combined effects of gravity and compression on the fluid handling characteristics of surgical dressing which can have important implications for their use in the treatment of venous ulcers. Simple ways of improving use of the fluid handling capacity of products currently used clinically are suggested, and the possibility of developing a dressing specifically designed to resist gravitational effects is discussed.

The adoption of sustainable practices: A supplier's perspective.

Suppliers' adoption of sustainable practices plays a critical role for global companies to improve environmental performance. Based on the absorptive capacity theory, this study empirically explores how suppliers' knowledge bases and power relationships influence their adoption of sustainability practices. A longitudinal case study with eight suppliers has been conducted. We find that the adoption of leading sustainable practices requires a supplier's good knowledge base whereas a supplier can adopt imitating and toddling sustainable practices even if it has a limited knowledge base. Both the power of internal sustainability teams and external buyers enhance the effects of suppliers' knowledge bases on the adoption of sustainable practices. Suppliers choose the strategy used in adopting sustainable practices according to the configuration of internal and external power. The results enhance the current understandings of the mechanisms through which knowledge bases and power relationships affect the adoption of sustainable practices. The findings can also help global companies improve the effectiveness of their supplier development efforts and enhance the environmental performance of supply chains.

Embeddedness in cross-agency collaboration and emergency management capability: Evidence from Shanghai's urban contingency plans.

Governments are increasingly emphasizing emergency management in response to public emergencies that cause extensive consequences and involve multiple government agencies. One of the influential measures adopted by governments is the establishment of cross-agency networks. Scholars have validated the importance of cross-agency collaboration and networks, but only a few studies have examined cross-agency information sharing and utilization mechanism of joint emergency actions. Inspired by the theory of network embeddedness, we study the joint effects of informational and task attributes of embeddedness and absorptive capacity of the leading agency on collaborative emergency capacity. Our data consist of 110 local government contingency plans collected from F District in Shanghai, China. We found that a well-structured cross-agency network and a leading department with great information accessibility will significantly affect the efficiency of emergency collaborations. The capacity to absorb information significantly enhances the improvement of emergency collaboration.

Biological Children Versus Stepchildren: Interorganizational Learning Processes of Spinoff and Nonspinoff Suppliers.

Interorganizational scholars have long thought about how firms learn through buyer relationships. However, it is not clear whether dyadic learning gains are susceptible to imitation or are only inherited and whether these gains decay over time or are of an enduring nature. In this paper, I import ideas from the organizational imprinting literature into the interorganizational literature and apply the knowledge-based and learning views of the firm to examine how suppliers with differing initial endowments learn to work together with a buyer. The findings from an inductive multiple case study of spinoff and nonspinoff suppliers of an automotive manufacturer parent in Turkey reveal the following three learning mechanisms: informal relationships and social capital, transfer of routines, and shared identity. Although nonspinoff suppliers also exhibit evidence of several learning processes to a certain extent, spinoff suppliers' deeper relationship, in particular their shared identity, with their parent based on their direct parental heritage tends to be more difficult for them to copy. No matter how hard nonspinoff suppliers try, they have "one hand tied behind their back," they remain stepchildren, and they never truly become a biological child. By providing a novel setting and a rich set of qualitative data on the learning behaviors of these two types of suppliers, this study teases apart the knowledge and resources that can be "learned from external sources" versus those that can "only be inherited."

Supplementation of enzyme-treated soy protein saves dietary protein and promotes digestive and absorptive ability referring to TOR signaling in juvenile fish.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of enzyme-treated soy protein (ETSP) supplementation in the low-protein diet on growth performance, digestive and absorptive capacities, and related signaling molecules' gene expressions in juvenile Jian carp. The results showed that percent weight gain (PWG), specific growth rate (SGR), and feed intake (FI) were decreased by reducing dietary protein from 34 to 32% (P < 0.05). Supplying low-protein diet with optimal ETSP increased previously mentioned indices of juvenile Jian carp (P < 0.05), which also had no significant difference with the high-protein diet (34%CP) (P > 0.05). Compared with the low-protein diet, appropriate ETSP supplementation in the low-protein diet increased (P < 0.05) (1) the trypsin, lipase, and amylase activities in the hepatopancreas; (2) cholecystokinin concentration in the proximal intestine; (3) the γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (γ-GT), alkaline phosphatase (AKP), and Na+/K+-ATPase activities in all intestinal segments; and (4) the messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of trypsin, lipase, and amylase in hepatopancreas and γ-GT in the mid (MI) and distal (DI) intestine, alkaline phosphatase in MI, and Na+/K+-ATPase and target of rapamycin in all intestinal segments. At the same time, appropriate ETSP supplementation in the low-protein diet downregulated the mRNA levels of AKP in the DI and eIF4E-binding protein 2 in all intestinal segments (P < 0.05). In conclusion, adding 10 g ETSP/kg diet in the low-protein diet can restore the growth performance and digestive and absorptive abilities to the levels in group with 34% dietary protein. Supplementation of optimal ETSP in the low-protein diet enhanced the digestive and absorptive abilities and regulated the signaling molecules related to the TOR signaling pathway.

Scots pine fine roots adjust along a 2000-km latitudinal climatic gradient.

Patterns of plant biomass allocation and functional adjustments along climatic gradients are poorly understood, particularly belowground. Generally, low temperatures suppress nutrient release and uptake, and forests under such conditions have a greater proportion of their biomass in roots. However, it is not clear whether 'more roots' means better capacity to acquire soil resources. Herein we quantified patterns of fine-root anatomy and their biomass distribution across Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) populations both along a 2000-km latitudinal gradient and within a common garden experiment with a similar range of populations. We found that with decreasing mean temperature, a greater percentage of Scots pine root biomass was allocated to roots with higher potential absorptive capacity. Similar results were seen in the common experimental site, where cold-adapted populations produced roots with greater absorptive capacity than populations originating from warmer climates. These results demonstrate that plants growing in or originated from colder climates have more acquisitive roots, a trait that is likely adaptive in the face of the low resource availability typical of cold soils.

Using Negotiated Joining to Construct and Fill Open-ended Roles in Elite Culinary Groups.

This qualitative study examines membership processes in groups operating in an uncertain environment that prevents them from fully predefining new members' roles. I describe how nine elite high-end, cutting-edge culinary groups in the U.S. and Europe, ranging from innovative restaurants to culinary R&D groups, use negotiated joining-a previously undocumented process-to systematically construct and fill these emergent, open-ended roles. I show that negotiated joining is a consistently patterned, iterative process that begins with a role that both aspirant and target group explicitly understand to be provisional. This provisional role is then jointly modified and constructed by the aspirant and target group through repeated iterations of proposition, validation through trial and evaluation, and selective integration of validated role components. The initially provisional role stabilizes and the aspirant achieves membership if enough role components are validated; otherwise the negotiated joining process is abandoned. Negotiated joining allows the aspirant and target group to learn if a mutually desirable role is likely and, if so, to construct such a role. In addition, the provisional roles in negotiated joining can support absorptive capacity by allowing novel role components to enter target groups through aspirants' efforts to construct stable roles for themselves, while the internal adjustment involved in integrating newly validated role components can have the unintended side effect of supporting adaptation by providing opportunities for the groups to use these novel role components to modify their role structure and goals to suit a changing and uncertain environment. Negotiated joining thus reveals role ambiguity's hitherto unexamined beneficial consequences and provides a foundation for a contingency theory of new-member acquisition.

Unlocking green innovation and environmental performance: the mediated moderation of green absorptive capacity and green innovation climate.

This study extends the foundations of the natural resource-based view (NRBV) by introducing a mediation-moderation framework by analyzing the influence of green intellectual capital (GIC) on both green innovation performance (GIP) and environmental performance (EP) while simultaneously considering the mediating role of green absorptive capacity (GAC) and the moderating influence of the green innovation climate (GICL). The data for this study was gathered from a sample of 575 participants employed within small and medium enterprises' (SMEs') manufacturing firms. This dataset was utilized to evaluate the proposed model; this study uses the PLS-SEM approach to comprehensively examine the complex interactions among these variables. This model adds to the theoretical understanding of NRBV and enhances its practical applicability. The findings of this study reveal a positive relationship between GIC, GAC, GIP, and EP within organizations. Furthermore, our investigation reveals a positive correlation between a GICL and the relationships involving GIC, GAC, GIP, and EP. Importantly, this research introduces a novel perspective by clarifying the complex relations among these variables and highlighting the positive correlation between a GICL and the relationships involving GIC, GAC, GIP, and EP. This novel approach enhances the theoretical understanding of NRBV and its practical applicability in fostering GIP and EP within manufacturing SMEs operating in Pakistan.

Development and validation of an LC-MS/MS method for the quantification of oral-sugar probes in plasma to test small intestinal permeability and absorptive capacity in the domestic cat (Felis catus).

A novel method for quantifying the concentration of lactulose, rhamnose, xylose, and 3-O-methylglucose (3-OMG) in cat plasma using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was developed. Domestic male cats (n = 13) were orally dosed with a solution containing the four sugars to test the permeability and absorptive capacity of their intestinal barrier. Plasma samples were taken 3 h later and were prepared with acetonitrile (ACN), dried under N2, and reconstituted in 90 % ACN with 1 mM ammonium formate. Stable isotope labelled 13C standards for each analyte were used as internal standards. Chromatographic separation was conducted using a Phenomenex Luna NH2 column with a gradient elution system of deionized water and 90 % ACN with 1 mM ammonium formate at 300 µL/min for 13 min total analysis time. Recovery trials were conducted in triplicate over three days with RSD values (%) for each day ranging from 1.2 to 1.4 for lactulose, 5.4 - 6.0 for rhamnose, 3.3 - 5.5 for xylose, and 2.6 - 5.6 for 3-OMG. Inter-day variations for each analyte were not different (p > 0.05). Limit of detection and quantification were 0.2 and 0.7 µg/mL for lactulose, 0.8 and 2.4 µg/mL for rhamnose, 0.6 and 1.8 µg/mL for xylose, and 0.3 and 1.1 µg/mL for 3-OMG, respectively. Plasma sugar concentrations recovered from cats were above the limit of quantification and below the highest calibration standard, validating the use of this method to test intestinal permeability and absorptive capacity in cats.

Patent output and patent transfer network in China universities: Moderating roles of absorptive capacity and desorptive capacity.

Although absorptive capacity and desorptive capacity has been widely present in university-industry relationships, there has been no research on their potential impact on the relationship between university patent output and university patent transfer network. We constructed datasets of patent applications and patent transfers to firms from 383 universities between 2002 and 2021 in China, and empirically demonstrated the effect of the patent output on university patent transfer network using negative binomial regression models. We also examined the moderating effects of absorptive capacity and desorptive capacity. The results reveal that university patent output positively affects the size and the connection strength of the university patent transfer network. Technology transfer offices and satellite institutions, for desorptive capacity in universities, negatively moderate the relationship between the university patent output and the university patent transfer network, respectively. For absorptive capacity in firms, research and development intensity of new products and the level of research and development personnel input, respectively, have a positively moderate effect on the relationship between the university patent output and the university patent transfer network. Our research provides insights into the dynamics of the university patent transfer network; especially against the backdrop of a sharp increase in university patent output and insufficient development of the university patent transfer network, this study provides evidence to the substitution effect of desorptive capacity in universities and the bidirectional effect of absorptive capacity in firms.

The Connection between Absorptive Capacity and Green Innovation: The Function of Board Capital and Environmental Regulation.

The stress of environmental regulations, sustainable development objectives, and global warming is becoming more prominent now. Most studies conclude that the industrial sector is largely at fault and under tremendous pressure to address these climate change issues. This study highlights the significance of green innovation to Chinese firms in mitigating these conservational challenges, and the study probes the association between green innovation and absorptive capacity. Additionally, board capital (the social and human capital of directors) and environmental regulation-both drivers of green innovation-are explored as moderators between green innovation and absorptive capacity. With appropriate econometric methods and theoretical support from the natural resource-based review, the resource dependency theory, and the Porter hypothesis, the results indicate the positive relationship between green innovation and absorptive capacity. They also reveal board capital and environmental regulation as positive moderators, emphasizing their significance to green innovation. This study offers several suggestions and directives for stakeholders, such as businesses, policymakers, and governments, to foster green innovation for greater profitability, minimizing negative industrial consequences.

Stakeholder network for developing open innovation practice of China's manufacturing enterprises.

The study aims to investigate the impact of stakeholder network characteristics on a company's open innovation performance. To investigate the innovation performance of a company. This study not only demonstrates the impact of stakeholder network characteristics on a firm's open innovation performance but also provides empirical evidence for accelerating the construction of an innovation ecology at the national and industry levels and using innovation networks to promote firm innovation performance. Panel data from 1507 listed manufacturing firms in China from 2008 to 2018 are used. A particular focus is on the role of absorptive capacity in the relationship. The results show that centrality, stability, and stakeholder network size are positively correlated or have an inverted U-shaped relationship with the firm's open innovation performance. The results show that the centrality, stability and stakeholder network size are positively correlated or have an inverse U-shaped relationship with the firm's open innovation performance, while the effects of stakeholder network density on the firm's open innovation performance are not significant. Furthermore, absorptive capacity is found to play a moderating role in the inverted U-shaped relationship between the former two factors, and the inverted U-shaped relationship between stakeholder network characteristics and a firm's open innovation performance is also significant under the conditions of different technology levels and different types of firms.

Cloud-native-based flexible value generation mechanism of public health platform using machine learning.

Public health machinery learning platform based on cloud-native is a system platform that combines machine learning frameworks and cloud-native technology for public health services. The problem of how its flexible value is realized has been widely concerned by all public health network intelligent researchers. Thus, this article examines the relationship between cloud-native architecture flexibility and cloud provider value and the processes and the boundary condition by which cloud-native architecture flexibility affects cloud provider value based on innovation theory and dynamic capability theory. The results of a survey of 509 platform-related respondents in China show that cloud-native architecture flexibility is positively related to cloud provider value, and both absorptive capacity and supply chain agility mediate the above-mentioned effect. Moreover, R&D subsidies strengthen both the positive relationship between absorptive capacity and cloud provider value and the relationship between supply chain agility and cloud provider value. In this study, cloud-native architecture flexibility, unit absorptive capacity, supply chain agility and R&D subsidies are considered into a flexible value generation mechanism model that extend the relevant research on the value generation mechanism of information system under the background of network intelligence, and to provide relevant enterprises with suggestions on upgrade strategies.

The impact of FDI on host countries' social welfare: a panel data analysis of 146 countries over the period 2002-2019.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is an important driver of the increasing globalization of the word economy, and despite being a widely studied phenomenon, studies on the effects of FDI on host countries' social welfare are scarce. So, this work aims to analyze the impact of FDI on welfare measured through the human development index and its three dimensions (education, life expectancy, and income). Based on a sample of 146 countries for the period 2002-2019, the results obtained by two-staged least squares-instrumental variable estimation suggest that FDI impact on social welfare depends on the countries' human capital which reflects countries' absorptive capacity. Results also highlight the role of government expenses in consumption, political stability, and quality of technological infrastructures. Therefore, the results suggest that, in order to improve social welfare, countries should focus and gear their policies towards fostering the improvement of their human resources, political stability, and technological infrastructures.

The role of Fintech in circular economy practices to improve sustainability performance: a two-staged SEM-ANN approach.

Coupling the practice-based view (PBV) of firms with dynamic capabilities theory (DCT), we assess the effect of Fintech adoption (FA) on organizational sustainability performance (SP) through circular economy practices (CEP). Additionally, this research examines the moderating roles of a firm's access to finance (AF) and absorptive capacity (AC) in the interplays between the constructs. Three hundred responses were collected from Bangladeshi manufacturing SMEs using a structured questionnaire. We examined our conceptual model using a two-staged structural equation modeling-artificial neural network (SEM-ANN) approach. The empirical findings unveiled that Fintech adoption significantly drives organizational CEP and SP and that CEP acts as a mediator between the FA and SP linkage. Furthermore, the findings also confirmed the moderating effect of AF on the FA and CEP association and the impact of AC on the CEP and SP association. Hence, this scholarship adds pivotal insights to the extant literature by establishing the roles of multiple mediators and moderators in the interplay of FA and firms' SP. Given the paucity of primary-data-based research, this empirical study addresses the gaps in the Fintech, CE, and sustainability literature and yields crucial implications for theory and practice.

The impact of smart city Internet firms network embeddedness on product innovation: a moderated mediating model.

While networking integration has been regarded as a significant driver in technology development, it remains unknown which and how situations influence the online business innovation process. This study used survey data from 466 smart city Internet firms in China to examine how three network embeddedness dimensions-structural embeddedness, relational embeddedness, and cognitive embeddedness-affect product innovation from the perspective of value network embeddedness, drawing on network embeddedness, intergrowth, and knowledge absorptive capacity theory. This paper also looked at the mediating variable of intergrowth and information knowledge transfer. According to our findings, intellectual, social, or architectural inclusion, all contribute to the enhancement of product innovativeness. Such beneficial connections are mediated to some extent by the resources provided. The association among networking involvement as well as technology innovation is moderated by information absorbent ability. Our findings add to the body of research in the areas of innovative technology, networking inclusion, and information absorbent ability.