Automation, organizational ambidexterity and the stability of employee relations: new tensions arising between corporate entrepreneurship, innovation management and stakeholder management.

While previous entrepreneurship research has only seldom drawn on organizational ambidexterity, the analysis of the important contemporary tensions among entrepreneurship, innovation management and strategic management issues may be facilitated by more closely analysing organizational ambidexterity in entrepreneurial settings. In this paper, we follow this thinking and more closely analyse an often applied form of corporate entrepreneurship: automation. Such automation is transferring work that was formerly conducted by humans to machines and may thus result in new tensions between corporate entrepreneurship, innovation management and the management of organizational stakeholders such as employees. The present paper investigates whether increased automation lowers the stability of firms' relationships with their employees. In addition, we expect that this relationship is moderated by organizational ambidexterity, as employees may have perceived ambidexterity as a signal that their firm will not overly invest in exploitation only, but maintain a balance between exploitation and exploration. Drawing on stakeholder theory, previous insights into corporate entrepreneurship and a survey of German Mittelstand firms, our findings show that highly ambidextrous firms are indeed more vulnerable to automation, leading to lower employee relational stability. Our findings thus suggest that in highly ambidextrous firms, novel tensions around automation-related corporate entrepreneurship will be detrimental to the stability of the firm's relations with one of its key stakeholder groups: employees.

On-site treatment of avalanche victims: Scoping review and 2023 recommendations of the international commission for mountain emergency medicine (ICAR MedCom).

INTRODUCTION: The International Commission for Mountain Emergency Medicine (ICAR MedCom) developed updated recommendations for the management of avalanche victims. METHODS: ICAR MedCom created Population Intervention Comparator Outcome (PICO) questions and conducted a scoping review of the literature. We evaluated and graded the evidence using the American College of Chest Physicians system. RESULTS: We included 120 studies including original data in the qualitative synthesis. There were 45 retrospective studies (38%), 44 case reports or case series (37%), and 18 prospective studies on volunteers (15%). The main cause of death from avalanche burial was asphyxia (range of all studies 65-100%). Trauma was the second most common cause of death (5-29%). Hypothermia accounted for few deaths (0-4%). CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: For a victim with a burial time ≤ 60 minutes without signs of life, presume asphyxia and provide rescue breaths as soon as possible, regardless of airway patency. For a victim with a burial time > 60 minutes, no signs of life but a patent airway or airway with unknown patency, presume that a primary hypothermic CA has occurred and initiate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) unless temperature can be measured to rule out hypothermic cardiac arrest. For a victim buried > 60 minutes without signs of life and with an obstructed airway, if core temperature cannot be measured, rescuers can presume asphyxia-induced CA, and should not initiate CPR. If core temperature can be measured, for a victim without signs of life, with a patent airway, and with a core temperature < 30 °C attempt resuscitation, regardless of burial duration.

Digitalization and entrepreneurial firms' resilience to pandemic crises: Evidence from COVID-19 and the German Mittelstand.

While stressing the relevance of context, the organizational resilience literature has so far not extensively examined resilience in times of healthcare crises such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Parasite Stress Theory of Values suggests that such pandemic crises have detrimental impacts on entrepreneurial activity due to social distancing and its effects on interaction, collaboration, and innovation. However, alternatives to personal contact now available thanks to digitalization, have not yet been examined. We expect entrepreneurial firms with more digitalized business models to show higher resilience to pandemic crises, especially those highly affected by globalization and more for non-family businesses than for family businesses. Based on a survey of German Mittelstand firms in the midst of the crisis induced by COVID-19, our findings broadly support our expectations and thus help qualify the Parasite Stress Theory of Values and contribute to a better understanding of organizational resilience in times of pandemic crises.

Influence of an InGaN superlattice pre-layer on the performance of semi-polar (11-22) green LEDs grown on silicon.

It is well-known that it is crucial to insert either a single InGaN underlayer or an InGaN superlattice (SLS) structure (both with low InN content) as a pre-layer prior to the growth of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) served as an active region for a light-emitting diode (LED). So far, this growth scheme has achieved a great success in the growth of III-nitride LEDs on c-plane substrates, but has not yet been applied in the growth of any other orientated III-nitride LEDs. In this paper, we have applied this growth scheme in the growth of semi-polar (11-22) green LEDs, and have investigated the impact of the SLS pre-layer on the optical performance of semi-polar (11-22) green LEDs grown on patterned (113) silicon substrates. Our results demonstrate that the semi-polar LEDs with the SLS pre-layer exhibit an improvement in both internal quantum efficiency and light output, which is similar to their c-plane counterparts. However, the performance improvement is not so significant as in the c-plane case. This is because the SLS pre-layer also introduces extra misfit dislocations for the semi-polar, but not the c-plane case, which act as non-radiative recombination centres.

Metrology of crystal defects through intensity variations in secondary electrons from the diffraction of primary electrons in a scanning electron microscope.

Understanding defects and their roles in plastic deformation and device reliability is important for the development of a wide range of novel materials for the next generation of electronic and optoelectronic devices. We introduce the use of gaseous secondary electron detectors in a variable pressure scanning electron microscope for non-destructive imaging of extended defects using electron channelling contrast imaging. We demonstrate that all scattered electrons, including the secondary electrons, can provide diffraction contrast as long as the sample is positioned appropriately with respect to the incident electron beam. Extracting diffraction information through monitoring the modulation of the intensity of secondary electrons as a result of diffraction of the incident electron beam, opens up the possibility of performing low energy electron channelling contrast imaging to characterise low atomic weight and ultra-thin film materials. Our methodology can be adopted for large area, nanoscale structural characterisation of a wide range of crystalline materials including metals and semiconductors, and we illustrate this using the examples of aluminium nitride and gallium nitride. The capability of performing electron channelling contrast imaging, using the variable pressure mode, extends the application of this technique to insulators, which usually require conducting coatings on the sample surface for traditional scanning electron microscope based microstructural characterisation.

Determining GaN Nanowire Polarity and its Influence on Light Emission in the Scanning Electron Microscope.

The crystal polarity of noncentrosymmetric wurtzite GaN nanowires is determined nondestructively in the scanning electron microscope using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The impact of the nanowire polarity on light emission is then investigated using cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy. EBSD can determine polarity of noncentrosymmetric crystals by interrogating differences in the intensity distribution of bands of the EBSD pattern associated with semipolar planes. Experimental EBSD patterns from an array of GaN nanowires are compared with theoretical patterns produced using dynamical electron simulations to reveal whether they are Ga- or N-polar or, as in several cases, of mixed polarity. CL spectroscopy demonstrates the effect of the polarity on light emission, with spectra obtained from nanowires of known polarity revealing a small but measurable shift (≈28 meV) in the GaN near band edge emission energy between those with Ga and N polarity. We attributed this energy shift to a difference in impurity incorporation in nanowires of different crystal polarity. This approach can be employed to nondestructively identify polarity in a wide range of noncentrosymmetric nanoscale material systems and provide direct comparison with their luminescence.

Monolithic multiple colour emission from InGaN grown on patterned non-polar GaN.

A novel overgrowth approach has been developed in order to create a multiple-facet structure consisting of only non-polar and semi-polar GaN facets without involving any c-plane facets, allowing the major drawbacks of utilising c-plane GaN for the growth of III-nitride optoelectronics to be eliminated. Such a multiple-facet structure can be achieved by means of overgrowth on non-polar GaN micro-rod arrays on r-plane sapphire. InGaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) are then grown on the multiple-facet templates. Due to the different efficiencies of indium incorporation on non-polar and semi-polar GaN facets, multiple-colour InGaN/GaN MQWs have been obtained. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements have demonstrated that the multiple-colour emissions with a tunable intensity ratio of different wavelength emissions can be achieved simply through controlling the overgrowth conditions. Detailed cathodoluminescence measurements and excitation-power dependent PL measurements have been performed, further validating the approach of employing the multiple facet templates for the growth of multiple colour InGaN/GaN MQWs. It is worth highlighting that the approach potentially paves the way for the growth of monolithic phosphor-free white emitters in the future.

Evolutionary and structural analyses uncover a role for solvent interactions in the diversification of cocoonases in butterflies.

Multi-omic approaches promise to supply the power to detect genes underlying disease and fitness-related phenotypes. Optimal use of the resulting profusion of data requires detailed investigation of individual candidate genes, a challenging proposition. Here, we combine transcriptomic and genomic data with molecular modelling of candidate enzymes to characterize the evolutionary history and function of the serine protease cocoonase. Heliconius butterflies possess the unique ability to feed on pollen; recent work has identified cocoonase as a candidate gene in pollen digestion. Cocoonase was first described in moths, where it aids in eclosure from the cocoon and is present as a single copy gene. In heliconiine butterflies it is duplicated and highly expressed in the mouthparts of adults. At least six copies of cocoonase are present in Heliconius melpomene and copy number varies across H. melpomene sub-populations. Most cocoonase genes are under purifying selection, however branch-site analyses suggest cocoonase 3 genes may have evolved under episodic diversifying selection. Molecular modelling of cocoonase proteins and examination of their predicted structures revealed that the active site region of each type has a similar structure to trypsin, with the same predicted substrate specificity across types. Variation among heliconiine cocoonases instead lies in the outward-facing residues involved in solvent interaction. Thus, the neofunctionalization of cocoonase duplicates appears to have resulted from the need for these serine proteases to operate in diverse biochemical environments. We suggest that cocoonase may have played a buffering role in feeding during the diversification of Heliconius across the neotropics by enabling these butterflies to digest protein from a range of biochemical milieux.

Safety, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of RSLV-132, an RNase-Fc fusion protein in systemic lupus erythematosus: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Blood-borne RNA circulating in association with autoantibodies is a potent stimulator of interferon production and immune system activation. RSLV-132 is a novel fully human biologic Fc fusion protein that is comprised of human RNase fused to the Fc domain of human IgG1. The drug is designed to remain in circulation and digest extracellular RNA with the aim of preventing activation of the immune system via Toll-like receptors and the interferon pathway. The present study describes the first clinical study of nuclease therapy in 32 subjects with systemic lupus erythematosus. The drug was well tolerated with a very favorable safety profile. The approximately 19-day serum half-life potentially supports once monthly dosing. There were no subjects in the study that developed anti-RSLV-132 antibodies. Decreases in B-cell activating factor correlated with decreases in disease activity in a subset of patients.

Correction: Site controlled red-yellow-green light emitting InGaN quantum discs on nano-tipped GaN rods.

Correction for 'Site controlled red-yellow-green light emitting InGaN quantum discs on nano-tipped GaN rods' by M. Conroy et al., Nanoscale, 2016, 8, 11019-11026.

Site controlled red-yellow-green light emitting InGaN quantum discs on nano-tipped GaN rods.

We report a method of growing site controlled InGaN multiple quantum discs (QDs) at uniform wafer scale on coalescence free ultra-high density (>80%) nanorod templates by metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD). The dislocation and coalescence free nature of the GaN space filling nanorod arrays eliminates the well-known emission problems seen in InGaN based visible light sources that these types of crystallographic defects cause. Correlative scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) mapping and cathodoluminescence (CL) hyperspectral imaging illustrates the controlled site selection of the red, yellow and green (RYG) emission at these nano tips. This article reveals that the nanorod tips' broad emission in the RYG visible range is in fact achieved by manipulating the InGaN QD's confinement dimensions, rather than significantly increasing the In%. This article details the easily controlled method of manipulating the QDs dimensions producing high crystal quality InGaN without complicated growth conditions needed for strain relaxation and alloy compositional changes seen for bulk planar GaN templates.

Strong interband Faraday rotation in 3D topological insulator Bi2Se3.

The Faraday effect is a representative magneto-optical phenomenon, resulting from the transfer of angular momentum between interacting light and matter in which time-reversal symmetry has been broken by an externally applied magnetic field. Here we report on the Faraday rotation induced in the prominent 3D topological insulator Bi2Se3 due to bulk interband excitations. The origin of this non-resonant effect, extraordinarily strong among other non-magnetic materials, is traced back to the specific Dirac-type Hamiltonian for Bi2Se3, which implies that electrons and holes in this material closely resemble relativistic particles with a non-zero rest mass.

Prevalence of pelvic fractures, associated injuries, and mortality: the United Kingdom perspective.

BACKGROUND: We wished to determine the characteristics of patients with pelvic ring fractures (PGs) in England and Wales, make comparisons to major trauma patients without pelvic injury (NPGs), and determine factors predicting mortality, including the impact of presence of pelvic reconstruction facilities in the receiving hospitals on outcome. METHODS: Prospective data from 106 trauma receiving hospitals forming the Trauma Audit and Research Network were studied. Between January 1989 and December 2001 data of 159,746 trauma patients were collected in the Trauma Audit and Research Network database. Because of incomplete data, 1,610 pelvic fracture patients and 13,499 patients without pelvic fracture were excluded from detailed analysis. In total, 11,149 patients in the PG and the remaining 133,486 patients in the NPG (control) group were included in the final analysis. RESULTS: There were statistically significantly more patients with an Injury Severity Score >15 in the PG group (n = 3,576; 32.1%) than in NPG group (n = 19,238; 14.4%) (p < 0.001), indicating that pelvic injuries were more often associated with other injuries. The majority of patients sustained Abbreviated Injury Score (AIS) 2 pelvic injuries (65.0%), whereas AIS 4 and 5 injuries were found in less than 10% of patients. Pelvic ring injuries were most commonly associated with chest trauma with >AIS 2 severity in 21.2% of the patients, head injuries (>AIS 2) in 16.9%, liver or spleen injuries in 8.0%, and two or more long bone fractures in 7.8%. The 3-month cumulative mortality rate of the patients with pelvic injuries was 14.2% (1,586 patients) versus 5.6% (7,465 patients) of the NPG group. CONCLUSION: Age, early physiologic derangement, and presence of other injuries (head or trunk) were associated with reduced survival rates. When the expertise to deal with such a group of patients is not available, early transfer under safe conditions should be considered to improve survival rates.

Multipole shimming of permanent magnets using harmonic corrector rings.

Shimming systems are required to provide sufficient field homogeneity for high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). In certain specialized applications, such as rotating-field NMR and mobile ex situ NMR, permanent magnet-based shimming systems can provide considerable advantages. We present a simple two-dimensional shimming method based on harmonic corrector rings which can provide arbitrary multipole order shimming corrections. Results demonstrate, for example, that quadrupolar order shimming improves the linewidth by up to an order of magnitude. An additional order of magnitude reduction is in principle achievable by utilizing this shimming method for z-gradient correction and higher order xy gradients.

Anomalous ion channeling in AlInN/GaN bilayers: determination of the strain state.

Monte Carlo simulations of anomalous ion channeling in near-lattice-matched AlInN/GaN bilayers allow an accurate determination of the strain state of AlInN by Rutherford backscattering or channeling. Although these strain estimates agree well with x-ray diffraction (XRD) results, XRD composition estimates are shown to have limited accuracy, due to a possible deviation from Vegard's law, which we quantify for this alloy. As the InN fraction increases from 13% to 19%, the strain in AlInN films changes from tensile to compressive with lattice matching predicted to occur at [InN] = 17.1%.

Femoral biologic plate fixation.

UNLABELLED: New techniques of fracture fixation such as indirect reduction, careful soft tissue handling, and elastic fixation are being used in place of older methods of mechanical stabilization. These new techniques led to the concept of biologic plate fixation. We systematically reviewed the literature and provide an overall evaluation of femoral biologic fixation for fracture treatment. We analyzed 19 studies with 687 patients with 697 femoral fractures. Twenty-three percent of the fractures were subtrochanteric, 29% were diaphyseal, and 48% were supracondylar. Twenty-two percent were open fractures. The majority (81%) were comminuted and AO Types B and C. The overall union rate was 98.4%, with a mean time to union ranging from 10.7 to 24 weeks. Primary or secondary bone-grafting procedures were reported in all but one study with a frequency ranging from 0-55%. The most frequently recorded complications were malunion (0-29%) and reoperation (0-23%). The high union rate, low infection rate (2%), and occasional need for bone graft indicate biologic plate fixation is a viable alternative to modern nailing techniques, particularly in patients with polytrauma. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic study, Level III.

Minimally important difference in diffuse systemic sclerosis: results from the D-penicillamine study.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate minimally important differences (MIDs) in scores for the modified Rodnan Skin Score (mRSS) and Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI) in a clinical trial on diffuse systemic sclerosis (SSc). PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: 134 people participated in a 2-year, double-blind, randomised clinical trial comparing efficacy of low-dose and high-dose D-penicillamine in diffuse SSc. At 6, 12, 18 and 24 months, the investigator was asked to rate the change in the patient's health since entering the study: markedly worsened, moderately worsened, slightly worsened, unchanged, slightly improved, moderately improved or markedly improved. Patients who were rated as slightly improved were defined as the minimally changed subgroup and compared with patients rated as moderately or markedly improved. RESULTS: The MID estimates for the mRSS improvement ranged from 3.2 to 5.3 (0.40-0.66 effect size) and for the HAQ-DI from 0.10 to 0.14 (0.15-0.21 effect size). Patients who were rated to improve more than slightly were found to improve by 6.9-14.2 (0.86-1.77 effect size) on the mRSS and 0.21-0.55 (0.32-0.83 effect size) on the HAQ-DI score. CONCLUSION: MID estimates are provided for improvement in the mRSS and HAQ-DI scores, which can help in interpreting clinical trials on patients with SSc and be used for sample size calculation for future clinical trials on diffuse SSc.

Color Doppler detection of acoustic streaming in a hematoma model.

Accurate differentiation between stagnant blood and soft tissue or clotted and unclotted blood has potential value in managing trauma patients with internal hemorrhage. Determination by regular ultrasound (US) imaging is sometimes difficult because the sonographic appearance of blood, clots and soft tissue may be similar. A hematoma model was developed to investigate the use of acoustic streaming for hematoma diagnosis in an in vivo environment. The results showed that a derated spatial peak temporal average (SPTA) intensity of 30 W/cm(2) was needed to generate color-Doppler-detectable streaming in stirred blood. The streaming velocity increased in proportion to the derated intensity. Streaming was also detected in stagnant blood, but at higher intensities. In clots, streaming was not detected even at high intensities. The streaming detection may be a valuable tool for improving the distinction between liquid blood and clots or soft tissue in hematoma diagnosis.

Quantification of gastric emptying and duodenogastric reflux stroke volumes using three-dimensional guided digital color Doppler imaging.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a non-invasive method for evaluating gastric emptying and duodenogastric reflux stroke volumes using three-dimensional (3D) guided digital color Doppler imaging. METHODS: The technique involved color Doppler digital images of transpyloric flow in which the 3D position and orientation of the images were known by using a magnetic location system. RESULTS: In vitro, the system was found to slightly underestimate the reference flow (by average 8.8%). In vivo (five volunteers), stroke volume of gastric emptying episodes lasted on average only 0.69 s with a volume on average of 4.3 ml (range 1.1-7.4 ml), and duodenogastric reflux episodes on average 1.4 s with a volume of 8.3 ml (range 1.3-14.1 ml). CONCLUSION: With the appropriate instrument settings, orientation determined color Doppler can be used for stroke volume quantification of gastric emptying and duodenogastric reflux episodes.