Ministry of SMEs and Startups

Technology acquisition from external sources has been identified as a critical competence for sustained success in innovation, and research has paid a good deal of attention to studying its advantages, drawbacks, determinants, and outcomes. Traditionally, research has modeled the choice to acquire technology from outside a firm's boundaries as the result of a trade‐off between the benefits of external acquisition (e.g., higher return on investment, lower costs, increased flexibility, access to specialized skill sets, and creativity) and its drawbacks (e.g., opening the market to new entrants, risk of imitation of core competencies, and reduced value appropriability). Yet, this view does not capture the behavioral considerations that may potentially encourage or discourage managers from sourcing technology outside the firm's boundaries. This behavioral aspect is especially important if one wants to understand the conduct in external technology acquisition of family firms, which are found to favor strategic actions that preserve the controlling families' control and authority over business, even at the cost of giving up potential economic benefits. Thus, external technology acquisition is likely to be interpreted differently in family and nonfamily firms. Despite its importance, how the involvement of a controlling family affects decisions in technology and innovation management and specifically external technology acquisition is an overlooked topic in extant research and requires further theoretical and empirical examination. This study attempts to fill these gaps by extending the tenets of the behavioral agency model and prior research pointing to particularistic decision‐making in family firms to uncover the behavioral drivers of external technology acquisition in family and nonfamily firms. Theory is developed that relates performance risk, family management, and the contingent effect of the degree of technology protection on external technology acquisition, and the hypotheses are tested with longitudinal data on 1540 private Spanish manufacturing firms. The analyses show that managers are more likely to acquire technology from external sources through research and development contracting when firm performance falls below managers' aspirations. Family firms are generally more reluctant to acquire external technology, and the effect of negative aspiration performance gaps becomes less relevant as family management is higher, which is attributed to family managers' attempts to avoid losing control over the trajectory that technology follows over time. However, family firms become more favorable to considering the adoption of an open approach to technology development when some protection mechanisms (specifically, the filing of patents on the firm proprietary technologies) increase the managers' perceptions of control over the technology trajectory. As such, this study makes a contribution to the understanding of the behavioral factors driving external technology acquisition, and it offers important insights regarding technology strategy in family firms.

The authors explore when and how collectivism influences the importance of service quality and relationship quality for behavioral intentions. Using goal and action identification theories, they argue that collectivist tendencies become salient depending on a buyer's particular goal in a given service context and that when collectivist characteristics are salient, they can influence the importance of service or relationship quality. In the first study, the authors demonstrate the moderation effect of collectivism in a high-social-interaction context, in which they argue that collectivist tendencies are salient, using data collected in countries characterized as high and low in collectivism, and find that collectivism increases the importance of relationship and service quality (contrary to the hypothesized negative effect) for behavioral intentions. In the second study, the authors find that collectivism does not moderate the aforementioned relationships in contexts in which social interaction is expected to be low. The cross-national and cross-contextual findings provide multinational retailers guidance in designing the customer retail experience on the basis of the collectivist tendencies of consumers in various markets.

Abstract The preparation of poly( DL ‐lactide‐ co ‐glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles was performed by a dialysis method without surfactant or emulsifiers. The size of the PLGA nanoparticles prepared from dimethylacetamide (DMAc) as an initial solvent was smaller than that from acetone. The sizes of the PLGA nanoparticles from DMAc and acetone were 200.4 ± 133.0 and 642.3 ± 131.1 nm, respectively. The effects of the initial solvent selected to dissolve the copolymer and the lactide:glycolide ratio were investigated. The PLGA nanoparticles were spherical as revealed by the results of scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy observations. From these results it was shown that PLGA nanoparticles could be formed by the dialysis method without surfactant. The drug‐loading contents and efficiency were also dependent on the lactide:glycolide ratio and initial feeding amount of the drug. A higher lactide ratio resulted in higher drug loading and higher loading efficiency. However, a higher initial feeding amount of the drug resulted in higher drug loading and lower loading efficiency. Clonazepam was released for at least 2 days and the release rate was slower with a higher lactide:glycolide ratio and a larger amount of drug‐loading nanoparticles than that with a lower lactide:glycolide ratio and a smaller amount of drug‐loading nanoparticles. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 80: 2228–2236, 2001

BACKGROUND: Acupuncture has been widely used for a range of neurological disorders. Despite its popularity, the evidence to support the use of acupuncture is contradictory. METHODS: This review was designed to summarize and to evaluate the available evidence of acupuncture for neurological disorders. RESULTS: Most of the reviewed studies suffer from lack of methodological rigor. Owing to paucity and poor quality of the primary studies, no firm conclusion could be drawn on the use of acupuncture for epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, ataxic disorders, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal cord injury. For stroke rehabilitation, the evidence from recent high-quality trials and previous systematic reviews is not convincing. CONCLUSION: More rigorous trials are warranted to establish acupuncture's role in neurological disorders.

Oxygen functionalized carbon nanotubes synthesized by surface acid treatment were used to improve the dispersion properties of active materials for catalysis.

Building construction education is crucial in ensuring university students are adequately knowledgeable and competent to meet industry demands. Attributable to the changeable and complex environment, traditional pedagogical methods in building construction courses cannot equip students with concrete experience and knowledge. Despite several studies, adapting information and communication technology (ICT) tools such as virtual reality (VR) to enhance construction education, limited interaction and low detail of virtual contents still remain an unsolved issue. To address this problem, this study proposes an interactive building anatomy modeling (IBAM) system, which allows students to conveniently interact with VR environment for experiential building construction education. The IBAM system is developed based on the medical anatomy concept, including intuitive features, which support detaching and attaching components; and dissecting which enhances student-model interaction. To identify the advantages and limitations of IBAM, a prototype was developed, and its applicability was verified through a case study. Interim results suggest that the system facilitates experiential learning and provides adequate levels of interaction to effectively transfer knowledge to learners.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: In 2008, the Ministry of Health and Welfare of South Korea initiated the Regional Comprehensive Stroke Center (CSC) program to decrease the incidence and mortality of stroke nationwide. We evaluated the performance of acute ischemic stroke management after the Regional CSC program was introduced. METHODS: The Ministry of Health and Welfare established 9 Regional CSCs in different provinces from 2008 to 2010. All Regional CSCs have been able to execute the critical processes independently for stroke management since 2011. The Ministry of Health and Welfare was responsible for program development and financial support, the Regional CSC for program execution, and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for auditing the execution. We analyzed prospectively collected data on the required indices from 2011 and repeated the analysis the following year for comparison. RESULTS: After the Regional CSCs were established, the first brain image was taken within 1 hour from arrival at the emergency room for all patients with stroke; the length of hospital stay decreased from 14 to 12 days; for the rapid execution of thrombolysis, the first brain image was taken within 12 minutes; intravenous and intra-arterial thrombolysis were started within 40 and 110 minutes, respectively, after emergency room arrival; and the hospital stay of thrombolytic patients decreased from 19 to 15 days. CONCLUSIONS: The Regional CSC program has improved the performance of acute stroke management in South Korea and can be used as a model for rapidly improving stroke management.

Optical anisotropy, which is an intrinsic property of many materials, originates from the structural arrangement of molecular structures, and to date, various polarization-sensitive imaging (PSI) methods have been developed to investigate the nature of anisotropic materials. In particular, the recently developed tomographic PSI technologies enable the investigation of anisotropic materials through volumetric mappings of the anisotropy distribution of these materials. However, these reported methods mostly operate on a single scattering model, and are thus not suitable for three-dimensional (3D) PSI imaging of multiple scattering samples. Here, we present a novel reference-free 3D polarization-sensitive computational imaging technique-polarization-sensitive intensity diffraction tomography (PS-IDT)-that enables the reconstruction of 3D anisotropy distribution of both weakly and multiple scattering specimens from multiple intensity-only measurements. A 3D anisotropic object is illuminated by circularly polarized plane waves at various illumination angles to encode the isotropic and anisotropic structural information into 2D intensity information. These information are then recorded separately through two orthogonal analyzer states, and a 3D Jones matrix is iteratively reconstructed based on the vectorial multi-slice beam propagation model and gradient descent method. We demonstrate the 3D anisotropy imaging capabilities of PS-IDT by presenting 3D anisotropy maps of various samples, including potato starch granules and tardigrade.

The cellular levels of β-site APP cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1), the rate-limiting enzyme for the generation of the Alzheimer disease (AD) amyloid β-peptide (Aβ), are tightly regulated by two ER-based acetyl-CoA:lysine acetyltransferases, ATase1 and ATase2. Here we report that both acetyltransferases are expressed in neurons and glial cells, and are up-regulated in the brain of AD patients. We also report the identification of first and second generation compounds that inhibit ATase1/ATase2 and down-regulate the expression levels as well as activity of BACE1. The mechanism of action involves competitive and non-competitive inhibition as well as generation of unstable intermediates of the ATases that undergo degradation.

What kind of capacity is needed to improve the performance of start-ups? How effective are government support policies in improving start-up performance? Start-ups are critical firm group for ensuring the prospective and sustainable growth of an economy, and thus many countries’ governments have established support policies and they are likely to engage more widely in forward-looking political support activities to ensure further growth and expansion. In this paper, the effect of innovation capabilities and government support policies on start-up performance is examined. We used an unbalanced panel data analysis with a random effect generalized least squares. We investigated the effect of government support policies on 4368 Korean start-ups. The findings indicated that technology and knowledge capabilities had positive effects on the sales performance of start-ups, and government financial support positively affected the relationship between knowledge capability and firm performance. However, when government financial support increased, marketing capability was negatively associated with firm performance. These results demonstrate the significant role of government financial support, including its crowding in but also its crowding out effect. Practical implications: To be more effective, governments should employ innovation-driven entrepreneurship policy approaches to support start-ups. To improve their performance, start-ups need to increase their technology and knowledge capabilities. This study extends recent efforts to understand more fully the effect of government support policies on start-ups differing in their technology, knowledge, and marketing capabilities.

In order to investigate the effect of doping C, N, B and F elements on <TEX>$TiO_2$</TEX> for reducing the band gap, the heat treatment of <TEX>$TiO_2$</TEX> was carried out with tetraethylammonium tetrafluoroborate. Through XRD and XPS analysis, the C, N, B and F doped anatase <TEX>$TiO_2$</TEX> was confirmed. According to the increase of temperature during treatment, the particle size was increased due to aggregation of <TEX>$TiO_2$</TEX> with elements (B, C, N and F). To investigate the capacity of photocatalyst for degradation of dye under solar light, the degradation of acridine orange and methylene blue was conducted. The degradation of dyes was carried out successfully under solar light indicating the effect of doping elements (B, C, N and F) on <TEX>$TiO_2$</TEX> for reducing the band gap effectively.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of acupuncture on acute paw edema induced by carrageenan (CR) injection and to detect differential cytokine responses in response to acupuncture stimulation using protein array technology. METHODS: Control group was injected with CR (1%, 50 mul) into the plantar surface of the male Sprague-Dawley rats. Acupuncture group was stimulated with acupuncture at Zusanli (ST36) 30 minutes after CR injection. Rat cytokine antibody array coated with 19 specific cytokine antibodies were probed with protein samples and the relative cytokine levels were investigated. RESULTS: Acupuncture stimulation significantly inhibited the inflammatory response to CR injection. Compared to control group, three cytokines, interleukin-6 (IL-6), beta-nerve growth factor (beta-NGF) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1), showed significantly decreased expression levels in the acupuncture group. The other 16 cytokines did not exhibit significant changes between two groups. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that acupuncture markedly inhibited CR-induced edema and modulated the expressions of certain cytokines in response to CR-induced inflammation. These findings might give us a clue in elucidating the underlying mechanism of anti-inflammatory effect of acupuncture.

In this paper, a local shape-adaptive template filtering is proposed for the enhancement of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) without the loss of resolution in magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Unlike conventional filtering, where the template shape and coefficients are fixed, multiple templates are defined in the proposed algorithm. An optimal template is selected and optimal filtering, based on the template, is applied on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Using the proposed process, edge blurring is minimized and SNR enhancement is maximized by selecting the optimally matched template. Compared to existing two-dimensional (2-D) adaptive linear least square error (LLSE) filters or direction-adaptive recursive filters, the proposed adaptive template filter provides higher SNR and sharper edges for both MR and artificial resolution phantom images.

The nature of the frontier orbitals and the efficiency of ligand photosubstitution reactions were studied in ruthenium complexes with either electron-donating (CH₃) or -withdrawing (CF₃) substituents on the bipyridine spectator chelate.

Patent analysis has been considered as an effective means of estimating phases of a technology life cycle. However, previous studies have not considered the dynamic and idiosyncratic aspects of a technology’s progression since they were based on deterministic methods, mainly fitting s- or double s-shaped curves to patent application counts. Moreover, previous methods cannot be executed at the individual patent level. We propose a stochastic technology life cycle analysis to trace the phases of a technology’s progression based on patent citations and identify the patterns of technology life cycles at the individual patent level. At the heart of the proposed approach are a hidden Markov model to estimate the probability of a system being at a certain hidden state from observation and cluster analysis to group a set of objects according to their similarities. A case study of patents about laser technology in lithography is presented.

The current research empirically documents grotesque imagery’s positive effect on the persuasiveness of luxury brand advertising, and examines the perceived fit between grotesque imagery and luxury branding as the psychological mechanism underlying that effect. The results of two studies showed that grotesque imagery in advertisements for luxury products enhanced consumers’ brand experiences and increased their purchase intentions by transporting them to the narratives portrayed in the ads. This process was driven by the perceived fit between grotesque imagery and luxury branding, which leads to fluent processing, thereby facilitating transportation to the ad. This research presents clear evidence that grotesque ads can effectively influence consumers when they are used to promote luxury brands.

In this study, we investigate the age-hardening behavior and mechanical properties of direct chill (DC)-cast Al–10Si-0.35 Mg alloys subjected to melt thermal rate treatment (TRT). Our findings reveal that TRT refines the microstructure and precipitation morphology. Grain analysis indicates the prevalence of twin dendritic grains in both TRT and non-TRT (NTRT) alloys during casting, with the TRT billet exhibiting smaller grains. The microstructural analysis demonstrates that TRT reduces the size of secondary dendrite arm spacing and eutectic phases while ensuring a uniform distribution of intermetallic particles. The precipitation mechanism in both alloys remains consistent, with the TRT alloy exhibiting a higher density of fine precipitates. Additionally, we observe a novel coprecipitation mechanism of Si and β″ phase, attributed to a lower misfit between (003) β″ and (011) Si compared to that between (003) β″ and (0 2 ‾ 0) Al . Furthermore, the TRT alloy displays slower precipitation kinetics due to homogeneous solute distribution, resulting in higher activation energy for precipitation nucleation. Consequently, a single age-hardening peak is observed in TRT alloys during aging. TRT alloys exhibit higher hardness and tensile strength after artificial aging at 190 and 210 °C, while maintaining comparable elongation to NTRT alloys. Theoretical calculations of precipitation strengthening also show higher values for TRT alloys, consistent with experimental results. Thus, our findings comprehend the underlying mechanisms of melt treatments crucial for improving precipitation hardening behavior and mechanical properties of Al–Si–Mg alloys.

Various cosmetics having a single function are increasingly being used, but cosmetics having multifunctional activities remain limited. We aimed to develop a multifunctional cosmetic cream having antioxidant, anti-tyrosinase, anti-aging and antimicrobial activities. Antimicrobial activities were performed by disc-diffusion method. Cell toxicity and cell proliferations were evaluated in a 96-well plate with different cell lines such as HaCaT, RAW264.7, CCD-986Sk, B16F1, and B16F10. Mushroom tyrosinase inhibition, elastase inhibition, and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activities were evaluated and IC50 was calculated. Mesoporous silica particle was synthesized using Pluronic P123 and tetraethyl ortho-silicate (TEOS). Facial pictures were captured by VISIA-CR (Facial Imaging System for Clinical Research). Roughness of image was analysed by PRIMOS software and brightness of image was analyzed by Chromameter CR-400. The crude product of strain T65 inhibited the different human pathogenic bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Propionibacterium acnes, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus epidermidis. The IC50 of T65 crude product for mushroom tyrosinase, elastase, and DPPH radical scavenging activities were 58.73, 14.68, and 6.31 µg/mL, respectively. T65 crude product proliferated collagen type I in CCD-986Sk cell up to 145.91% ± 9.11% (mean ± SD; mean of 24, 48, and 72 h) at 250 pg/mL. Synthesized mesoporous particles (SBA-15) confirmed the sustainable performance by control-release for three days. Formulated functional cosmetic cream containing T65 embedded SBA-15, significantly decreased the skin roughness by 4.670% and increased the skin brightness by 0.472% after application of 4 weeks. T65 crude product inhibited both Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens. Synthesized mesoporous particle, SBA-15, confirmed the physiologically active substance was released in sustainable release condition. T65 crude product showed impeccable antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-aging, and whitening activities with non-cytotoxic effects to different cell lines related to the human skin.

According to the instrumentalism of Friedman (1970) and Machlup (1967) it is irrelevant whether the explanatory principles or “assumptions” of a theory satisfy any criterion of “plausibility,” “realism,” “credibility,” or “soundness.” In this view the main or only criterion for selecting theories is whether a theory yields empirically testable implications that turn out to be consistent with observations. All we should require or expect from a theory is that it is a useful instrument for the purpose of prediction. Considerations of the “efficiency” of a theory for the purpose of ordering our experiences are permitted (Friedman), but considerations of “plausibility” are not (Friedman and Machlup). “Explanatory assumptions” are not really explanatory in the sense that they claim to represent underlying causal processes in reality; they only serve to generate, by deduction, implications that are in accordance with as many observations as possible.

In recent years, oil prices have continued to be low owing to the development of unconventional resources such as shale gas, coalbed methane gas, and tight gas. However, shipping companies are still experiencing difficulties because of recession in the shipping market. Hence, they devote considerable effort toward reducing operating costs. One of the important parameters for reducing operating costs is the frictional resistance of vessels. Generally, a vessel is covered with paint for smoothing its surface. However, frictional resistance increases with time owing to surface roughness, such as that caused by fouling. To prevent this, shipping companies periodically clean or repaint the surfaces of vessels using analyzed operating data. In addition, studies using various methods have been continuously carried out to identify this phenomenon such as fouling for managing ships more efficiently. In this study, numerical simulation was used to analyze the change in the resistance performance of a ship owing to an increase in surface roughness using commercial software, i.e., Star-CCM+, which solves the continuity and Navier–Stokes equations for incompressible and viscous flow. The conditions for numerical simulation were verified through comparison with experiments, and these conditions were applied to three ships to evaluate resistance performance according to surface roughness.