1,722,941 research outputs found
Imitative offshoring strategies. Lessons learnt from the Italian small domestic appliance industry.
No full textOur chapter is organized in the following way: first, it briefly
describes the changes in the global economic scenario for the domestic appliances industry since the mid-1990s. Secondly, we analyze the determinants of internationalization of production and supply. In the third place, we examine which activities were mainly involved in “delocalization” and how offshoring to unaffiliated (contract) parties resulted in vertical disintegration for the entire industry and the growing inability of former manufacturers to appropriate the results of investments in such high-value activities as research, design, and development.
The chapter closes with a summary of key findings, implications
for managerial work, and suggestions for future research
VIKAS KUMAR
No full textA simple and sensitive spectrophotometric method was developed and validated for the determination of Theophylline (TH) in pharmaceutical dosage form as well as in human saliva and urine samples. This method is based on the measurement of absorbance of TH in Phosphate Buffer 6.8 at 270 nm. Beer’s law is obeyed over the range of 2-10 µg/ml. This method was used successfully for the quality assessment of Theophylline drug in human urine and saliva samples with good precision and accuracy. The Sandell sensitivity, limit of detection (LOD) and limit quantification (LOQ) values are also reported. All the methods were validated in accordance with current ICH guidelines. The developed methods were employed with high degree of precision and accuracy for the estimation of total drug content in commercial tablet formulations of TH. The results obtained from human spiked urine and saliva are satisfactory and recovery values were in limits. This article can be downloaded from www.ijpbs.net P- 36KEYWORDS Absorbance, Buffer, Theophylline, UV anaylsi
Giraffa tippelskirchi
No full text; (2) Masai giraffe (G. tippelskirchi), which includes the formerly recognized Thornicroft’s giraffe;Published as part of Julian Fenessy, Tobias Bidon, Friederike Reuss, Vikas Kumar, Paul Elkan, Maria A. Nilsson, Melita Vamberger, Uwe Fritz & Axel Janke, 2016, Multi-locus analyses reveal four giraffe species instead of one, pp. 1-7 in Current Biology 2016 on page 3, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.07.036, http://zenodo.org/record/26982
Giraffa giraffa
No full text(1) southern giraffe (G. giraffa), comprising two distinct subspecies, Angolan giraffe (G. g. angolensis) and South African giraffe (G. g. giraffa)Published as part of Julian Fenessy, Tobias Bidon, Friederike Reuss, Vikas Kumar, Paul Elkan, Maria A. Nilsson, Melita Vamberger, Uwe Fritz & Axel Janke, 2016, Multi-locus analyses reveal four giraffe species instead of one, pp. 1-7 in Current Biology 2016 on page 3, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.07.036, http://zenodo.org/record/26982
The Performance of Group-affiliated Firmsduring Institutional Transition: A LongitudinalStudy of Indian Firms
No full textInstitutional and transaction cost theories highlight the idea that group-affiliated firms outperform
unaffiliated firms in emerging economies. However, the persistence of superior performance among group-affiliated
firms could be challenged by the recent, quick development of markets and institutions in these countries. This article
explores the link between firm performance and the evolution of the institutional environment.
Research Findings/Insights: We analyze how business group affiliation affected firm performance in India in the postreform
era, i.e., from 1990 to 2006. Our findings show that: (1) the performance benefits of group affiliation are evident in
the early phase of institutional transition, but level out in the late phase; (2) older group-affiliated firms are better able to
cope with institutional transition than younger group-affiliated firms; and (3) group-affiliated service firms are better able
to cope with institutional transition than group-affiliated manufacturing firms.
Theoretical/Academic Implications: Our findings support institutional and transaction cost theories, as they show that: (1)
when labor, capital, and products markets are characterized by large imperfections and weak supporting institutions
business groups outperform independent companies; (2) when markets become more efficient and institutions grow
stronger group-affiliated firms fail to show continued superior performance; and (3) heterogeneity among member firms
may influence the appropriation of the benefits arising from group affiliation. These findings expand the traditional
understanding of the relationship between firm performance and the institutional context in emerging economies, and
provide further support for the idea that the relative performance of group-affiliated firms is contingent upon the characteristics
of the institutional context and their particular features.
Practitioner/Policy Implications: The article has implications for managers and policy makers. Managers of business
groups should adapt the timing of strategies to the evolution of the institutional environment. Policy makers should focus
on the consequences of their policies, as they may undermine the efficiency of large national companies
Industrial Districts and Industrial Clusters. Conceptual Approaches from Italian and Eurasian Experiences
No full textInterest in the issues of cluster development, and their impact on the socio-economic development of territories leads to numerous studies in this area. Moreover, despite the fact that the cluster rhetoric has strengthened in the scientific and political lexicon, a number of fundamental problems remain unresolved, which constrains the dissemination of this approach in practice. It is necessary to determine the rational basis of cluster policy, as well as the areas and conditions in which the application of this tool is justified. Without serious understanding, the cluster approach risks to be superficial, rather retouching the problems, and quickly replaced by other “fashionable” concepts, without having a significant impact on solving the problems of innovative development of the industrial region. The purpose of the study is to review conceptual approaches to the development of industrial clusters, extending their period from the early Italian experience to modern Eurasian studies. The study is based on scientific works of scientists devoted to the issues of defining the essence of clusters and cluster policy, assessment of its impact on the development of the economy of the region. The study uses methods of system and comparative analysis. The novelty of the author’s approach consists in expanding the temporal boundaries and highlighting various aspects of early and modern cluster approaches. The study identified historical, structural, and evolutionary features of cluster development, which allows developing practical tools for the implementation of cluster policy in the region. The results obtained indicate the diversity and multidimensionality of existing approaches to the development of industrial clusters and the need for their further development
Rainfall-Induced Landslides in a Changing Climate
No full textRainfall-induced landslides pose a great risk to society and cause catastrophic consequences including environmental damages, economic losses, deaths, and injuries all around the world. Such landslides are typically relatively shallow and occur frequently on hillsides with the capacity to evolve into destructive debris flows. The frequency of rainfall-induced landslides is expected to increase due to the ongoing climate change and the corresponding changes in the rainfall patterns. Moreover, the expansion of human settlement towards landslide-prone areas will increase the risks due to negative effects of human activities on slope stability and more severe consequences. The expected higher risks in the future necessitate better landslide risk assessment and management strategies. Therefore, this PhD thesis examines several topics that contribute to mitigating societal risks resulting from rainfall-induced landslides.
Development and implementation of efficient landslide risk mitigation measures rely on accurate and reliable spatiotemporal prediction of rainfall-induced landslides. Providing such predictions is often a challenging task due to the uncertainties in landslide prediction model parameters. Spatial variability of the model parameters contributes significantly to the uncertainties and limits the capacity of models to provide accurate spatial and temporal predictions. The model parameters might greatly vary over space and affect the landslide predictions. This PhD thesis examines the effects of spatial variability on the prediction of rainfall-induced landslides. This study proposes a new probabilistic three-dimensional landslide susceptibility model that accounts for spatial variability. Spatial variability of landslide model parameters is modeled by random field approach. In addition, Monte Carlo method is utilized in the developed model to quantify the effects of the uncertainties in model parameters on landslide predictions. The developed landslide model is validated using benchmark problems from literature and extensive simulations using a finite element-based program. Results of this study reveal the importance of spatial variability on the predictions of spatially distributed rainfall-induced landslides.
In addition to developing more accurate landslide prediction models, there is a need to quantify the effects of climate change on rainfall-induced landslides. Climate change is becoming more visible as climate abnormalities and corresponding catastrophic events are happening more frequently. There exist climate projections to understand how climate will change based on different socioeconomic narratives. For many countries worldwide, these climate projections display more intense and frequent rainfall events. The changes in rainfall patterns will have effects on the occurrence of rainfall-induced landslides but are not explicitly quantified. Through the quantification of the climate change impact on rainfall-induced landslides, mitigation strategies can be applied to strengthen the resilience and adaptive capacity of society to climate change and corresponding changes in landslide risk. This PhD study addresses this issue with a framework coupling climate and landslide modeling chains. A novel probabilistic framework is proposed for the integration of the modeling chains. In this framework, impacts of extreme intense rainfall events are scaled with their occurrence probability to obtain an ‘overall’ climate change impact. This approach provides a more realistic basis for the quantification of the climate change impact on rainfall-induced landslides without bias due to extreme rainfall events. Using the proposed approach, a comprehensive study is conducted on a landslide-prone study area in Trøndelag, central Norway. The study reveals the overall climate change impact on rainfall-induced landslides with increased probabilities of landslide initiations in the future.
Improved assessment of landslide risk contributes to better landslide risk management strategies. Among the different strategies relying on structural and nonstructural solutions, a landslide early warning system (LEWS) is recognized as an efficient strategy due to its lower costs and higher flexibility in comparison to alternative solutions. Landslide risk can be mitigated by these systems, which issue early warning to take necessary actions, such as evacuating people, moving mobile infrastructure, or closing road or railway sections. Landslide monitoring can support LEWSs and improve their reliability by providing consistent and reliable hazard assessments based on collected data. This PhD study examines a landslide-prone study area in Trøndelag, central Norway for the deployment of a hydrological monitoring system. The hydrological monitoring system is supported by state-of-the-art IoT-based technologies that provide efficient data acquisition and transmission. The system was deployed at two locations in the study area. The response of the slopes to seasonally cold climate conditions is monitored by volumetric water content sensors, suction sensors, and piezometers. The deployed system collected valuable information on the effects of ground freezing and thawing, rainfall, and snowmelt on the monitored parameters. A pilot study was implemented to develop an automated landslide prediction model, which integrates collected data with a physical-based landslide prediction model. This pilot study showed the potential of the collected data to be used in combination with a landslide prediction model, which can be a basis for a landslide warning mode
Pneumo Peritoneum Aided Access into Abdomen for Re-relaparotomies: A New Technique
No full textAbstract Introduction: Dealing with patients with multiple laparotomies is always a difficult task due to the fear of injuring the bowel or internal organs. In this study we found out a new technique (Vikas technique) in order to minimise injuries during laparotomy using pneumo peritoneum in open method. This is one of the novel technique, where in we create pneumo peritoneum and proceed with laparotomy in order to prevent inadvertent injury to the internal organs while gaining access into the abdomen in patients with previous multiple laparotomies. Methods and materials: This study includes 15 patients to undergo re-relaparotomy for various reasons attending to surgical oncology department in Yashoda Hospitals Secunderabad, during a period of 9 months. Results: By this technique, there was no case with injury to the bowel or any other abdominal organ. Not even a single patient had complications related to creation of pneumo peritoneum. Conclusions: This is one of the novel technique were in many complications of injury to the abdominal organs can be avoided and a safe entry to the abdomen can be achieved even in a presence of very bad adhesions to the previous scars. Keywords: multiple laparotomies, pneumo peritoneum, open method, re-relaparotomy Cite This Article: M. Bala Vikas Kumar, and Harika Tirunagari, "Pneumo Peritoneum Aided Access into Abdomen for Re-relaparotomies: A New Techniqu
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