Search

Taiwanese suppliers lead the world in the fastener market. In 2014, exported fasteners from Taiwan amounted to USD 4.25 billion, ranking third behind Germany and China. Taiwan is an important location for the international procurement of fasteners. This chapter has three objectives. The first is to explore the evaluation criteria and their weights for fastener supplier selection for automotive companies and develop an evaluation model for fastener supplier selection. The second is to explore investment priorities and improvement for fastener suppliers for automotive companies to become qualified fastener suppliers. The third is to explore the differences in the supplier evaluation between European, American, and Japanese automotive companies and the differences in the investment and improvement priorities of being a supplier for the European, American, and Japanese automotive companies. This chapter fills the research gap for fastener supplier selection for European, American, and Japanese automotive companies.

Bringing together an international range of expertise, this comprehensive Companion to Technology Management is designed to facilitate the development of management frameworks adaptable for a wide range of organizations, as well as an overview of the development and integration of technology in advanced and emerging economies. Research-based and drawing on a range of practical tools and international cases, it covers the diverse spectrum of the challenges of technology management and how to approach them: I Fundamentals of Technology Management provides an overview of the fundamental aspects of technology management. II Technology Planning focusses on technology- driven organizations, government labs and universities. III Technology Evaluation includes evaluation and assessment, adoption and forecasting through management tools. IV Technology Development and Transfer includes integration, marketing and intellectual property management. V Managing Technological Innovations addresses policy, open innovation and technology entrepreneurship. VI Society and Technology Management focusses on social issues which impact technology and its management. VII New Technologies and Emerging Regions include blockchain, biotechnologies, and smart cities. This Companion is an essential comprehensive source of new and emerging approaches for researchers, advanced engineering and technology management students, and professionals seeking an authoritative global reference source.

Metabolic disorders have been implicated in ocular diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR). Recently, hyperuricemia (HUA) has been proposed as another risk factor for AMD, although no cause-and-effect experimental data have been published. In this study, we investigated whether HUA would initiate AMD or related retinal damages in hyperuricemic mice.HUA was induced in male ICR mice by dietary supplements of uric acid and oxonic acid potassium salt, with or without treatments by allopurinol or benzbromarone for various durations. Serum uric acid and angiotensin II concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) at regular intervals. The retinal damages were assessed by hematoxylin and eosin staining, immunostaining, and TUNEL assay. The cause-and-effect of HUA was compared among the study groups.The results showed that the total thickness of photoreceptor inner and outer segments, as well as the thickness of the photoreceptor outer segment alone, were reduced under HUA. Furthermore, HUA elevated serum angiotensin II, which indicated activation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS), leading to higher matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) expression, and glial activation in the ganglion cell layer. HUA also led to the reduction of retinal pigment epithelium gap junction protein connexin-43 and apoptosis. Uric acid lowering agents, allopurinol or benzbromarone, were effective in ameliorating the impairments.HUA may pose as a causative factor of retinal injuries. The reduction of serum uric acid may reduce the detrimental effects caused by HUA.

The importance of social interactions has been reported in different animal species. During the pandemic, although people can communicate through other sensory cues, social touch is mostly prohibited under different levels of social distance policies, which inspired us to explore the necessity of physical contact in mouse social interaction. In this study, we first conducted a long-term observation showing that pair-housed mice in a standard laboratory cage spent nearly half the day in direct physical contact with each other. Furthermore, isolation experiments demonstrated that, even with access to other sensations, prevention of social touch for one month significantly induced anxiety levels, changed social behaviors and increased interleukin-6 cytokine in the hippocampus and the serum of mice. Our study demonstrated the necessity of social touch for the maintenance of mental health in mice. This information could have important implications for human social interactions, especially the social policies during a pandemic crisis.

Endoscopic placement of biliary stent is a well-established palliative treatment for biliary obstruction. However, duodenobiliary reflux after stent placement has been a common problem which may lead to dreadful complications. This paper designed a novel anti-reflux biliary stent with a cone spiral valve. Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) simulations were established to evaluate the efficiency of the anti-reflux stent comparing with a clinically applied standard stent. According to the stress distribution of the valve, the fatigue performance in the stress concentration area was analyzed. The results show that when the antegrade flow through the valve, the cone spiral valve could stretch and open to realize adequate drainage under the normal physiological pressure of biliary tract; When the duodenal reflux through the valve, the valve would be compressed and close with a result of nearly zero at the outlet flow rate. Furthermore, the anti-reflux stent achieved improved radial mechanical performance with 2.7 times higher radial stiffness than standard stent. Finite element analysis (FEA) also indicates that compared with the standard stent, the addition of the anti-reflux valve had little negative effect on flexibility of the stent. Fatigue analysis results showed that the valve was reliable. This research provides the new stent with a cone spiral valve and proves that it is technically feasible and effective for preventing the duodenobiliary reflux while ensuring the antegrade bile flow without compromising the other biomechanical performances.

Purpose Collaboration with universities is an important innovation strategy for enterprises. However, currently very little research has focused on how such university-industry collaborative innovation activities should be managed. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach This paper introduces the university-industry collaborative innovation practices of Zhejiang NHU Company in China. By using a case study as the method, this paper aims to illustrate the mechanism of university-industry collaborative innovation and how to manage the collaborative innovation activities efficiently. Findings Zhejiang NHU Company established a university-industry collaborative innovation link through three innovation platforms: the technology R&D center, the ZJU-NHU joint-research center, and the national engineer center. Zhejiang NHU Company manages its collaborative relationships with universities through this innovation network. Originality/value NHU Company managed the collaborative relationship efficiently with the institutions, representing an effective degree of university-industry collaborative innovation management.

Purpose Innovation ecosystem is an emerging and popular concept in both academic and industrial circles. It offers a new perspective for enterprise strategy positioning. A business can create more value through a healthy innovation ecosystem. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors utilize a new triple-layer core-periphery framework to analyze Insigma Group’s multi-platform collaboration innovation ecosystem, in order to explore the architecture and heterogeneous functions inside an innovation ecosystem. Findings The authors illustrate the components and working mechanisms of the four platforms, which function as ideation, entrepreneurship, financing and investment, and innovation, inside Insigma’s innovation ecosystem in detail, and explain how they interact and collaborate toward a shared aim of the whole innovation ecosystem. Research limitations/implications The innovation ecosystem is an emerging concept. In this study, the authors combined two existing analytical frameworks of innovation ecosystem, and proposed a triple-layer core-periphery framework, which enable us to analyze the heterogeneity inside an innovation ecosystem. Practical implications The authors discussed the role of government and its policies in shaping the innovation ecosystem at the enterprise level. Originality/value The authors believe that this paper provides a holistic study of Insigma’s innovation ecosystem. The triple-layer core-periphery framework can be used to study other enterprise innovation ecosystem in the future.

Social hierarchy plays important roles in maintaining social structures. Despite similarity in concept, frameworks of human hierarchy have seldom been investigated in parallel with other animals. Moreover, the importance of subordination in hierarchical formation has been largely underestimated in previous research. Here we established, compared and investigated hierarchy in children and weanling mice. Temperament Assessments suggested that children who are less persistent, low emotional intensity and withdrew easily were more likely to be subordinate in competitive scenarios independent of task characteristics and interaction experiences. The tube test further showed that conflicts between mice were not resolved by winner approach but by loser withdrawal, which was mainly determined by intrinsic subordinate status regardless of opponents. Our study presents evolutionary conserved hierarchical relationships in young and a critical role of the intrinsic subordinate characteristics in hierarchical determination. These findings provide a new perspective on social interactions with potential implications for preschool education.

Purpose: Using general systems theory, we present a series of simulations that shed light on the viability of business strategies in stable and turbulent business environments. Special attention is given to the impact of efficiency versus flexibility on firm performance, and on what the simulations reveal concerning successful strategies in each environment and firm type. Design/methodology/approach: Large-scale Monte Carlo simulations based on Ashby's Requisite Variety principle. Findings: Efficiency and flexibility do not, in general, determine performance. However, certain strategies appear to be superior, and in turbulent business environments, efficiency and flexibility appear well correlated with firm performance. Research limitations/implications: Implications and limitations of the Law of Requisite Variety for strategic analysis are set forth. Limitations stem from the simplifications needed for quantitative analysis, and lack of explicit consideration of competitors’ actions. Practical implications: The simulations’ realism offers insights to strategists regarding the roles of efficiency and flexibility in firm performance. The quantitative approach provides unambiguous definitions for some terms used in strategy, sharpening concepts put forth by Ashby and by Ansoff. Originality/value: A back-to-basics, systems approach to the simulations, using the venerable and general requisite variety principle as its basis, ensures sound analysis and appeal to readers who may come to it from diverse traditions of strategy theory. The quantitative simulation tool is made available for other researchers to test and extend. Keywords: Strategy, Requisite variety, Simulation, Efficiency, Nimble firm, Corporate slack

Regional innovation system (RIS) has become a key priority for policy makers in many advanced countries and regions. RIS, as a concept, has also been shown to be relevant and applicable to newly industrialized countries and developing economies. Nevertheless, very few studies discuss the issue based on the context of these countries. Thus, the study selects three biotechnology regional innovation systems in Taiwan, a representative of newly industrialized countries, as research subjects. In this research, Nankang RIS of new drug developments, Hsinchu RIS of medical electronics, and Sothern Taiwan RIS of medical devices are studied. Additionally, as more and more organizations within the regional cluster interact with other actors outside the region, previous literatures scarcely address the interactions between different clusters. Consequently, this study also investigates the issue of cross-RIS interactions.

Reed–Solomon (RS) codes are a type of forward error correction (FEC) coding that is highly efficient at combating burst errors in received messages. This efficiency has led to its widespread application in error correction in the head tag, often in combination with other channel coders for the construction of robust FEC coding. This brief outlines the design and implementation of a two-mode RS decoder using a simplified step-by-step (SS) algorithm for (255, 239) and (204, 188) RS codes. Calculation of the syndrome determinant in the RS decoder is achieved through Gaussian elimination using a 1-D systolic array with hardware architecture of low complexity, ideally suited for the higher-dimensional matrices used in SS algorithms. The proposed two-mode RS decoder is easily modified with regard to the delay-line buffer size, the delta accumulation and summation module, and the control unit. A two-mode RS decoder with approximately 32 K gates was fabricated using 180-nm complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor technology. Evaluation results confirm that the proposed device consumes only 57 mW at 166 MHz.

A Viterbi code is a type of the well-known error correcting code (ECC), which provides a robust error control methodology for wireless communication systems. It can efficiently reduce the bit error rate of the receiver and hence the reliability of the receiver is improved at data fidelity. This paper presents a novel low-power Viterbi decoder (VD) with a four-bit soft decision. To provide a multi-standard ECC processor, this study proposes a code rate 1/2 and 1/3 of VD used in software-defined radio systems for the hardware accelerator. Based on the proposed Viterbi decoding scheme, the survivor memory can be eliminated totally. This scheme achieves energy savings of approximately 50% of the total power dissipation and obtains a lower latency than that of most classical VDs. Furthermore, to avoid overflow occurrences in the add-compare-select unit (ACSU), a normalised mechanism is proposed, which only uses simple shifters and selection operations to reduce the design complexity. Finally, because it is des...

In this paper, we report findings from a first nationally-representative survey of household sector innovation in China, and offer two major new findings to that literature stream. First, we find that 23.2 million Chinese citizens are household innovators when we include householders who develop innovations for any motivation, not just for their own use. When we include only householders who innovate motivated by personal need, as was done in previous household sector innovation surveys, the estimate is 16.5 million individuals. Reanalysis of data obtained from two earlier national surveys show that the same adjustment factor of approximately 1.5 holds in those samples too. If this result holds in other nations as well, it will represent a significant increase in the measured frequency of household sector innovation in general. A second major finding from our China survey is that higher individual incomes are strongly associated with increased frequency of household sector innovation and diffusion. Income was not measured in previous national surveys of household sector innovation. When, in this study, we combine personal income effects with the positive impact of educational levels and technical training on the frequency of household sector innovation and also diffusion, a general picture emerges of a phenomenon that increases along with gains in national development. That is, as national levels of income, education and technical knowledge increase globally, a related increase in the economic importance of household sector innovation can be anticipated. Both of these novel findings, we think, contribute substantially to researchers understanding of and ability to manage the phenomenon of household sector innovation.

A regional innovation system can be seen as a constellation of industrial clusters surrounded by innovative supporting organizations. The adjacency of geographic area and cluster interaction is the first necessary condition of the regional innovation system. Since innovations occur more easily in the situation of geographical concentration and proximity, the region is deemed the most appropriate scale at which to sustain the fast growing knowledge-based economy. In this special issue, we introduce rich issues of regional innovation systems in East Asia, including entrepreneurship, biotechnology innovation, building extra-regional networks, value creation, institutions and innovation, and evolving nature in the regional innovation system. In this special issue, the authors provide great contributions to this academic field by displaying their insights on regional innovation system in East Asia. Many managerial implications, policy implications, and directions for future research are also proposed.

This study develops a power-managed method for mobile devices, which employs mobile power banks con- structed on an Android-based power control system. Combined with self-developed power bank monitoring and control software, this study developed a multi-functional battery charging control system. The design also considers and inte- grates external electronic devices and mechanisms, and provides additional functions aside from phone charging to satisfy the needs of female users. Consequently, the system reduces the weight of bags when travelling or going out and simulta- neously increases user convenience. Few patents associated with power manage method are discussed in this review.

The biotechnology industry is at the heart of the fast-growing knowledge-based economy. One of the distinguishing characteristics of this industry is clustering. A cluster, like an organism, experiences origin, growth, and decline/reorientation. Our study constructs a framework to analyze biotechnology clusters with different origins, “spontaneous” and “policy-driven”, through their life cycles. We use the Bay Area in the United States and Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in China as two cases to represent spontaneous and policy-driven biotechnology clusters. This study fills the gap in the literature by comparing these two types of biotechnology clusters in an evolutionary perspective. The key success factors of both biotechnology clusters are their own human and financial capital, but they differ in their underlying processes for creating and sharing these resources. The most fundamental differences arise from the impact of entrepreneurship, social capital and network patterns on the cluster's configuration.

Genetic and evolutionary principles are of great importance to technology strategists, both directly (as in the forecasting of genetic engineering technologies) and as a source of metaphor and perspective on socio-technical change. Recent rapid progress in the molecular sciences have revealed new genetic mechanisms of evolution, and introduced new controversies of interpretation. How do these recent developments affect technology forecasting and our view of technological evolution? This paper provides a quick primer for TFSC readers on several new developments in evolution and genetics, comments upon a number of common misconceptions and pitfalls in evolutionary thinking, and critically describes some controversies and open questions, introducing key readings and sources. It relates genetic and evolutionary knowledge, analogies and metaphors to areas of interest to researchers in technology forecasting and assessment, noting possible future directions. The paper concludes with an overview of the other papers in this special section.

How do a firm’s internal capabilities and external partnerships contribute to its product and process innovativeness? How do their impacts differ? Based on the theoretical framework of exploitation and exploration, we develop an integrative model linking the impact of both internal capabilities and external partnerships on product and process innovativeness. Survey responses from Taiwanese biotechnology firms indicate that research and development (R&D), marketing, and manufacturing capabilities have different effects on product and process innovativeness. Of the four types of external partnerships, only partnerships with universities and research institutes seem to add value, whereas partnerships with suppliers, customers, and competitors do not contribute to innovativeness. Moreover, marketing capability and customer partnerships have a positive interaction effect on product innovativeness, while manufacturing capability and supplier partnerships have a positive interaction effect on process innovativeness.

Near infrared quantum cutting by cooperative energy transfer from Tb3+ to Yb3+ was investigated by photoluminescence measurements on (YbxY1−x)PO4 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15) doped with 1 % Tb3+. Under the excitation of 473 and 486 nm continuous wave lasers, we found that one Tb3+ ion absorbed one blue photon with the transition from 5D4 to 7F5 (λ ~ 544 nm) and cooperatively transfer energy to Yb3+ ions, which is followed by the emission of two photons (λ ~ 980 nm). Application of cooperative energy transfer has prospects for increasing the energy efficiency of crystalline Si solar cells by photon doubling of the high energy part of the solar spectrum.

In this article we reflect on the adolescent years of Asia management research published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Management (APJM) by reviewing work published in the past 10 years (1997–2006). We report that during the last decade, APJM has published 223 research articles, written by 373 different authors, who are affiliated with 203 different institutions. Our discussion of the future of Asia management research is guided by Kuhn’s (Kuhn, T. S. The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962) perspective on the nonlinear progression of science. We argue that as a growing community, Asia management research is finding its “identity” and establishing its presence in the larger worldwide management research community. Following our analysis, we conclude that the growth of Asia management research—as captured by APJM publications—throughout its “adolescent” years has set forth a challenging and exciting path for the future.

This paper presents a novel dual-code-rate memoryless Viterbi decoder with a 4-level soft decision for wireless communication systems. Based on the proposed architecture, the survivor memory can be eliminated totally, which will significantly reduce 50% of the total power dissipation. As shown, the proposed design uses approximately 27.5 K gates in 0.18 μm CMOS technology, and its power consumption is approximately 9.8 mW at 80 MHz.

This paper presents a novel memoryless Viterbi decoder (VD) with a 4-level soft decision for long term evolution (LTE) systems. Based on the proposed architecture, the survivor memory can be eliminated totally, which will significantly reduce 50% of the total power dissipation. Finally, the proposed design consumes approximately 23.4K gates using 0.18 µm CMOS technology, and its power consumption is approximately 7.5 mW at 80 MHz.