Suchergebnisse

This book collects and reports on the results of a study conducted on the Chinese Software and Services Outsourcing (SSO) industry, focusing on one of its main players as a key case study. Two sets of research findings are presented: first, the knowledge management and communication processes inherent within a highly collaborative software development project between the case study company and one of its long-term UK clients are explored and distilled into specific practices; second, at the organizational level, the strategies used by the company to build and exploit capabilities and to dynamically configure resources to promote specific value positions along its outsourced services value networks are identified and discussed. The significance of these findings for similar China-based global high-tech firms and the value of this organizational form in moving closer to the goals of the 2020 enterprise vision are both discussed, along with the implications of the findings for EU/UK businesses operating in similar digital domains.

Using organizational commitment theory, we proposed a model to characterize how community commitment affects the usage behavior of online knowledge community (OKC) members, and to depict the contextual antecedents of that commitment. We analyzed survey data from 255 users of an OKC
and found that continuance, affective, and normative community commitment each had a prominent but different influence on the OKC members' usage behavior; as contextual antecedents, the usability attribute had a significant effect on continuance community commitment, and community atmosphere
played an important role in both affective and normative community commitment. These findings contribute to researchers' understanding of the effect of community commitment on OKC members' usage behavior. Managers of OKCs may use the findings to target contextual antecedents of commitment
to encourage usage.

PurposeSocial question and answer (Q&A) systems have been rapidly developed on many e-commerce websites. The purpose of this paper is to explore how social Q&A systems influence consumers' information processing and purchase intention.Design/methodology/approachThe authors design this research based on the information adoption model (IAM). First, the auhors consider the impacts of the central route (information factor) and peripheral route (social factor) on consumers' perception of information usefulness in Q&A systems. Then, the authors verify the influence of information and social aspects on purchase intention and empirically test the model with structural equation modelling (SEM) using 428 effective data samples.FindingsOn the whole, the authors prove that purchase intention is influenced by information and social aspects, which are two paths in Q&A systems. Specifically, both answer quality and social presence positively influence information usefulness. Interestingly, respondent credibility and answer consistency do not significantly impact information usefulness. Moreover, information usefulness positively affects information adoption, which positively affects consumer purchase intention.Practical implicationsThis paper provides insights on social Q&A system mechanism design.Originality/valueFirst, this paper is a useful complement to the research on social Q&A systems on e-commerce websites. Second, the authors provide a new theoretical lens through which the impacts of social Q&A systems on e-commerce websites are understood by extending the IAM. Third, the authors add answer consistency into original information process routes, which obtains a finding that is different from those of prior research.

The main aim of the study is investigating the trends in partnership between China and Nigeria, the contribution of partnership for economic development and technology transfer. In addition, the study will investigate the challenges to effective technology transfer associated with the construction and management sectors. The data for the research was retrieved from secondary data. Some of the sources of data comprise of publications, peer-reviewed journals, reports by government agencies, published books and trusted websites such as Nigerian Bureau of Statistics. From the research, it was stated that the partnership between Nigeria and China encourages growth of innovation and technology sharing. In addition, technology transfer allows the effective performance of the local talents and skills that are crucial in the expansion of the industry. However, despite these benefits, there are still challenges that limit the effective transfer of technology. The challenges cited comprises of high corruption cases that limit the effective implementation of policies, poor commitment of Chinese firms in hiring local management and professionals in management and construction, and Chinese firms acquiring raw products from China that are cheap and of different characteristic making it difficult for efficient transfer of technology from China to Nigeria. Future research should seek effective methods of increasing technology diffusion in Nigeria.

Yun Hong Wu, Su Yuan Wang, Ming Xia Li, Hua He, Wei Jin Yin, Yan Hong Guo, Hui Qin Zhang, Zeng Mei Sun, Dan Zhang, Xi Wang, Shu Yao Sun, Shu Xi Tang, Rong Du, Cheng Hui Zhang Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Hospital of Chengdu Office of People's Government of Tibetan Autonomous Region, Chengdu, People's Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Cheng Hui ZhangDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Hospital of Chengdu Office of People's Government of Tibetan Autonomous Region, No. 20 Ximianqiao Street, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, People's Republic of ChinaEmail zchscu0616@163.comAim: This study aimed to determine whether serum ferritin (SF) is an independent risk factor of the incidence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and rapid renal function decline (RFD) in male Tibetan patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study that included 191 male Tibetan patients with T2DM without CKD. Patients were divided into three groups according to the level of SF. The following outcomes were measured: cumulative incidence of chronic kidney disease [i.e. estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) < 60 mL/min per 1.73 m 2 and/or urinary albumin/creatine ratio (ACR) ≥ 30 mg/g] and RFD (i.e. decrease in eGFR of ≥ 25% from baseline or a decline rate of ≥ 3 mL/min per 1.73 m 2 annually).Results: In total, over a median follow-up period of 23 months, 30 (15.7%) and 89 patients (46.6%) developed CKD and RFD. In multivariable Cox models, a 100 ng/mL increment in SF was associated with a 1.12-fold (95% CI: 1.02– 1.24) higher adjusted risk for incidence of CKD. The adjusted-HR of CKD was 1.31 (95% CI: 0.38– 4.53) and 2.92 (95% CI: 0.87– 9.77) for those in tertile 2 and tertile 3, respectively, compared with the patients in tertile 1. However, SF was not significantly associated with RFD (adjusted-HR: 1.06, 95% CI: 0.99– 1.14).Conclusion: Serum ferritin independently predicts the incidence of CKD in male Tibetan patients with T2DM. High levels of serum ferritin may play a role in the pathogenesis leading to the development of CKD in T2DM.Keywords: serum ferritin, chronic kidney disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus

Chenghui Zhang,1,2,* Qing Ou,1,* Yan Gu,1,* Gaiping Cheng,3 Rong Du,1,2 Li Yuan,1 Ruth LM Cordiner,4 Deying Kang,5 Jiaying Zhang,6 Qiaorong Huang,7 Chuan Yu,8 Li Kang,9 Xuan Wang,4,10 Xin Sun,5 Xianming Mo,7 Haoming Tian,1 Ewan R Pearson,4 Wentong Meng,7 Sheyu Li1,4 1Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, People's Republic of China; 2Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Hospital of Chengdu Office of People's Government of Tibetan Autonomous Region, Chengdu 610041, People's Republic of China; 3Department of Clinical Nutrition, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, People's Republic of China; 4Division of Population Health and Genomics, Ninewells Hospital and School of Medicine, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 9SY, Scotland, UK; 5Chinese Evidence-Based Medicine Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, People's Republic of China; 6Department of Ophthalmology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, People's Republic of China; 7Laboratory of Stem Cell Biology, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, People's Republic of China; 8Department of Health-Related Social and Behavioral Science, West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, People's Republic of China; 9Division of Systems Medicine, Ninewells Hospital and School of Medicine, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 9SY, Scotland, UK; 10Science for Life Laboratory, Department of Medical Cell Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala 75123, Sweden*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Sheyu LiDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, 37# Guoxue Road, Chengdu 610041, ChinaTel +86-13194874843Fax +86-28-85422982Email lisheyu@gmail.comWentong MengLaboratory of Stem Cell Biology, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, 37# Guoxue Road, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, People's Republic of ChinaTel +86-18980601256Fax +86-28-85422982Email mwentong@sina.comAim: To investigate the count of circulating tissue factor-positive (TF+) procoagulant microparticles (MPs) in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM).Methods: This case-control study included patients with T1DM and age and sex-matched healthy volunteers. The counts of phosphatidylserine-positive (PS+) MPs and TF+PS+MPs and the subgroups derived from different cell types were measured in the peripheral blood sample of the two groups using multicolor flow cytometric assay. We compared the counts of each MP between groups as well as the ratio of the TF+PS+MPs and PS+MPs (TF+PS+MPs/PS+MPs).Results: We recruited 36 patients with T1DM and 36 matched healthy controls. Compared with healthy volunteers, PS+MPs, TF+PS+MPs and TF+PS+MPs/PS+MPs were elevated in patients with T1DM (PS+MPs: 1078.5 ± 158.08 vs 686.84 ± 122.04/μL, P <0.001; TF+PS+MPs: 202.10 ± 47.47 vs 108.33 ± 29.42/μL, P <0.001; and TF+PS+MPs/PS+MPs: 0.16 ± 0.04 vs 0.19 ± 0.05, P = 0.004), mostly derived from platelet, lymphocytes and endothelial cells. In the subgroup analysis, the counts of total and platelet TF+PS+MPs were increased in patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR) and with higher HbA1c, respectively.Conclusion: Circulating TF+PS+MPs and those derived from platelet, lymphocytes and endothelial cells were elevated in patients with T1DM.Keywords: type 1 diabetes mellitus, microparticles, tissue factor, diabetic retinopathy