Dinamik örgütsel kurallar, pazar bilgisi özümseme kapasitesi ve firma yenilikçiliği: Ampirik bir inceleme

The concept of market knowledge absorptive capacity (AC) is one of the dynamic capabilities that a firm has which is crucial for market success of the organization. However, the effect of market knowledge AC on the firm innovativeness (i.e. product and process) and the impact of dynamic rules of action embedded in organizational structure and behaviors on this capacity is interestingly missing in the AC literature. By investigating 241 firms, this paper indicates that a) dynamic rules of action are positively associated with market knowledge AC variables, b) market knowledge AC is positively related to firm innovativeness, c) firm innovativeness is positively associated with firm performance. In addition, we show that market knowledge AC influences firm performance via firm innovativeness.Pazar bilgisi özümseme kapasitesi bir firmanın pazar başarısı için önemli olan dinamik yeteneklerinden biridir. Ancak ilginç olarak pazar bilgisi özümseme kapasitesinin firma yenilikçiliği üzerindeki etkisi ve örgütün yapı ve davranışlarında gömülü olan dinamik örgütsel kuralların bu kapasite üzerindeki etkisi literatürde incelenmemiştir. Bu çalışma 241 firmayı analiz ederek a) dinamik örgütsel kuralların pazar bilgisi özümseme kapasitesini oluşturan her bir değişken ile pozitif ilişkili olduğunu, b) pazar bilgisi özümseme kapasitesinin firma yenilikçiliği ile pozitif ilişkili olduğunu ve c) firma yenilikçiliğinin firma performansı ile pozitif ilişkili olduğunu göstermektedir. Ayrıca, pazar bilgisi özümseme kapasitesinin firma performansını firma yenilikçiliğinin aracılığıyla etkilediği de gösterilmektedir

Relationship between market orientation and firm performance: The mediating role of differentiation strategy

En dikkat çekici stratejik yönelimlerden biri olarak pazar yönelimi, müşterilerin beklenti ve ihtiyaçlarını anlamaya, tatmin etmeye ve benzersiz müşteri değeri sağlamaya yönelik örgütsel faaliyetlerin bütünüdür. Ancak hızla değişen rekabetçi çevrede, sadece pazar yönelimine odaklanmak yerine, onu güçlendirecek ve performansa katkı sağlayacak uygun rekabet stratejilerine de ihtiyaç vardır. Bu bağlamda çalışmada, pazar yönelimi bileşenleri, farklılaştırma stratejisi ve firma performansı (finansal, pazar ve yenilik performansı) arasındaki ilişkiler ampirik olarak incelenmiştir. 250 firma üzerinde gerçekleştirilen araştırma ile a) pazar yönelimi değişkenlerinin firmanın farklılaştırma stratejisi ile pozitif ilişkili b) farklılaştırma stratejisinin firma performansı ile pozitif ilişkili ve c) farklılaştırma stratejisinin pazar yönelimi ile firma performansı arasında aracı etkisinin olduğu tespit edilmektedir.As one of the most salient strategic orientations, market orientation consists of organization-wide activities to provide unique and superior customer value and to understand and satisfy customer expectations and needs. However, in the rapidly changing competitive environment, rather than focusing on just market orientation, there is a need for competitive strategies that will strengthen and contribute to performance. In this study, we empirically investigated the relationship among the components of market orientation, differentiation strategy and firm performance (i.e. financial, market and innovation performance). By investigating 250 firms, this paper shows that a) the market orientation variables are positively related to differentiation strategy, b) differentiation strategy is positively associated with firm performance and c) differentiation strategy mediates the relationship between market orientation and firm performance

Nombres y paisajes inconclusos.

Se presentan en esta comunicación una serie de proyectos y espacios inconclusos y conflictivos del municipio de Toledo a partir de sus nombre, con el objetivo de plantear el alcance de la información toponímica como información relevante en el análisis geográfico de estos espacios

Ciudades del turismo, imaginarios y topónimos.

En las ciudades turísticas, la toponimia constituye un elemento esencial en la configuración de los imaginarios de turistas y visitantes. En este sentido, los nombres geográficos ejercen un fuerte papel de referente, muchas veces como hilo conductor en los mapas mentales del turista que, cuando visita por primera vez un espacio urbano, se dirige a visitar, en primera instancia, un determinado monumento o un determinado paraje antes que otros, especialmente cuando se trata de una ciudad histórica. El paisaje urbano, en los imaginarios de los turistas, aparece condicionado por la señalización toponímica y turística que constituye, por tanto, un elemento para dirigir al visitante. Los carteles de señalización son entonces, además de una importante fuente de información patrimonial, un importante indicio del tipo de modelo turístico que persigue la ciudad analizada. Toledo, ciudad histórica ubicada en el área metropolitana sur de Madrid, es una ciudad turística con un importante flujo de visitantes que no pernoctan y que, por regla general, discurren únicamente hacia el Casco Histórico, cuando su riqueza patrimonial y turística trasciende el mismo. La focalización del turismo toledano hacia el Casco Histórico queda patente en los topónimos que se insta a manejar al visitante, a través de la cartografía turística y la señalización. Este trabajo abordará las relaciones existentes entre el paisaje turístico, los imaginarios urbanos de los turistas y la toponimia de Toledo, poniendo en valor el papel de la toponimia como elemento informativo, patrimonial y de referencia social y cultural. Palabras clave: toponimia, paisaje urbano, imaginarios, señalización, turismo

Metodología para la identificación de las áreas de referencia de los topónimos en cartografía.

En la cartografía tradicional es evidente la falta de precisión referencial de los diferentes topónimos, quedando, en muchas ocasiones, abierta a la pericia o interpretación del lector del mapa. Aun cuando existen topónimos cuya delimitación aparece definida de una forma clara y nítida por las autoridades competentes, en una gran mayoría de casos no ocurre así: el área que es reconocible por un topónimo concreto no posee límites precisos, sino que éstos varían en función del mapa mental y referencial de los usuarios que, lógicamente, no es coincidente. En este trabajo se plantean procedimientos para recoger la riqueza y complejidad de la expresión de las áreas a las que son referenciables los diferentes topónimos, tanto a nivel de nomenclátor como en su expresión cartográfica. Se indican procedimientos de recogida de referencias de información toponímica de diferentes tipos y distintas formas de expresión cartográfica de los mismos. El resultado consiste en una nueva propuesta de tratamiento de la toponimia en el ámbito de la cartografía. Cada topónimo irá asociado a un área específica de referencia, donde se matiza un núcleo de referencia segura, otros de referencia difusa y áreas de ambigüedad

Neurotoxicity evaluation of three root canal sealers on cultured rat trigeminal ganglion neurons

The aim of this study was to investigate the possible neurotoxic effects of 3 root canal sealers (RCSs) (AH Plus, GuttaFlow, iRoot SP) on cultured rat trigeminal ganglion (TG) neurons. Primary cultures of TG neurons were obtained from 1 to 2-day old rats. Freshly mixed RCSs were incubated in sterile phosphate buffered saline and cells were incubated with supernatants of the RCSs for different time intervals (1-, 3-, 6- and 24-h; 1 or 1/10 diluted) and viability/cytotoxicity was tested by counting the number of live cells. Pair of dishes with cells from the same culture incubated with only culture medium was considered as negative controls. Cell images were captured and acquired at x200 magnification using a microscope equipped with a camera using special image program. The viable cells were manually counted assigned from the images for each dose and incubation duration. Data was analysed by using 1-way analysis of variance with Tukey post hoc tests. There was no significant change in cell viability after short duration of incubation (1- and 3-h) with the supernatant of any of RCSs, except for undiluted-AH Plus at 3-h. When AH Plus was compared with other RCSs, for diluted supernatants, there was only significant difference between iRoot SP and AH Plus at 24-h (P<0.05). Whereas undiluted-AH Plus was significantly more cytotoxic for 3-, 6- and 24-h periods as compared to respective incubation periods of undiluted other groups (P<0.05). GuttaFlow groups had similar neurotoxic effect on cells for all test periods. All tested RCSs exhibited a variable degree of neurotoxicity on these primary sensory neurons of orofacial tissues, depending on their chemical compositions. GuttaFlow and iRoot SP evoked a less toxic response to TG cells than AH Plus

Natural diterpenoid alysine A isolated from Teucrium alyssifolium exerts antidiabetic effect via enhanced glucose uptake and suppressed glucose absorption

Teucrium species have been used in folk medicine as antidiabetic, antiinflammatory, antiulcer, and antibacterial agents. We have explored in vitro antidiabetic impacts of 2 natural diterpenoids, alysine A and alysine B, isolated from Teucrium alyssifolium. The lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) cytotoxicity assay, glucose uptake test, glucose utilization (glycogen content) test, glucose transport test, glucose absorption (α-glucosidase activity) test, insulin secretion test, RNA isolation and cDNA synthesis assay, qPCR quantification assays, and statistical analyses were carried out in the present study. Alysine A exerted the following effects at non-cytotoxic doses: • Enhanced the glucose uptake, as much as the insulin in the C2C12, HepG2, and 3T3-L1 cells • Increased the glycogen content in the C2C12 and HepG2 liver cells, significantly higher than the insulin and metformin • Suppressed the alpha-glucosidase and the GLUT2 expression levels in the Caco-2 cells • Suppressed the SGLT1 and GLUT1-5 expression levels in the Caco-2 cells • Induced the insulin receptor substrate (IRS)1 and GLUT2 expression levels of the BTC6 pancreatic cells • Induced the insulin receptor (INSR), IRS2, phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), GLUT4, and protein kinase (PK) expression levels of the 3T3-L1 and C2C12 cells • Increased glucose transport through the Caco-2 cell layer • Did not influence insulin secretion in the pancreatic BTC6 cells Consequently, these data strongly emphasized the antidiabetic action of alysine A on the particularly critical model mechanisms that assume a part in glucose homeostasis, such as glucose uptake, utilization, and storage. Moreover, the expression level of the essential genes in glucose metabolism and insulin signaling was altered in a way that the results would be antihyperglycemic. A blend of in vitro and in situ tests affirmed the antihyperglycemic action of alysine A and its mechanism. Alysine A has exercised significant and positive results on the glucose homeostasis; thus, it is a natural and pleiotropic antidiabetic agent. Advanced in vivo studies are required to clarify the impact of this compound on glucose homeostasis completelyThis work was supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey under TÜBİTAK, under Project No.: 114Z640, and Pamukkale University under Project No.: PAUBAP-2014FBE029

Self-healing of dense asphalt concrete by two different approaches: electromagnetic induction and infrared radiation

Self-healing of cracks in asphalt mixtures is a phenomenon that can be accelerated by reducing the viscosity of bitumen as it increases the capillarity flow through the cracks. One method to achieve this is by increasing temperature, which also produces a thermal expansion that contributes to the circulation of the bitumen through cracks. In the present paper, the healing performance of asphalt mixture heated using infrared heating to simulate the natural solar radiation, and induction heating, a new method to increase the temperature of asphalt pavements, were compared in terms of time and healing temperature. Healing was defined as the relationship between the 3-point bending strength of an asphalt beam before and after healing. The results show that both methods reach similar and satisfactory healing ratios at around 90 %. However, induction heating is more energy efficient because the effect is concentrated on the binder, instead of heating the whole mix. This can be translated into much shorter heating times to reach the same healing level. Finally, an optimum radiation energy was found, after which higher amounts of infrared radiation damage the properties of the healed material

Comparison of statistical and dynamical downscaling methods for seasonal-scale winter precipitation predictions over north India

The main aim of the present study is to analyse the capabilities of two downscaling approaches (statistical and dynamical) in predicting wintertime seasonal precipitation over north India. For this purpose, a canonical correlation analysis (CCA) based statistical downscaling approach and dynamical downscaling approach (at 30 km) with an optimized configuration of the regional climate model (RegCM) nested in coarse resolution global spectral model have been used for a period of 28 years (1982–2009). For CCA, nine predictors (precipitation, zonal and meridional winds at 850 and 200 hPa, temperature at 200 hPa and sea surface temperatures) over three different domains were selected. The predictors were chosen based on the statistically significant teleconnection maps and physically based relationships between precipitation over the study region and meteorological variables. The validation revealed that both the downscaling approaches provided improved precipitation forecasts compared to the global model. Reasons for improved prediction by downscaling techniques have been examined. The improvement mainly comes due to better representation of orography, westerly moisture transport and vertical pressure velocity in the regional climate model. Furthermore, two bias correction methods namely quantile mapping (QM) and mean bias-remove (MBR) have been applied on downscaled RegCM, statistically downscaled CCA as well as the global model products. It was found that when the QM-based bias correction is applied on dynamically downscaled RegCM products, it has better skill in predicting wintertime precipitation over the study region compared to the CCA-based statistical downscaling. Overall, the results indicate that the QM-based bias-corrected downscaled RegCM model is a useful tool for wintertime seasonal-scale precipitation prediction over north India.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio