IMPACT OF INNOVATIVNESS ON OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF GOVERONMENT LEVEL COMPANIES (GLCs): A MODERATING ROLE OF INCENTIVE SCHEMES

Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE) is not a new strategy of fostering a firm’s performance and to increase customer satisfaction and market share, espoused by striving firms. However, studies on the effect of CE on the performance of GLCs are not common in literature, especially in the eastern world. The literature strongly indicates the requirement of more workable models of CE for GLCs in Pakistan, due to dearth in existing studies on the subject. Hence, the aim of this study is to gauge the impact of the most compelling element of CE on the operational performance of GLCs. This study has also been supplemented with the moderating role of incentive schemes in order to effectively gauge the motivational aspect in CE of GLCs. The analysis has been made through SMART PLS and structural equational modelling was used as the tool of analysis. Analysis indicated that innovation is perceived as one of the prime tools that may affect operational performance, although GLCs have different compensation structures and thus does not seem to be affecting the relationship of innovativeness and operational performance of GLCs

IMPACT OF INNOVATIVNESS ON OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF GOVERONMENT LEVEL COMPANIES (GLCs): A MODERATING ROLE OF INCENTIVE SCHEMES

Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE) is not a new strategy of fostering a firm’s performance and to increase customer satisfaction and market share, espoused by striving firms. However, studies on the effect of CE on the performance of GLCs are not common in literature, especially in the eastern world. The literature strongly indicates the requirement of more workable models of CE for GLCs in Pakistan, due to dearth in existing studies on the subject. Hence, the aim of this study is to gauge the impact of the most compelling element of CE on the operational performance of GLCs. This study has also been supplemented with the moderating role of incentive schemes in order to effectively gauge the motivational aspect in CE of GLCs. The analysis has been made through SMART PLS and structural equational modelling was used as the tool of analysis. Analysis indicated that innovation is perceived as one of the prime tools that may affect operational performance, although GLCs have different compensation structures and thus does not seem to be affecting the relationship of innovativeness and operational performance of GLCs

COMPARISON BETWEEN ADRENALINE AND WITHOUT ADRENALINE SOLUTION ON BLEEDING CONTROL OF SKIN GRAFT DONOR SITE: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL

OBJECTIVE: To compare the bleeding control of skin graft donor site between normal saline soaked gauze with adrenaline and conventional technique having no adrenaline. METHODS: This open-label randomized control trial was conducted at Dr. Ruth K.M. Pfau Civil Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan from October 2020 to March 2021. Seventy-five patients were randomized to interventional (n=36, 48%) and control group (n=39, 52%) through sealed envelopes. Diluted solution was prepared by adding 30cc of Ringer’s lactate and 10cc of lignocaine 2%, with 1cc of adrenaline of 1:200000 with 200 ml of normal saline solution. Solution for control group was containing only normal saline. Following the skin harvesting at donor site, a gauze piece soaked with tumescent solution was applied at the donor site wound. Bleeding severity and epithelialization were assessed. Data was recorded in a pre-designed performa and analyzed through SPSS version-25. RESULTS: There was no significant differences in baseline characteristics like age (p=0.823), gender (p=0.984) and nature of injury (p=0.936) among two groups. Severe, moderate and mild bleeding was noted in 20/39 (51.3%), 15/39 (38.5%) and 4/39 (10.3%) cases in control group as compared to 0/36 (0%); 2/36 (5.6%) and 25/36 (69.4%) cases in interventional group respectively (**<0.001). No bleeding was noted in 9/36 (25%) cases of interventional group. Complete epithelialization was observed in 24/36 (66.7%) & 17/39 (43.6%) cases in adrenaline and control groups respectively (p=0.045). CONCLUSION: Application of adrenaline was more effective in bleeding control and early epithelialization at donor site following the skin harvesting as compared to conventional technique

Regional and scale-specific effects of land use on amphibian diversity [poster]

Background/Question/Methods Habitat loss and degradation influence amphibian distributions and are important drivers of population declines. Our previous research demonstrated that road disturbance, development and wetland area consistently influence amphibian richness across regions of the U.S. Here, we examined the relative importance of these factors in different regions and at multiple spatial scales. Understanding the scales at which habitat disturbance may be affecting amphibian distributions is important for conservation planning. Specifically, we asked: 1) Over what spatial scales do distinct landscape features affect amphibian richness? and 2) Do road types (non-rural and rural) have similar effects on amphibian richness? This is the second year of a collaborative, nationwide project involving 11 U.S. colleges integrated within undergraduate biology curricula. We summarized North American Amphibian Monitoring Program data in 13 Eastern and Central U.S states and used geographic information systems to extract landscape data for 471 survey locations. We developed models to quantify the influence of landscape variables on amphibian species richness and site occupancy across five concentric buffers ranging from 300m to 10,000m. Results/Conclusions Across spatial scales, development, road density and agriculture were the best predictors of amphibian richness and site occupancy by individual species. Across regions, we found that scale did not exert a large influence on how landscape features influenced amphibian richness as effects were largely comparable across buffers. However, development and percent impervious surface had stronger influence on richness at smaller spatial scales. Richness was lower at survey locations with higher densities of non-rural and rural roads, and non-rural road density had a larger negative effect at smaller scales. Within regions, landscape features driving patterns of species richness varied. The scales at which these factors were associated with richness were highly variable within regions, suggesting the scale effects may be region specific. Our project demonstrates that networks of undergraduate students can collaborate to compile and analyze large ecological data sets, while engaging students in authentic and inquiry-based learning in landscape-scale ecology

Improved bio-oil yield from thermo-catalytic pyrolysis of Citrus limetta waste over pumice: determination of kinetic parameters using Kissinger method

The focus of this research is on thermo-catalytic conversion of Citrus limetta waste, with and without pumice, using thermo gravimetric analysis and a pyrolysis chamber. TG/DTG results demonstrated weight reduction occurring in four stages i.e., evaporation of water, degradation of hemicellulose, decomposition of cellulose and lignin. Activation energy (Ea) calculated using Kissinger method for non-catalytic decomposition of hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin was found as 99.76, 157.96 and 174.59 kJ mol−1 and for catalyzed reactions as 83.14, 91.45 and 149.65 kJ mol−1respectively. Thermal degradation of Citrus limetta waste produced 30 oil in the range of C2–C24, while catalytic pyrolysis produced more than 45 pyrolysis oil with a wide range of components from C4 to C32 which shows, that pumice has not only decreased the activation energy of the pyrolysis reaction but improved the quality of bio-oil making it suitable for energy on upgradation

Production of Fuel Range Hydrocarbons from Pyrolysis of Lignin over Zeolite Y, Hydrogen

In the current study, plain and lignin loaded with Zeolite Y, hydrogen was decomposed in a pyrolysis chamber. The reaction parameters were optimized and 390 °C, 3% catalyst with a reaction time of 40 min were observed as the most suitable conditions for better oil yield. The bio-oil collected from the catalyzed and non-catalyzed pyrolytic reactions was analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS). Catalytic pyrolysis resulted in the production of bio-oil consisting of 15 components ranging from C3 to C18 with a high percentage of fuel range benzene derivatives. Non-catalytic pyrolysis produced bio-oil that consists of 58 components ranging from C3 to C24; however, the number and quantity of fuel range hydrocarbons were lower than in the catalyzed products. The pyrolysis reaction was studied kinetically for both samples using thermogravimetry at heating rates of 5, 10, 15 and 20 °C/min in the temperature range 20–600 °C. The activation energies and pre-exponential factors were calculated using the Kissinger equation for both non-catalytic and catalytic decomposition and found to be 157.96 kJ/mol, 141.33 kJ/mol, 2.66 × 1013 min−1 and 2.17 × 1010 min−1, respectively. It was concluded that Zeolite Y, hydrogen worked well as a catalyst to decrease activation energy and enhance the quality of the bio-oil generated

Biological Activities of Methanolic Extract of Aegle marmelos against HN Protein of Newcastle Disease Virus

The current study explores the methanolic extracts of the leaves and fruit of Aegle marmelos (Bael) for their total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoids content (TFC), antioxidants, and antibiofilms, as well as its in ovo antiviral potential against Newcastle disease virus (NDV). The drug-likeliness thereof and the potential identification of an interaction—their molecular docking of ligands with target proteins by GOLD—was determined in silico using the Swiss ADME software. The total flavonoids content (TFC) was 135.17 ± 2.02 and 111.2 ± 3.67 mg QE/g, while the total phenolics content (TPC) was 185.02 ± 2.15 and 171.13 ± 6.73 mg GAE/g, in the fruit and leaves extracts, respectively. In a DPPH assay, the IC50 value for the methanolic extracts of leaves and fruit was 63.52 ± 1.48 and 52.06 ± 1.62. μg/mL d.w. The fruit extract of A. marmelos showed significantly higher reducing power (i.e., 59.32 ± 0.05 µmol/g d.w) than the leaves extract (p &lt; 0.05). The biofilm-inhibition activity of the fruit extract of A. marmelos was 65.78 ± 0.65 µg/mL. Both parts of the plant showed potent antiviral potential at higher concentrations. A study in silico, using the molecular docking of three compounds, showed good interaction with the HN protein, with considerable binding affinities and fulfilled docking parameters. This work shows that Aegle marmelos and its phytoconstituents can be used as a potential remedy for NDV

Data from: Effects of roads and land use on frog distributions across spatial scales and regions in the eastern and central United States

Aim: Understanding the scales over which land use affects animal populations is critical for conservation planning, and it can provide information about the mechanisms that underlie correlations between species distributions and land use. We used a citizen-science database of anuran surveys to examine the relationship between road density, land use, and the distribution of frogs and toads across spatial scales and regions of the United States. Location: Eastern and Central United States Methods: We compiled data on anuran occupancy collected from 1999-2013 across 13 states in the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program, a citizen science survey of calling frogs. These data were indexed to measures of land use within buffers ranging from 300 m to 10 km. Results: The negative effects of road density and development on anuran richness were strongest at the smallest scales (300 – 1000 m), and this pattern was consistent across regions. In contrast, the relationships of anuran richness to agriculture and forest cover were similar across local scales but varied among regions. Richness had a negative relationship with agriculture/ forest loss in the Midwest but a positive relationship with agriculture in the Northeast. Anuran richness was more closely related to primary/secondary road density than to rural road density, and the negative effects of larger roads increased at smaller scales. Individual species differed in the scales over which roads and development affected their distributions, but these differences were not closely related to either body size or movement ability. Main conclusions: This study further refines our understanding of the relationship between roads and amphibian populations and highlights the need for research into the specific mechanisms by which roads affect amphibians. Additionally, we find that relationships between land use and species richness can differ substantially across regions, demonstrating that one should use caution in generalizing from one region to another, even when species composition is similar

Land use data and anuran species richness for North American Amphibian Monitoring Program survey sites

Data from 587 NAAMP survey sites. NAAMP survey locations are organized as "stops" within "routes," each of which has a unique SiteID. Land use variables were measured within buffers of 300m, 600m, 1000m, 5km, and 10km. Variables include "wet_prop" (proportion of area covered by wetland), "imperv" (proportion of area covered by impervious surface), "PROP_FOR" (proportion of area covered by forest), "PROP_DEV" (proportion of area covered by developed land uses, and "PROP_AGR" (proportion of area covered by row crop agriculture. Road-related variables are given as linear lengths (meters) within each buffer. Variables are T_ROAD_LEN (total road length), P_ROAD_LEN (primary (divided) roads), S_ROAD_LEN (secondary roads), O_ROAD_LEN (other roads, i.e. not P or S), and PS_ROAD_LEN (the sum of primary and secondary road lengths). Data also show the number of NAAMP surveys of each stop (Num.Surv), the number of years covered (Num.Years), mean car count during surveys (Car.Count), number of surveys with ambient noise (Noise.Num), and proportion of surveys that noted noise (NOISE_LEV = Noise.Num/Num.Surv). Amphibian presence/absence over all surveys are given for the species ANFO, HYCI, HYSQ, LICA, LICL, LIPA, LIPI, LISP, LISY, HYCV, PSTR (full scientific names are provided in the associated paper). NAs indicate sites outside the known range of each species. Richness is shown as the sum of all species detected at each stop, and NPP represents estimated Net Primary Productivity at that set (which provided a geographic expectation of anuran species richness)