Governing the local networks in Indian agrarian societies-an MAS perspective

In a networked society, governing advocacy groups and networks through decentralized systems of policy implementation has been the interest of governance network literature. This paper addresses the topic of governing networks in the context of Indian agrarian societies by taking the case example of a welfare scheme for the Indian rural poor. We explore context-specific regulatory dynamics through the situated agent based architectural framework. The effects of various regulatory strategies that can be adopted by governing node are tested under various action arenas through experimental design. Results show the impact of regulatory strategies on the resource dependencies and asymmetries in the network relationships. This indicates that the optimal feasible regulatory strategy in networked society is institutionally rational and is context dependent. Further, we show that situated MAS architecture is a natural fit for institutional understanding of the dynamics (Ostrom et al. in Rules, games, and common-pool resources, 1994)

Evaluating competing theories of street entrepreneurship

Conventionally, street entrepreneurs were either seen as a residue from a pre-modern era that is gradually disappearing (modernisation theory), or an endeavour into which marginalised populations are driven out of necessity in the absence of alternative ways of securing a livelihood (structuralist theory). In recent years, however, participa-tioninstreetentrepreneurshiphas beenre-read eitherasa rationaleconomicchoice(neo-liberal theory) or as conducted for cultural reasons (post-modern theory). The aim of this paper is to evaluate critically these competing explanations for participation in street entrepreneurship. To do this, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 871 street entrepreneurs in the Indian city of Bangalore during 2010 concerning their reasons for participation in street entrepreneurship. The finding is that no one explanation suffices. Some 12 % explain their participation in street entrepreneurship as necessity-driven, 15 % as traditional ancestral activity, 56 % as a rational economic choice and 17 % as pursued for social or lifestyle reasons. The outcome is a call to combine these previously rival explanations in order to develop a richer and more nuanced theorisation of the multifarious motives for street entrepreneurship in emerging market economies

The relationship between patent age and selling price across bundling strategies for United States patents, predominately for computer and communication technology

The age at which a patent yields maximum price remains under explored. This paper attempts to demystify the patent age-price relationship using 510 US patents sold in US auctions. Results show computer and communication singletons sold during second half of their life (∼after10 years 2 months) exhibit significantly higher price than those sold before. No such relationship came significant for the portfolios sold. Further, age-price relationships are analysed with different bundling strategies composed of different patent family types and others, and technology fields as controls. The paper concludes with discussing the managerial implications

Network governance at local — A comparative approach

Factors influencing the effectiveness of democratic institutions and to that effect processes involved at the local governance level have been the interest in the literature, given the presence of various advocacies and networks that are context-specific. This paper is motivated to understand the adaptability issues related to governance given these complexities through a comparative analysis of diversified regions. We adopted a two-stage clustering along with regression methodology for this purpose. The results show that the formation of advocacies and networks depends on the context and institutional framework. The paper concludes by exploring different strategies and dynamics involved in network governance and insists on the importance of governing the networks for structural reformation through regional policy making

Patent characteristics and the age-value relationship: study of OceanTomo auctioned US singleton patents for the period 2006–2008

The article characterizes high and low value patents based on the non-linearity of the age-value relationship, as an attempt to provide some statistical understanding on the difference in the value of patent characteristics over time. A set of 138 US singleton patents, mainly from the computers and communication field, successfully auctioned by an US auction firm called OceanTomo during 2006–2008 forms the data. Analysis shows evidence of non-linearity in the patent age-value relationship and the sensitivity of patent characteristics to temporal dimension in explaining value of patented knowledge. The U-shaped temporal value of knowledge, identifying older patented knowledge as more valuable, thus, finds support. Furthermore, patents sold in their first half exhibit more lag, less patent scope and less forward citations. Patents sold by firms dominate the younger patent, while the older patent cohort finds more patents sold by individuals. These and other results are discussed for their significance for patent sale. We acknowledge the limitations of a small sample size. Nevertheless, the article provides statistical understanding on the potential characteristics of high and low value patents, explored through the non-linear age value dynamics

First case of mirtazepine-induced Stevens-Johnson syndrome from India

A 28-year-old woman, a known case of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), was admitted with mucocutaneous ulceroerosive lesions with blisters and thrombocytopenia after taking antidepressant mirtazepine. Exacerbation of SLE and drug-induced eruption was diagnosed. Clinical and laboratory markers were suggestive of Stevens-Johnson syndrome. This is a rare adverse effect of the newer generation antidepressant mirtazepine