Exploring grassroots innovation phenomenon through the lived experience of an Indian grassroots innovator.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to stir the deliberation on understanding grassroots innovation (GI) phenomenon through the lived experience approach and attempt to address the existing void in current literature. Design/methodology/approach – This paper outlines a human science research approach for studying the subjective reality embedded in the GI phenomenon. Such an approach provides a better and more bottom-up understanding of the underlying individual and interpersonal dynamics shaping the GI. Findings – This study provides a richer understanding of the underlying individual and interpersonal dynamics shaping the GI phenomena. This may serve as an aid for future research on scaling, managing GI and developing entrepreneurial capabilities of the grassroots innovators (GIrs). The study also confirms that no single unilateral theory can fully explain the lived experiences of the GIrs at the ideation, opportunity recognition, prototyping and scaling stage of GI. Rather, it is quintessential to have an integrated holistic perspective for understanding GI. This study also highlights the importance of hermeneutic phenomenology in pro-poor innovation research and practice in the near future. Research limitations/implications – This paper’s main limitation is whether the findings can be generalized in a wider context. The authors acknowledge this limitation. However, the purpose of this study is not to generalize the findings but rather provide a contextual understanding of what constitutes the lived experiences of GI. The authors recommend that a future study covering greater number of GIrs across India be undertaken to gain a better appreciation of the bigger picture. Originality/value – Systematic approaches for tapping into GI are conspicuously non-existent and hence a contextual understanding through the proposed holistic lens will assist in thriving of the GI phenomena in South Asian countries such as India

Study of Electron Transport in Fullerene (C60) Quantum Confined Channel Layer Based Field Effect Transistor

In this work, we modelled a simple n-channel Si Metal-Quantum confined layer-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MQSFET), which resembles exactly as the conventional Si Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) where SiO2 dielectric layer is replaced with a wide band gap C60 quantum confined layer of thickness 3nm and gold (Ψ=5.1eV) as metal contact. The capacitance and voltage characteristics at different temperatures from 100 K to 500 K and energy band gap are studied using Multi-dielectric Energy Band Diagram Program (MEBDP) simulation software, performed current-voltage transistor characteristics and analyzed the mobility of the charge carrier in the MQS sandwiched device structure using the Caughey-Thomas high saturation mobility model and the Lombardi surface mobility model. In these studies, we inferred a very low threshold voltage, when the donor concentration in the p-Si substrate is tuned between 1E16 to 1E17 cm-3 and a saturated flow of nanoamperes range of charge carrier at a low gate potential is even possible

Functional site prediction selects correct protein models

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The prediction of protein structure can be facilitated by the use of constraints based on a knowledge of functional sites. Without this information it is still possible to predict which residues are likely to be part of a functional site and this information can be used to select model structures from a variety of alternatives that would correspond to a functional protein.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using a large collection of protein-like decoy models, a score was devised that selected those with predicted functional site residues that formed a cluster. When tested on a variety of small <it>α</it>/<it>β</it>/<it>α </it>type proteins, including enzymes and non-enzymes, those that corresponded to the native fold were ranked highly. This performance held also for a selection of larger <it>α</it>/<it>β</it>/<it>α </it>proteins that played no part in the development of the method.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The use of predicted site positions provides a useful filter to discriminate native-like protein models from non-native models. The method can be applied to any collection of models and should provide a useful aid to all modelling methods from <it>ab initio </it>to homology based approaches.</p

Development of a Premixed Combustion Capability for Scramjet Combustion Experiments

Hypersonic air-breathing engines rely on scramjet combustion processes, which involve high speed, compressible, and highly turbulent flows. The combustion environment and the turbulent flames at the heart of these engines are difficult to simulate and study in the laboratory under well controlled conditions. Typically, wind-tunnel testing is performed that more closely approximates engine testing rather than a careful investigation of the underlying physics that drives the combustion process. The experiments described in this paper, along with companion data sets being developed separately, aim to isolate the chemical kinetic effects from the fuel-air mixing process in a dual-mode scramjet combustion environment. A unique fuel injection approach is taken that produces a nearly uniform fuel-air mixture at the entrance to the combustor. This approach relies on the precombustion shock train upstream of the dual-mode scramjet combustor. A stable ethylene flame anchored on a cavity flameholder with a uniformly mixed combustor inflow has been achieved in these experiments allowing numerous companion studies involving coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS), particle image velocimetry (PIV), and planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) to be performed

Development of a Premixed Combustion Capability for Dual-Mode Scramjet Experiments

Hypersonic airbreathing engines rely on scramjet combustion processes, which involve high-speed, compressible, and highly turbulent reacting flows. The combustion environment and the turbulent flames at the heart of these engines are difficult to simulate and study in the laboratory under well-controlled conditions. Typically, wind-tunnel testing is performed that more closely approximates engine development rather than a careful investigation of the underlying physics that drives the combustion process. The experiments described in this paper, along with companion datasets, aim to isolate the chemical kinetic effects and turbulencechemistry interaction from the fuelair mixing process in a dual-mode scramjet combustion environment. A unique fuel-injection approach is adopted that produces a uniform fuelair mixture at the entrance to the combustor and results in premixed combustion. This approach relies on the mixing enhancement of a precombustion shock train upstream of the dual-mode scramjets combustor. For the first time, a stable flame, anchored on a cavity flameholder, is reported for a scramjet combustor operating in premixed fuelair mode. The new experimental capability has enabled numerous companion studies involving advanced diagnostics such as coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering, particle image velocimetry, and planar laser-induced fluorescence

Overcoming challenges of translating deep- learning models for glioblastoma: the ZGBM consortium

Objective: To report imaging protocol and scheduling variance in routine care of glioblastoma patients in order to demonstrate challenges of integrating deep-learning models in glioblastoma care pathways. Additionally, to understand the most common imaging studies and image contrasts to inform the development of potentially robust deep-learning models. Methods: MR imaging data were analysed from a random sample of five patients from the prospective cohort across five participating sites of the ZGBM consortium. Reported clinical and treatment data alongside DICOM header information were analysed to understand treatment pathway imaging schedules. Results: All sites perform all structural imaging at every stage in the pathway except for the presurgical study, where in some sites only contrast-enhanced T 1-weighted imaging is performed. Diffusion MRI is the most common non-structural imaging type, performed at every site. Conclusion: The imaging protocol and scheduling varies across the UK, making it challenging to develop machine-learning models that could perform robustly at other centres. Structural imaging is performed most consistently across all centres. Advances in knowledge: Successful translation of deep-learning models will likely be based on structural post-treatment imaging unless there is significant effort made to standardise non-structural or peri-operative imaging protocols and schedules

Western Indian Ocean marine and terrestrial records of climate variability: a review and new concepts on land-ocean interactions since AD 1660

We examine the relationship between three tropical and two subtropical western Indian Ocean coral oxygen isotope time series to surface air temperatures (SAT) and rainfall over India, tropical East Africa and southeast Africa. We review established relationships, provide new concepts with regard to distinct rainfall seasons, and mean annual temperatures. Tropical corals are coherent with SAT over western India and East Africa at interannual and multidecadal periodicities. The subtropical corals correlate with Southeast African SAT at periodicities of 16–30 years. The relationship between the coral records and land rainfall is more complex. Running correlations suggest varying strength of interannual teleconnections between the tropical coral oxygen isotope records and rainfall over equatorial East Africa. The relationship with rainfall over India changed in the 1970s. The subtropical oxygen isotope records are coherent with South African rainfall at interdecadal periodicities. Paleoclimatological reconstructions of land rainfall and SAT reveal that the inferred relationships generally hold during the last 350 years. Thus, the Indian Ocean corals prove invaluable for investigating land–ocean interactions during past centuries

Enlarging the European Union: Taxation and Corruption in the New Member States

This paper addresses the run up to the recent European Union enlargement. It considers the accession of 10 Eastern European countries in view of the pre-existing economic conditions. The paper also raises the question how the new member states can tackle their deficit problems. In particular, the paper pays attention to the question at what point the emphasis should be placed on cutting expenditure rather than raising revenues. Furthermore, the paper addresses tax capacity and tax effort in the new member states. Finally, the paper looks at possible negative relationships between corruption and tax effort on the one hand and corruption and foreign direct investments on the other

Protein lipograms

Linguistic analysis of protein sequences is an underexploited technique. Here, we capitalize on the concept of the lipogram to characterize sequences at the proteome levels. A lipogram is a literary composition which omits one or more letters. A protein lipogram likewise omits one or more types of amino acid. In this article, we establish a usable terminology for the decomposition of a sequence collection in terms of the lipogram. Next, we characterize Uniref50 using a lipogram decomposition. At the global level, protein lipograms exhibit power-law properties. A clear correlation with metabolic cost is seen. Finally, we use the lipogram construction to assign proteomes to the four branches of the tree-of-life: archaea, bacteria, eukaryotes and viruses. We conclude from this pilot study that the lipogram demonstrates considerable potential as an additional tool for sequence analysis and proteome classification

Environmental Response and Genomic Regions Correlated with Rice Root Growth and Yield under Drought in the OryzaSNP Panel across Multiple Study Systems

Funding: This research was funded by the Generation Challenge Program (GCP) project G3008.06, “Targeting Drought-Avoidance Root Traits to Enhance Rice Productivity under Water-Limited Environments". The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD