The Role of Leadership in Business Model Innovation: A Case of an Entrepreneurial Firm from India

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between leadership and business model innovation (BMI) in an entrepreneurial firm. From the literature, it was found that the role of a leader in BMI was unexplored. A research framework was created which was the replication of the model created showing the relationship between leadership and innovation. Design/methodology/approach – The qualitative single in-depth case study was used to understand the effects of leadership in BMI. The case of an entrepreneurial firm in the graphic and animation education sector from India was chosen to test the research framework. The leader of Xplora Design Skools was observed closely, and he was interviewed multiple times. Findings – From the analysis, it was clear that, in this organization, the leader was a trigger for BMI through creating and influencing creativity and innovation in the organization. This case also shows that he was making tangible contribution to the work being done and motivating his employees. These initiatives show his influence on the process or execution of BMI. Originality/value – This is the first study explores the role of a leader in BMI in an entrepreneurial firm in emerging economy contexts like India

Aluminium Content of Some Foods and Food Products in the USA, with Aluminium Food Additives

The primary objective was to determine the aluminium (Al) content of selected foods and food products in the USA which contain Al as an approved food additive. Intake of Al from the labeled serving size of each food product was calculated. The samples were acid or base digested and analysed for Al using electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. Quality control (QC) samples, with matrices matching the samples, were generated and used to verify the Al determinations. Food product Al content ranged from \u3c 1–27,000 mg kg−1. Cheese in a serving of frozen pizzas had up to 14 mg of Al, from basic sodium aluminium phosphate; whereas the same amount of cheese in a ready-to-eat restaurant pizza provided 0.03–0.09 mg. Many single serving packets of non-dairy creamer had ∼50–600 mg Al kg−1 as sodium aluminosilicate, providing up to 1.5 mg Al per serving. Many single serving packets of salt also had sodium aluminosilicate as an additive, but the Al content was less than in single-serving non-dairy creamer packets. Acidic sodium aluminium phosphate was present in many food products, pancakes and waffles. Baking powder, some pancake/waffle mixes and frozen products, and ready-to-eat pancakes provided the most Al of the foods tested; up to 180 mg/serving. Many products provide a significant amount of Al compared to the typical intake of 3–12 mg/day reported from dietary Al studies conducted in many countries

Characteristics of Residual Mixing Noise From Internal Fan/Core Mixers

The jet mixing noise from two fan/core mixer nozzles is studied. Acoustic data from two fan/core mixer nozzles are analyzed to determine the properties of the noise signatures. It was assumed that there were three major contributors to the total noise signature: noise from mixing of the fan and core streams internal to the nozzle; noise from residual mixing of the fan and core streams external to the nozzle; and the noise associated with the fully mixed jet. In general, the low frequency portion of the noise spectra can be associated with the fully mixed jet and can be predicted using an empirical correlation for single round nozzle jet noise. The properties of the noise in excess of the fully mixed levels are studied

Metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer: A rare cause of bowel obstruction

Prostate cancer most commonly metastasizes to bone, lymph nodes, lungs, or liver, but rarely spreads to the large intestine. This case highlights a rare case of castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) that spread locally to the large intestine and rectum, significant enough to cause bowel obstruction. Metastatic prostate carcinomas are considered an infrequent cause of bowel obstruction

A rare case of synovial sarcoma of the prostate causing urinary retention

Synovial sarcomas of the prostate are exceedingly rare malignant tumors. Only a few cases have been reported so far. We discuss a case of a 52-year-old male who presented with signs and symptoms of benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma of the prostate. Since this sarcoma is rare, it can easily be misdiagnosed with BPH or adenocarcinoma of the prostate

Exploration of flavonoids from Physcomitrella patens for determining its antimicrobial potential

Bryophytes (e.g. mosses) is one of the largest taxonomical group and also considered them as an important component of ecosystem. Traditionally, these mosses are widely used in the form of extract (primary/secondary metabolites) and showed immunopharmacological properties (e.g. for curing tuberculosis, pneumonia, neurasthenia and other illnesses) as well. The major primary components of mosses i.e. carbohydrates and secondary metabolites (e.g. flavonoids, terpenoids etc.) showing some immunopharmacological activity. Till date, composition and characterization of only few mosses has been studied in detail with respect to immunopharmacological applications. In the present study, extract the flavonoid from moss species which is identified through qualitative (lead acetate and thin layer chromatography, TLC) and determined its antimicrobial activity against various bacterial strains. The results showed the presence of flavonoids at higher concentration showing inhibitory action against various bacterial strains as compared to control. These studies which clearly indicates its antimicrobial activity. In short, these mosses are considered to be one of the most potent and attractive candidate for human health diseases. &nbsp

Explainable Misinformation Detection Across Multiple Social Media Platforms

In this work, the integration of two machine learning approaches, namely domain adaptation and explainable AI, is proposed to address these two issues of generalized detection and explainability. Firstly the Domain Adversarial Neural Network (DANN) develops a generalized misinformation detector across multiple social media platforms DANN is employed to generate the classification results for test domains with relevant but unseen data. The DANN-based model, a traditional black-box model, cannot justify its outcome, i.e., the labels for the target domain. Hence a Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations (LIME) explainable AI model is applied to explain the outcome of the DANN mode. To demonstrate these two approaches and their integration for effective explainable generalized detection, COVID-19 misinformation is considered a case study. We experimented with two datasets, namely CoAID and MiSoVac, and compared results with and without DANN implementation. DANN significantly improves the accuracy measure F1 classification score and increases the accuracy and AUC performance. The results obtained show that the proposed framework performs well in the case of domain shift and can learn domain-invariant features while explaining the target labels with LIME implementation enabling trustworthy information processing and extraction to combat misinformation effectively.Comment: 28 pages,4 figure

Deregulated Long Non-Coding RNAs (lncRNA) as Promising Biomarkers in Hidradenitis Suppurativa

Background/Objectives: In recent times, epigenetics alterations in Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) have been explored and exploited translationally to guide investigation of new therapeutic approaches. On the other hand, long noncoding RNAs (LncRNAs), main regulators of the epigenetic status of the human genome, have been scarcely investigated, notwithstanding their potential relevance in broad pathogenesis comprehension. Here, we aim to explore the methylation pattern of lncRNAs in HS. Methods: In this case-control study, 24 HS patients and age-, sex- and BMI-matched controls were analyzed to characterize the methylome of lncRNA genes in peripheral blood cells. Gene ontology analysis (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis, protein–protein interaction (PPI) network, and MCODE analysis were performed. Results: A set of fifteen lncRNA genes exhibited significantly differential methylation patterns, with ten of them showing hypomethylation and five displaying hypermethylation at specific CpG sites. The hypomethylated lncRNA genes were DLEU2, MESTIT1, CASC2, TUG1, KCNQ1DN, PSORS1C3, PCA3, DSCR8, RFPL1S, and PVT1, while the hypermethylated ones were HAR1A, FAM66B, SNHG9, HCG9, and HCP5. These lncRNA genes have been linked to various important biological processes, including cell proliferation, apoptosis, inflammation, chronic inflammatory skin diseases, and wound healing. Their altered methylation status suggests potential roles in regulating these processes, and may contribute to HS pathogenesis and healing mechanisms. Conclusions: This study revealed an interesting dysregulation pattern of definite lncRNAs in the methylome which is linked to both the development of HS and its comorbidities. Epigenetically altered lncRNAs genes could represent useful biomarkers, and could help in guiding innovative treatment strategies

Integrated multisectoral strategy to improve girls' and women's nutrition before conception, during pregnancy and after birth in India (Swabhimaan): protocol for a prospective, non-randomised controlled evaluation

INTRODUCTION: Swabhimaan is a community-based programme to improve adolescent girls’ and women’s nutrition in the rural areas of three Indian states—Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Odisha with high prevalence of undernutrition. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Swabhimaan has a nested prospective, non-randomised controlled evaluation. Since 2017, five intervention sites receive community-led interventions through national government’s livelihood mission supported women’s self-help group federations and five control sites will initiate these activities 36 months later, in 2020. Community-led activities aim to improve coverage of 18 interventions including adequacy of food consumed, prevention of micronutrient deficiencies, access to basic health services and special care of nutritionally ‘at risk’ girls and women, improving hygiene and access to water and sanitation services and access to family planning services. The evaluation includes baseline (2016–2017), midline (2018–2019) and endline (2020–2021) surveys covering 6638 adolescent girls, 2992 pregnant women and 8755 mothers of children under 2. The final impact analysis will be by intention to treat, comparing primary and secondary outcomes in five intervention areas and five control areas. The primary outcomes are: (1) a 15% reduction in the proportion of adolescent girls with a body mass index (BMI) <18.5 kg/m2; (2) a 15% reduction in the proportion of mothers of children under two with a BMI <18.5 kg/m2 and (3) and a 0.4 cm improvement in mean mid-upper arm circumference among pregnant women. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: All procedures involving human subjects were approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Odisha and in compliance with guidelines laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki. Evidence will inform maternal and preconception nutrition policy at national and state level. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: 58261b2f46876 and CTRI/2016/11/007482; Pre-results