Discovery processes & the organization of innovation

The thesis comprises four key papers, which provide fresh perspectives pertaining to the key factors in the management of innovation: new ideas, people, transactions and institutions. First, a model of discovery is proposed, highlighting the importance of problem reshaping and shifting in addition to usual problem solving approach. To illustrate how they can be incorporated within existing models, the conventional NK model is adapted in a novel way that not necessarily constrains agents to local optima nearby. The extended model is then used to study effects of curiosity and conditions under which analogy, recombination or local search would be effective. Building on this model, we show how satisficing behaviour of agents can be described by using cognitive constructs such as attention and stimulus, which moderate the gap between local (agent) and non-local (real-world) information. Second, Innovation entails the interfacing of communities with different traditions and aspirations, in particular, the science and business domains. Through a quasi-experimental design, we explore the micro-foundations of the contact and conflict which define the science-business divide, strategies for mitigating discordance and exploit synergies are discussed. Third, the attempt to understand innovation as intra-firm or inter-firm process from a consistent perspective within the existing theories of the firm has provoked a reconceptualization of the 'firm'. A reductionist approach at the level of actions and assets of the firm is found to achieve this reconciliation and also helps introduce the concepts of quasi-boundary to appreciate interaction of firms with the market and the institutions. Third, the innovation process occasionally faces institutional impediments. One of the preeminent changes has been the involvement of the universities in innovation system, where its full commercial potential was realized over a century. The historical observation of how multiple institutions were reformed provides new insights into the mechanism of institutional entrepreneurship. Finally, consolidation of each of the factors requires acknowledgment that the innovation process exists in the context of each other, and are subject to evolution and extraneous influences. The conclusion is an attempt at synthesizing the four factors towards understanding the overarching dynamics in the innovation ecosystem. To leverage on the independent developments at each level, a proposal to build a consistent multi-level coherent framework for innovation is suggested

The Influence of Trust in Traditional Contracting: Investigating the "Lived Experience" of Stakeholders

The traditional procurement approach is ever-present within the construction industry. With fundamental design principles founded on definitive risk allocation, this transactional based approach fails to acknowledge or foster the cooperative relationships considered to be vital to the success of any project. Contractual design encourages stakeholders to defend their own individual interest to the likely detriment of project objectives. These failings are not disputed, however, given that trust is a fundamental requirement for human interaction the influence of trust is potentially important in terms of stakeholder relationships and ultimate project success. Trust is therefore examined within this context. A conceptual framework of trust is presented and subsequently used to code and analyse detailed, semi-structured interviews with multiple stakeholders from different projects. Using a phenomenological investigation of trust via the lived experiences of multiple practitioners, issues pertaining to the formation and maintenance of trust within traditionally procured construction projects are examined. Trust was found to be integral to the lived experiences of practitioners, with both good and bad relationships evident within the constructs of traditional procurement mechanisms. In this regard, individual personalities were considered significant, along with appropriate risk identification and management. Communication, particularly of an informal nature, was also highlighted. A greater emphasis on project team selection during the initial stages of a project would therefore be beneficial, as would careful consideration of the allocation of risk. Contract design would also be enhanced through prescriptive protocols for developing and maintaining trust, along with mandated mechanisms for informal communication, particularly when responding to negative events. A greater understanding regarding the consequences of lost trust and the intricacies of trust repair would also be of value. 

Book Review - Cost Studies of Buildings

Cost Studies of BuildingsAshworth, A. and Perera, S. (2015). Cost Studies of Buildings. 6th Ed. London: Routledge. 570 pages.  ISBN 978-1-138-0735-1

It is time for a new subfield: ‘Critical Caste Studies’

The global academy is in need of a new interdisciplinary field, Critical Caste Studies, in order to rethink caste-power in civil society, state, and academy in India and overseas, argues Gajendran Ayyathurai

Development of a heavy duty diesel vehicle emissions inventory prediction methodology

Emissions from heavy-duty diesel vehicles are known to contribute a substantial fraction of the oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and particulate matter (PM) to the atmospheric inventory. Prediction of heavy-duty diesel vehicle emissions inventory is substantially less mature than the prediction of gasoline car emissions.;Heavy-duty truck emissions are affected by various parameters like vehicle weight/load, driving schedule used, and injection timing control strategies employed to operate the engine at more fuel-efficient (but higher NO x) mode.;Research has revealed a variety of options for inventory prediction, including the use of emissions factors based upon instantaneous engine power and instantaneous vehicle behavior. Effects of various parameters on the heavy-duty diesel emissions were studied in great detail and a speed-acceleration based emissions prediction approach was developed for heavy-duty diesel vehicle emissions prediction. A suite of emissions factor tables was generated for emissions inventory prediction. Driving schedules, vehicle weight, and off-cycle injection strategy were found to affect emissions to varying extents. Detailed analyses of a large body of data enabled to quantitatively as well as qualitatively characterize effect of various parameters on heavy duty diesel vehicle emissions. A doubling of vehicle weight was found to result in roughly a 50% increase in NOx emissions. The accuracy was found to improve with the inclusion of a large number of data covering wide range of model year groups and driving schedules.;Off-cycle operation was found to increase the NOx emissions by more than double. The speed-acceleration model predicted the emissions with reasonable accuracy

Assessing construction innovation: theoretical and practical perspectives

Innovation is key for productivity improvement and advancements in different sectors of the economy, including the construction sector.  The criticism of the slow pace of innovation in construction industry may be unwarranted, considering the structure of the industry and nature of the construction business.  The loosely coupled nature of firms, mostly Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s), delivering ‘projects’ through partial engagement, together with the distinction between the project innovation and firm innovation makes it difficult to extract innovations in a meaningful way.  The problem also lies in conceptualising, defining, articulating and assessing innovation in construction.  The literature is replete with research into construction innovation, however, there is limited research into understanding how innovation is perceived and narrated in practice.  The paper aims to explore how innovation is assessed and narrated in construction, specifically analysing theory and practice perspectives.  A theoretical model was constructed from a structured literature review illustrating existing discourse and narratives of construction innovation assessment.  A qualitative analysis of ‘Professional Excellence in Building’ submission documents to the Australian Institute of Building was performed to identify the practice perspective of innovation.  The findings suggest that internal organizational and process innovation account for the majority of improvements identified.  Importantly a taxonomy of narrative is developed that articulates how the construction industry in Australia views industry innovation

Foundations of Anti-caste Consciousness: Pandit Iyothee Thass, Tamil Buddhism, and the Marginalized in South India

This dissertation is about an anti-caste movement among Dalits (the oppressed as untouchable) in South India, the Parayar. Since the late 19th century, members of this caste, and a few others from Tamil-speaking areas, have been choosing to convert to Buddhism based on conscience and conviction. This phenomenon of religious conversion-social transformation is this study's focus. By combining archival research of Parayar's writings among Tamil Buddhists, as these Parayar, settled in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, are called, I have attempted to understand this movement ethno-historically. In pre-colonial times, though the sub-continent's societies were hierarchical, the hierarchies were fluid and varied: i.e., the high-low or self-other dichotomies were neither fixed nor based on a single principle. The most significant effect of the encounter of British Colonialism and India was to precipitate an unprecedented master-dichotomy of singular and absolute form of self and other, as colonizer and the colonized. This had three consequences. (a) India was itself seen as singular and served as the Self to the colonial Other in an absolute dichotomy; (b) the role of essentializing the Indian Self was assumed by the brahmin; (c) this in turn resulted in an internal dichotomy between the brahmin-essential self and the non-brahmin-non-essential other. The means chosen to fix this dichotomy was to nominate the non-essential other's paradigmatic representation, the Dalit. I intend to read against the grain of the binary logic that was inaugurated at the moment of the colonial encounter by means of Tamil Buddhists' oppositional, reconstructional, and representationaldiscursive practices

Ilaiani in Sangam Literature

Did the term ilaiyani found in Sangam literature refer to the dimly lit Thali? Is the study. Sangam Literature Thali is a type of necklace worn by men, i.e. a necklace made of leopard skin. Sangam literature included singing and sum. The Sangam period was able to describe the living conditions of the people. They bear witness to the fact that the people of the Sangam period lived a pure civilized life. Most of the time, the leader has been living in the house with the consent of the leader. However, do they wear female thali during marriage? Have you studied their direct rhetoric? Is set to raise doubts about. Considering them, would the rhetoric of “fiber” be thali? Or was that impression imposed? This article is approached with consideratio

Library Writers Reward Project

Open-source library development exploits the distributed intelligence of participants in Internet communities. Nowadays, contribution to the open-source community is fading [16] (Stackalytics, 2016) as there is not much recognition for library writers. They can start exploring ways to generate revenue as they actively contribute to the open-source community. This project helps library writers to generate revenue in the form of bitcoins for their contribution. Our solution to generate revenue for library writers is to integrate bitcoin mining with existing JavaScript libraries, such as jQuery. More use of the library leads to more revenue for the library writers. It uses the visitor system’s computational power to mine bitcoins. As stated above, library writers can make sure that every visitor is contributing towards revenue generation. The amount of bitcoins that can be generated is directly related to the user\u27s participation. When I tested this project for about a week on the single machine, it was able to make 0.021226 BTC, which in today’s value is 8.96 U.S. dollars. The project also includes support for a digital wallet, which will keep track of a private key for currency balance