Innovation in Services and its measurement at firm level: A Literature Review

http://www.deakin.edu.au/buslaw/gsb/anzam/docs/anzam-papers.pd

An innovation experience: What does innovation mean to practising organisations?

Organisat ions strive to be innovat ive in order to survive and succeed in an everchanging business environment . Nevertheless, do these organisations really understand the meaning of innovat ion? The meaning and understanding of innovat ion is changing, original ly l imi ted to science and technological innovations it now includes innovat ion due to value co-creation, environmental and social chal lenges. Innovat ion is still an opaque concept, though many efforts are involved in developing an understanding of an organisat ion. This paper aims to explore the perspectives and patterns of Austral ian f irms pract ising innovat ions in their day-to-day activities. The paper further examines the pat terns of innovat ion involving innovation resources, efforts, outputs, and metrics used to measure innovat ion. An empirical study wi th qualitative analysis forms the basis of this paper

Adapting the queen square guided self help (QGSH) for functional neurological disorders as a stand-alone intervention: an exonian pilot study

Aim: Functional neurological disorders (FND) are one of the most common presentation in neurology clinics, causing a significant disability and economic burden. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has one of the best available evidence in managing FND, although access remains limited. Queen Square, London neuropsychiatry experts have established an excellent model for a CBT based, Guided Self Help (GSH) programme, which is preparatory to a multidisciplinary inpatient treatment. It has been shown to have good outcomes. This study was designed to ascertain the feasibility and acceptance of this QGSH model, in an Exonian cohort of FND patients, whilst piloting its stand-alone version, without the inpatient component. Additionally, the study explores the need and types of modifications required for the stand-alone adaptation of QGSH. Method: Consecutive patients referred to Exeter FND Service, between February to June 2020, who had internet access, were offered the QGSH pilot. Patients with a primary mental disorder concurrent drug/alcohol misuse or risk of self-harm or suicide were excluded. Ethics approval was not required. The QGSH intervention constitutes of 11 modules focussing on specific elements crucial to FND management along with homework tasks, delivered by the author, under supervision by QGSH experts. Patients completed Pre and Post-intervention questionnaires as well as structured feedback. Results: Three successive patients with varied FND symptoms were recruited to the pilot between February and June 2020. The baseline health status of these patients was worse as compared to EQ-5D-5L population norms with significant baseline psychiatric comorbidity. Outcome measures used before and after QGSH intervention included PHQ 9, GAD 7, EQ-5D-5L and a locally devised symptom severity questionnaire. Necessary modifications were made to the program based on the patients informal feedback and structured formal feedback was sought in the end. Conclusion: All patients derived some benefit from QGSH and certain modifications were suggested in patient feedback to improve engagement. Despite study limitations, especially small size and the impact of Covid 19 pandemic during the intervention; QGSH model appears acceptable and feasible in an Exonian cohort, however, some modifications are recommended for the stand-alone version to succeed. The recommendations will be presented

Zinc-Catalyzed Guanylation Reaction of Amines to Carbodiimides/Isocyanate Leading to of Guanidines/Urea Derivatives Formation

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Self-bound supersolid stripe phase in binary Bose-Einstein condensates

Supersolidity - a coexistence of superfluidity and crystalline or amorphous density variations - has been vividly debated ever since its conjecture. While the initial focus was on helium-4, recent experiments uncovered supersolidity in ultra-cold dipolar quantum gases. Here, we propose a new self-bound supersolid phase in a binary mixture of Bose gases with short-range interactions, making use of the non-trivial properties of spin-orbit coupling. We find that a first-order phase transition from a self-bound supersolid stripe phase to a zero-minimum droplet state of the Bose gas occurs as a function of the Rabi coupling strength. These phases are characterized using the momentum distribution, the transverse spin polarization and the superfluid fraction. The critical point of the transition is estimated in an analytical framework. The predicted density-modulated supersolid stripe and zero-minimum droplet phase should be experimentally observable in a binary mixture of $^{39}$K with spin-orbit coupling.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Agronomic performance of chickpea affected by drought stress at different growth stages

Susceptibility to drought stress has restrained chickpea productivity at a global level, and the development of drought-tolerant varieties is essential to maintain its productivity. Therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate genetic divergence in selected genotypes of chickpea and their morpho-physiological responses under irrigated and stressed conditions to identify the traits that account for the better performance of these genotypes under stressed conditions, as well as genotypes with improved drought tolerance. The genotypes were evaluated for two years under irrigated and drought stressed conditions, and significant variation was found amongst the genotypes for different morpho-physiological and yield traits. The maximum reduction was observed for plant yield (33.23%) under stressed conditions. Principle component analysis (PCA)-based biplots and correlation studies established its strong positive correlation with relative water content (RWC), membrane stability index (MSI), chlorophyll index (CI), secondary branches (SB) and yield traits and negative correlations with drought susceptibility index (DSI), days to maturity (DM) and 100 seed weight (100 SW) under drought stress, suggesting their use in selecting drought-tolerant germplasm. Ten genotypes with high values of RWC, MSI, CI, SB, yield traits and lower DSI were identified as drought-tolerant and might serve as ideal donors in the forthcoming breeding of elite chickpea cultivars. The seed-filling stage began earlier in these genotypes, with significantly reduced days to maturity under stressed conditions. Our results indicate selection for earliness offers a promising strategy for the development of drought-tolerant chickpea cultivars

Use of mifepristone for termination of intrauterine fetal demise (IUFD) in previously scarred uterus in later half of pregnancy (>20 weeks)

Background: Mifepristone has the potential to be used as an agent for induction of labour by increasing the uterine contractility and increasing the sensitivity of uterus to prostaglandins. The present study is an endeavor to study the effect of mifepristone alone to induce labour in scarred uterus and its risk benefit ratio.Methods: Total 39 patients with IUFD and previous uterine surgery were included in the study after their informed consent. All women in the study were given Tablet Mifepristone 200 mg orally, thrice a day, maximum 6 doses (Max -1200 mg) over a duration of 48 hours. Patients were monitored for vitals, the uterine contractions and any bleeding per vaginum. Next dose of drug was omitted if sufficient uterine contractions or cervical dilatation ≥2.5 cm achieved. Patients were shifted to the labour room after onset of active labour. Labour was augmented with oxytocin wherever required.Results: spontaneous labour occurred in 74.3% (29/39) women while operative (cesarean/ hysterotomy) delivery occurred in 17.9% (07/39). Mean induction (first dose of mifepristone) to delivery interval was 51.5 hrs in second trimester while 59.8 hrs in third trimester women. Oxytocin augmentation was done in 8 (20.5 %) women.Conclusions: The potential advantage of mifepristone over prostaglandins and oxytocin, is mainly in situations where they are contraindicated (i.e., scarred uterus). In this study authors found that with mifepristone only regimen is quite safe and effective, inducing spontaneous labour in 74.3% (29/39) women with IUFD and in reducing the operative (cesarean/ hysterotomy) delivery (17.9%)