Product Introduction Strategies in the Age of Social Media

When an incumbent faces a new entrant with superior capabilities, it may preemptively announce (preannounce) its future product to avoid forfeiting users. The traditional focus of preannouncement literature has been on truth-telling and vaporware. In the age of social media, the proliferation of online discussion forums and social network usage leads to the formation of public opinions (signals) that may not be in sync with firm’s private information regarding its forthcoming innovation. Further, vigilance by consumers and media outlets induce high ex-post cost on vaporware making it infeasible in such settings. Then, when should firm announce or remain silent in modern settings? Under what conditions should the firm pursue innovation in presence of uncertainties in public signals in addition to its own private information? How does presence of network effects influence the preannouncement strategy of the firm? We find that the incumbent follows a preannouncement strategy (truth-telling or silence) if the public signal associated with it is moderate. Further, network effects has a negative impact on prices and incumbent may innovate only if the entrant’s relative ability to leverage network effects is low

Indexing techniques for fingerprint and iris databases

This thesis addresses the problem of biometric indexing in the context of fingerprint and iris databases. In large scale authentication system, the goal is to determine the identity of a subject from a large set of identities. Indexing is a technique to reduce the number of candidate identities to be considered by the identification algorithm. The fingerprint indexing technique (for closed set identification) proposed in this thesis is based on a combination of minutiae and ridge features. Experiments conducted on the FVC2002 and FVC2004 databases indicate that the inclusion of ridge features aids in enhancing indexing performance. The thesis also proposes three techniques for iris indexing (for closed set identification). The first technique is based on iriscodes. The second technique utilizes local binary patterns in the iris texture. The third technique analyzes the iris texture based on a pixel-level difference histogram. The ability to perform indexing at the texture level avoids the computational complexity involved in encoding and is, therefore, more attractive for iris indexing. Experiments on the CASIA 3.0 database suggest the potential of these schemes to index large-scale iris databases

A new method for computation of QCD thermodynamics: EOS, specific heat and speed of sound

We propose a new variant of the operator method for the computation of the equation of state of QCD, which yields positive pressure for all temperatures and all values of temporal lattice spacings. Using this new method, we calculate the continuum limit of pressure, energy density, entropy density, specific heat, and the speed of sound, in quenched QCD, for 0.9 \le T/T_c \le 3.Comment: Talk given at Lattice 2005 (nonzero temperature and density), uses PoS.cl

The speed of sound and specific heat in the QCD plasma: hydrodynamics, fluctuations and conformal symmetry

We report the continuum limits of the speed of sound, c_s, and the specific heat at constant volume, c_v, in quenched QCD at temperatures of 2Tc and 3Tc. At these temperatures, c_s is within 2-sigma of the ideal gas value, whereas c_v differs significantly from the ideal gas. However, both are compatible with results expected in a theory with conformal symmetry. We investigate effective measures of conformal symmetry in the high temperature phase of QCD.Comment: Table II has been changed to show the contrubutions of the terms containing covariances clearly. Typos correcte

To Commit or Not: Reputation and Preemption Strategies in Competing Technology Networks

When an incumbent technology network faces a new entrant with superior capabilities, it may choose to announce a technology improvement as a preemption strategy to avoid forfeiting users. While the incumbent faces the dilemma of how much improvement it should commit to, users face the challenge of deciding how to divide resources (e.g., time spent) between the two networks. Using a two-period decision theoretic model, where users can be loyalists (who always prefer the incumbent) or switchers (ready to switch to the new entrant and back under suitable conditions), we show that in the presence of high switching costs, a low or high reputation leads the incumbent to a pure strategy of committing to a given level of improvement in technological capability. However, an incumbent with moderate reputation may not commit to any particular level of improvement. Consumer welfare may be adversely affected as a result of chosen strategies

The Incumbency Protection Power of Network Effects: Hype or Reality?

Many IT enabled networks have attained a large user base induced by strong network effects, which are thought to create an economic moat by increasing switching costs, thus offering protection against new entrants. The underlying assumption behind this result is that users completely adopt one network at any given time. Is the incumbency protection power of the moat as strong in multi-homing when users co-exist on multiple networks and can incrementally adopt a new entrant? We develop a multi-period analytical model of endogenous adoption decisions in a setting where a new network arrives with a superior capability, and where users have a resource constraint and derive value from technological capability as well as network effects. We demonstrate that the moat created by network effects for the case of incremental adoption is weaker than that in the case of complete adoption. Thus the protection power of network effects and the resulting competitive intensity may be overrated and underplayed respectively in many modern technology settings

Size discrimination of colloidal nanoparticles by thiol-functionalized MCM-41 mesoporous molecular sieves

Thiol-functionalized MCM-41 mesoporous materials with a well-defined pore size of 40 Å may be used to discriminate between colloidal gold and silver particles in a mixture. More specifically, the thiol-functionalized MCM-41 material selectively entraps colloidal gold particles (size 35 Å) in the pores from a mixture of the gold and silver particles of size 70 Å. The gold particles are held in the matrix via thiolate linkages and this process has been studied using UV-vis spectroscopy and thermogravimetry/differential thermal analysis. This approach is promising for application in bioseparation methodologies as well as in the generation of one-dimensional superstructure assemblies

Entrapment and catalytic activity of gold nanoparticles in amine-functionalized MCM-41 matrices synthesized by spontaneous reduction of aqueous chloroaurate ions

There is tremendous current interest in the generation of nano-hybrid materials using silicate mesoporous materials. We describe herein a new process for the synthesis of gold nanoparticle-amine functionalized MCM-41 hybrid materials by the spontaneous reduction of chloroaurate ions within the silicate matrix. The gold nanoparticles thus formed are bound to the pores of the MCM-41 framework by amine functional groups and show excellent catalytic activity in hydrogenation reactions

TOXICITY ASSESSMENT OF CARBON NANOTUBES ON ERYTHROCYTE MORPHOLOGY AND LYMPHOCYTES IN VITRO

ABSTRACTObjectives: Carbon nanomaterials have been used in many biomedical applications due to its unique physical properties. Functionalization of carbonnanotubes (CNT) could improve the physical properties, but pharmacokinetics and toxic effects of pristine and functionalized CNTs, are not welldefined. In this study, the toxicity of the pristine and hydroxyl group functionalized Multi‑Walled CNT (MWCNT) compared.Methods: MWCNTs was interacted with human blood. The induced morphological changes in the erythrocytes and cytotoxicity were observed atdifferent concentrations. A thin blood smear was prepared, and the erythrocyte images were obtained using a digital microscope. MTT assay used toassess the cytotoxicity.Results: The result indicate that the pristine MWCNT caused more toxic effects than –OH functionalized MWCNT, which was assessed in terms ofchanges in the morphology of the erythrocytes and cytotoxicity caused to the lymphocyte cells.Conclusion: The functionalization of MWCNT could reduce the hemotoxicity and improves the biocompatibility.Keywords: Carbon nanotubes, Cytotoxicity, Echinocytes, Erythrocyte, Multi‑walled carbon nanotubes, Lymphocyte

High Strain Rate Superplasticity in Microcrystalline and Nanocrystalline Materials

Superplasticity has evolved to become a significant industrial forming process. The phenomenon of superplasticity is explored at high strain rates where it is economically more attractive. True tensile superplasticity has been demonstrated in nanocrystalline materials. The difference in the details of superplasticity between the nanocrystalline and microcrystalline state is emphasised