Explaining cross-country variation in cigarette consumption

This short paper uses cross-country data on per capita cigarette consumption and selected socio-economic variables to explain inter-country differentials in consumption. It is found that the proportion of the aged in the total population and higher literacy among women have relatively greater and positive impact on cigarette consumption. Even after controlling for the effect of the two variables, a country's industrialized status has a positive impact on consumption. It would thus seem that aging and economic, and social developments are pro-cigarette consumption

BRDF correction of S3 OLCI water reflectance products

Ocean Optics XXV, 2-7 October 2022, Quy Nhon, Binh Dinh, Vietnam.-- 1 page, figuresOngoing study to minimize the effects of the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) and deliver Sentine3 OLCI fully normalized water reflectancesEUMETSAT Contract Ref.: RB_EUM-CO-21-4600002626-JIGPeer reviewe

Essays on the determinants of innovativeness and firm performance of Indian enterprises: the role of financial development, government innovation support and external collaborations

Empirical thesis.Includes bibliographical references.1. Introduction -- 2. Empirical studies on innovation performance in the manufacturing and service sectors since 1995 : a systematic review -- 3. Financial development and innovation activities : Panel Granger-causality evidence -- 4. National innovation policies, external collaborations and firm innovativeness in India -- 5. Linking innovativeness and firm performance : the mediating role of external collaborations -- 6. Conclusion.The importance of R&D capabilities and innovativeness is widely acknowledged in innovation economics and industrial organisation literature. The extant literature has examined the importance of these factors independently and/or jointly in determining the economic performance of the economies and firms. During the last decade, the economic reforms in India have given importance to building innovation capabilities of firms to enhance their competitive advantage. With the rise of new imperatives, firms in an emerging economy such as India, are no longer relying only on internal innovation capabilities, but concentrating on external and contextual factors in enhancing their innovativeness and firm performance. This thesis focused on Indian enterprises and studies how the firms in India are responding to this new environment by acknowledging the importance of national innovation systems (NIS) and external collaborations. The focus of this study is on the determinants of firm innovativeness and impact of innovation on firm performance in the context of resource-based view (RBV) and knowledge-based view (KBV) theoretical settings.In this thesis, we propose four standalone, yet interwoven papers about financial market development, government innovation support measures, external collaborations and firm innovation, in answering questions regarding their relationship, determinants of innovativeness and their impact on business performance of firms. All these issues that have been and will remain critical drivers of competitive advantage and economic performance of firms in any developed and/or emerging economies. The first paper deals with the review of empirical literature on innovation performance to show a general picture of research on firm innovativeness during the last 25 years and highlights the opportunities for future research. Paper two proposes the relationship between economy’s financial market development and innovation activities at cross-country level, suggesting a well-functioning financial system is a necessary condition for explaining innovation activities in emerging as well as developed countries. In the third paper, NIS is integrated with RBV to provide a theoretical framework for understanding the determinants of firm’s innovation performance. It proposes government innovation support and external collaborations are equally important and are the key drivers of innovation outcome. Paper four investigates how firm innovativeness aids in enhancing the business performance based on the KBV theoretical approach. Although the importance of innovation has been widely recognised in determining firm performance, there is little empirical evidence to explain how the external knowledge sources mediate the relationship between innovation and performance, especially in an emerging economy such as India. The analysis reveals the positive relationship between firm’s internal R&D capabilities, innovation, and performance. Moreover, it explains the partially mediated role of external knowledge in the innovation-performance nexus.The empirical base for this research is provided by the data collected from Center for Monitoring Indian Economy’s Prowess database, Capitaline, firm’s annual reports, World Bank’s World Development Indicators, World Intellectual Property Organisation, World Bank’s Financial Development and Financial Structure Dataset, and World Bank Governance Indicators. Overall, through these three essays, we attempt to demonstrate the importance of NIS, external knowledge sources, and innovativeness to provide a fresh perspective in examining the determinants and outcomes in the case of an emerging economy.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (xx, 167 pages) diagrams, table

Target cum flexibility: Simple access to benzofuran conjugated sugar and nucleoside derivatives

The [Pd]-catalyzed domino process comprising of the coupling of alkynes and o-iodophenol and the subsequent cyclization leading to benzofurans has been successfully applied on the sugar and nucleoside derived alkynes

Haze correction of hyperspectral imagery over inland waters

Haze, an atmospheric condition that degrades many remote sensing images, is part of the atmospheric correction. In this study, a new method is proposed to reduce the effect of haze on hyperspectral imagery over inland water bodies using the spectral unmixing approach. If haze is present in the image, spectral unmixing can result an end member corresponding to haze, and a corresponding haze abundance map (HAM) can be generated. The spectrally and spatially varying haze contribution to reflectance spectra, referred to as hyperspectral haze reflectance cube, is estimated using the HAM and the reflectance spectra extracted from haze affected areas of the hyperspectral image. Actual reflectance from water bodies can thus be obtained by subtracting this cube from the observed hyperspectral reflectance cube. Two hyperspectral images acquired with Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer-Next Generation (AVIRIS-NG) sensor over the Ujani reservoir of Maharashtra, India, are used to develop and validate the proposed hyperspectral haze correction method. We demonstrate the successful removal of haze effects by validating with field measured reflectance spectra, visual, spectral and statistical interpretation of the haze corrected AVIRIS-NG imagery. The proposed methodology can be readily implemented for existing and future hyperspectral imagery from NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission. Highlights A new approach for haze correction in the hyperspectral image over water bodies. Haze treated as spatially and spectrally varying atmospheric condition. Developed hyperspectral haze reflectance abundance surface. Spectral and statistical validation of the proposed haze correction approach

Ru-catalyzed branched versus linear selective C3-alkylation of 2-aroylbenzofurans with acrylates via C-H activation

The carbonyl-directed C3— H activation and alkylation of 2-aroylbenzo[b]furans with acrylates occurs selectively either in a linear or branched fashion, depending on the catalyst employed; [Ru(p-cymene)Cl2]2 or Ru(PPh3)3Cl2, respectively. Two alternate pathways—funded upon the differences in steric and electronic preferences of these two complexes—is proposed for the selectivity of linear versus branched products

4-Step Total Synthesis of (−)-Pavidolide B

(−)-Pavidolide B is a complex tetracyclic diterpenoid with seven contiguous stereocenters, and classical total syntheses have recently been reported. In this work, an annulation strategy of carbanion cascade reaction is formulated for accomplishing an asymmetric total synthesis of (−)-pavidolide B in just 4 linear steps. The key reaction is a tandem intramolecular Michael addition, which constructs two 5-membered rings and five stereocenters in a highly selective fashion in one step. This work represents one of the most efficient cases of total synthesis and demonstrates that synthetic access to complex therapeutic natural product can be greatly simplified

Development of chlorophyll-a concentration estimation algorithm for turbid productive inland waters in India

Estimation of Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration from remote-sensing reflectance derived from satellite imagery is highly effective in monitoring the spatial and temporal optical variations in water bodies. In turbid, productive and inland waters, implementation of traditional Chl-a estimation algorithms using the blue and green wavelength bands results in higher error in estimated Chl-a. To minimize the absorption and scattering effects of other water constituents like colored dissolved organic matter and particulate matter, the wavelengths bands in red and Near Infrared (NIR) are generally used for estimating Chl-a concentration in productive waters. Owing to a widely observed optical variability in natural waters, a single universal algorithm is not applicable to all waterbodies, hence, regional tuning of algorithms is necessary for estimating Chl-a in turbid and inland productive waters. Here, a 2-band based algorithm of the form and a 3-band algorithm of form were tuned for Chl-a estimation based on field measurements carried out in three water bodies, Chilika Lake of Orissa, Ujjani Reservoir of Maharashtra, Vallabh Sagar Reservoir of Gujarat, India, wherein the observed Chl-a concentration range is 5–33 mg/m3. Together with measured in situ reflectance spectra and concurrent Chl-a concentrations, tuning of red-NIR algorithms is performed. The optimal wavelengths to estimate Chl-a found by the proximal sensing method are = 691 nm and = 667 nm in case of 2-band red-NIR type algorithm. For 3-band red-NIR algorithm, the optimal wavelengths are = 670 nm, = 696 nm and = 740 nm. The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and root-mean-square error (RMSE) values obtained for the estimated Chl-a using the tuned 2-band red-NIR algorithm are 29.9% and 5.35 respectively. Similarly, RMSE and MAPE values for Chl-a concentration estimated using the 3-band tuned red-NIR algorithm are 4.24 and 22.5%, respectively. The tuned 2-band and 3-band algorithms resulted in better Chl-a estimates than the fourteen blue-green and red-NIR algorithms from previous studies. The 2-band and 3-band algorithms were re-calibrated to wavelengths present in the ocean land color imager (OLCI) sensor on Sentinel-3 satellite to monitor these water bodies. Spatio-temporal analysis of OLCI imagery derived Chl-a concentrations over Chilika lake (2019 and 2020) indicated seasonal variations. The tuned 3-band red-NIR algorithm exhibited robust performance in all seasons despite wide variations in colored dissolved organic matter and suspended sediments. The tuned red-NIR algorithms are useful in monitoring inland turbid productive waters with upcoming missions such as Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud Ecosystem (PACE) and Oceansat-3