How Much Does R&D Decision Depend on Firm, Industry, Group and its Interactions?

In the recent year, technological progress through research and development (R&D) has been widely recognized as a key factor contributing to economic growth and competitiveness of the economy. In the traditional industrial organization (IO) literature R&D activities was considered to be an important conduct variable that can affect performance of the industry. Industrial organization (IO) literature stresses that the R&D behaviour is linked to industry structure and has the ability to create barriers to entry. On the other hand subsequent studies have stressed on the strategic groups within an industry as the main driving force behind the R&D behaviour of firms. However, the resource based view stresses on the internal capability of the firm as the main driving force. They also emphasized that the behaviour of the firm is path dependent. This study is an attempt to measure the effects of industry, group, and firm on R&D behaviour of the firm and their interaction. The study uses both continuous and categorical variables in an ANCOVA setting. The sample consists of data about Indian companies across 29 industries during 1995-2003. The findings show that though the effects of the industry and the firm are important, the most significant contributor is the effect of the interaction between the groups and the industry.R&D decisions , business groups

Characterising Mer and Axl receptor tyrosine kinase expression and transcriptomic profiling of myeloid cells in hepatocellular carcinoma

Background: TAM receptor tyrosine kinases attenuate pro-inflammatory signalling in myeloid cells and maintain tissue homeostasis through apoptotic cell clearance (efferocytosis). Two members of the TAM-RTK family, MerTK and Axl, are overexpressed in human cancers; MerTK+ macrophages display a regulatory phenotype (M2c) similar to tumour associated macrophages (TAMs). MerTK+ and Axl+ macrophages contribute to immune paresis in liver disease. Little is known about MerTK and Axl expressing myeloid cells in HCC. In this thesis I characterise their expression and phenotype in circulating and tissue-resident myeloid cells, explore drivers for their expansion and function in vitro and utilise transcriptomics to interrogate wider TAM phenotype in human HCC. Methods: Tissue and blood were collected from patients undergoing surgery or awaiting treatment for HCC. TAM-RTK expressing myeloid cells were identified using immunohistochemistry. Flow cytometry of isolated immune cell populations was utilised to understand their abundance and phenotype; in vitro conditioning and co-culture experiments were devised to recapitulate the tumour microenvironment, identify potential drivers for MerTK and Axl expression and assay their function. Serum and tissue homogenates were analysed for levels of TAM-RTK ligands. Transcriptomic analysis of tumour and liver derived myeloid cells was undertaken. Results: MerTK+ macrophages are evident within inflammatory infiltrates in HCC. There is modest expansion of myeloid cells expressing MerTK and Axl in the tumour microenvironment, however gene expression is not upregulated and neither are downstream signalling cascades. In vitro conditioning does stimulate Axl but not MerTK expression and promotes immune-regulatory cytokine production. TAMs exhibit a ‘post-phagocytic’ phenotype with upregulation of C1Q, scavenger receptor Stabilin-1 and APOE. Conclusions: TAM-RTK signalling is not activated within the tumour microenvironment. Transcriptomic analysis has identified an immune regulatory post-phagocytic and efferocytotic phenotype; further work is needed to evaluate the significance of this in the tumour biology of HCC, if it is not mediated through MerTK and Axl signalling.Open Acces

Exploring the Diversity and Distribution of Macrophytes of Chandanpur Beel and Churamon Beel, North Dinajpur District, West Bengal: Implications for Conservation

Aquatic macrophytes are the most diverse group of large photosynthetic organism and fundamental ingredients of any wetland biosphere. Overexploitation of wetlands and discharge of effluents into the water of wetland is the most serious problem nowadays which directly interfering the normal growth and sustainability of the macrophytes. The present research investigates the diversity and distribution pattern of macrophytes of Chandanpur beel and Churamon beel of North Dinajpur District. This investigation disclosed a total of 19 species belonging from 14 different families among which Asteraceae, Commelinaceae, Onagraceae, Poaceae and Polygonaceae showed the equal distribution each comprise 2 sp. whereas rest of the families each contain only 1 sp. Life form (Raunkiaer,1934) and growth form (Cook,1996) classification of macrophytes also have been done. Different quantitative characters viz. frequency, density, abundance, RF, RD, RA and IVI were also evaluated where Torenia crustacea showed the highest IVI value (27.19) followed by Pontederia crassipes (19.42). Diversity analysis revealed highest species diversity and species richness in Chandanpur beel. The study provides the insight pattern of diversity as well as present status of macrophytes which will be the triggering factor for the implementation effective step regarding conservation of macrophytes in their native area. &nbsp

Quantification of Floristic Diversity and Current Status of Macrophytes in Katarmoni Beel, a Sacred Wetland, Kishanganj District, Bihar

Aquatic macrophytes play a significant role in maintaining the aquatic ecosystem by providing shelter for aquatic organisms and lives of rural communities. But unfortunately very negligible effort is put forwarded for the conservation of these great resources. It may create major problem in new future. So the aim of the present investigation is the documenting of the floristic composition, study of the vegetation of aquatic macrophytes, from Katarmoni beel. Extensive field survey was conducted from November 2021 to April 2023 and the total of 20 macrophytic species were recorded belonging to 14 families. The dominant families were Cyperaceae with 4 sp. followed by Poaceae with 3 sp. and 2 sp. of Convolvulaceae. Some qualitative characters viz. frequency, density, abundance, RF, RD, RA and IVI were also evaluated. Pontederia showed the highest dominance whereas Cyperus haspan and Pogostemon stellatus showed the lowest dominance

Pattern Synthesis in Time-Modulated Arrays Using Heuristic Approach

Time-modulation principle evolves as an emerging technology for easy realization of the desired array patterns with the help of an additional degree of freedom, namely, “time.” To the antenna community, the topic, time-modulated antenna array (TMAA) or 4D antenna arrays, has got much attention during the last two decades. However, population-based, stochastic, heuristic evolutionary algorithm plays as an important protagonist to meet the essential requirements on synthesizing the desired array patterns. This chapter is basically devoted to understand the theory of different time-modulation principles and the application of optimization techniques in solving different antenna array synthesis problems. As a first step, the theory of time-modulation principles and the behaviors of the sideband radiation (SBR) that appeared due to time modulation have been studied. Then, different important aspects associated with TMAA synthesis problems have been discussed. These include conflicting parameters, the need of evolutionary algorithms, multiple objectives and their optimization, cost function formation, and selection of weighting factors. After that, a novel approach to design a time modulator for synthesizing TMAAs is presented. Finally, discussing the working principle of an efficient heuristic approach, namely, artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm, the effectiveness of the time modulator and potentiality of the algorithm are presented through representative numerical examples

Inorganic phosphate nanorods are a novel fluorescent label in cell biology

We report the first use of inorganic fluorescent lanthanide (europium and terbium) ortho phosphate [LnPO(4)·H(2)O, Ln = Eu and Tb] nanorods as a novel fluorescent label in cell biology. These nanorods, synthesized by the microwave technique, retain their fluorescent properties after internalization into human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), 786-O cells, or renal carcinoma cells (RCC). The cellular internalization of these nanorods and their fluorescence properties were characterized by fluorescence spectroscopy (FS), differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy, confocal microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). At concentrations up to 50 μg/ml, the use of [(3)H]-thymidine incorporation assays, apoptosis assays (TUNEL), and trypan blue exclusion illustrated the non-toxic nature of these nanorods, a major advantage over traditional organic dye