186,942 research outputs found
Phyllomimus midoriyae Tiwari and Diwakar 2024, sp. n.
No full text<i>Phyllomimus midoriyae</i> Tiwari and Diwakar sp. n. <p>(Figs. 2–3)</p> <p> <b>Material examined:</b> <i>Holotype</i>: Male. <b>INDIA</b>: Assam, Hollangapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, Jorhat ~ 120 m a.s.l. 2017, Coll. Chandranshu Tiwari, Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi, 110007 (Delhi), India. <i>Paratype:</i> Assam, Hollangapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, Jorhat ~ 120 m a.s.l., 2021 Coll. Chandranshu Tiwari (2 ♂), Arunachal Pradesh, Namdapha Tiger Reserve, Changlang ~ 200–4,571 m a.s.l. 2017 Coll. Chandranshu Tiwari (1 ♂)</p> <p> <b>Type locality.</b> Hollangapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, Jorhat, Assam, India.</p> <p> <b>Measurements (length in mm):</b> Body 25.43 (1.24); Tegment 32.14 (1.39); Pronotum 5.22 (0.61); Fore-femora 8.54 (0.54); mid-femora 7.24 (0.99); hind-femora 12.79 (0.45); Fore tibia 7.95 (0.55); Mid tibia 6.40 (0.17); hind-tibia 11.65 (1.06); file 4.4 (0.54).</p> <p> <b>Distribution:</b> Nocturnal. Found only inside the dense understorey. In addition to the type locality, The collector also heard the same call type in Namdapha Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh. The species is likely to be distributed in North-East Himalayas.</p> <p> <b>Seasonal occurrence:</b> The species was observed perennially at the type locality.</p> <p> <b>Etymology:</b> The species is named after Izuku Midoriya, the eighth inheritor of One for All and the protagonist in the manga series My Hero Academia (Boku no Hīrō Akademia) by Kōhei Horikoshi. Like its namesake the species is green and difficult to locate in the dense understorey while simultaneously being the most distinct part of the acoustic community (Midori=green).</p> <p> <b>Differential diagnosis:</b> The species is similar to <i>Phyllomimus detersus</i> (Walker 1869) but differs in the following characters: Fore femora and mid femora unarmed, hind tibia with 2 rows of ventral spines, post tibial joint with distinct blue-green ring. Tegmen with silver-gray spots in radial field. The call pattern of <i>P. midoriyae</i> matches to <i>P. inversus</i> in temporal but differs in having a narrower bandwidth in case of <i>P. midoriyae</i> (Heller 1995; Tiwari and Diwakar 2023a).</p> <p> <b>Description:</b></p> <p> <b>Male:</b> Body stout. <b>Head</b> narrower than the fore border of the prothorax; keel of the vertex lanceolate, furrowed, a little narrower than the first joint of the antennae; front forming a little cone between the sockets of the antennae. Eyes prominent, short-elliptical.Antennae more than twice the length of the body, with short dark bands. <b>Pronotum</b> finely tuberculated, with an indistinct longitudinal impressed line and two strongly marked transverse impressed lines, which slightly converge towards one other on each side, and of which the hind one is more abbreviated than the fore one; fore border and hind border much rounded; sides slightly rounded. <b>Legs</b> stout. Fore- and mid-femora unarmed, hind-femora less than half the length of tegmen with a row of eight small spines. Fore tibia dorsally unarmed, ventrally armed with 5 spines on inner and outer margin. Mid tibia unarmed. Hind-tibia armed with 9 spines on inner and outer margin dorsally, 6 spines on inner and outer margin on ventral side. <b>Wings</b> equal length to tegmen. Tegmen minutely reticulated; costa and interior border nearly straight; three irregular rows of areolets between the scapular vein and the costa; scapular and externomedial vein contiguous for about two-thirds of the length, where they part and are lost in branching; three irregular rows of areolets between the externomedial and the anal vein, and one row of regular quadrate areolets between the latter and the interior border. Tegmen at the base of the radial field, decorated with silver-gray spots. Hind wings pellucid. <b>Stridulatory file</b> with 230±5 teeth (n=3), teeth densely arranged and uniform throughout the length.</p> <p> <b>Male genitalia.</b> Subgenital lamina elongate, with two clavate styles, Cerci poorly cast, short, tipped with a small black tip. Supra-anal plates small and triangular.</p> <p> <b>Female:</b> unknown. Supposed to be similar to that of <i>P. detersus.</i></p> <p> <b>Coloration:</b> Green. Antennae light green with short dark bands apically. Tegmen appears green/yellow when live with silver-gray spots in the radial field, but is hyaline with veins and brownish spots. All femora and tibia light green when alive. Post tibial joint with distinct blue-green ring.</p> <p> <b>Depositories:</b> The specimens are deposited in the Department of Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, University of Delhi.</p>Published as part of <i>Tiwari, Chandranshu & Diwakar, Swati, 2024, The Orchestra Nocturne: Description For Six New Katydid Species From India (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae), pp. 227-245 in Zootaxa 5405 (2)</i> on pages 231-234, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5405.2.4, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/10603343">http://zenodo.org/record/10603343</a>
India's National Innovation System: Key elements and corporate perspectives
Full text linkIn recent years India has emerged as a major destination for corporate research and development (R&D), especially for multinational corporations. India's domestic institutions like Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) have set prestigious milestones of international standards. Not surprisingly, at Governmental levels a number of international cooperation agreements in the field of science and technology have been signed with India. After years of self-imposed seclusion, principally motivated by post-colonial India's insistence on the development of indigenous technology, India finally seems to have joined the global mainstream of innovation. India is in the process of emerging as a major R&D hub for both large and medium-sized multinational companies in various industries. This development is mainly owing to the availability of skilled labor produced in world-class elite institutions. Cost advantages, e.g. in the form of low wages are still present but receding due to substantial wage hikes often ranging between 15 and 25% per annum. The striking finding is however about market-driven factors. Of late, India's market potential, in the meantime ranked as 3rd largest worldwide by the Global Competitiveness Report 2007-08, has emerged as a crucial driver. Rising income levels of India's billion-plus population are creating unique market opportunities for firms, both domestic and foreign. In India the Government has historically played a major and in most cases a singularly positive role in the formation of its innovation system. India, ever since its independence from British rule, has invested much time, resources and efforts in creating a knowledge society and building institutions of research and higher institutions. Despite explosive population growth literacy rate in India grew from 18.3% in 1950-51 to 64.8% in 2001 thanks to concerted Government efforts; female literacy rose from a mere 8.9% to 53.7% in the same period. Moreover the quality of education in India is generally ranked as very good. According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2007-08 the quality of mathematics and science education in India is ranked as 11th best in the world, much ahead of 29th placed Japan, 36th placed Germany, 45th placed United States and 46th placed United Kingdom. Nevertheless, India is faced with major challenges related to infrastructure and bureaucratic hurdles. The quality of education, notwithstanding such excellent rankings as stated above, in many institutions does not reach the standards required for (cutting-edge) R&D efforts. Moreover, a booming economy is leading to shortage of qualified and experienced skilled labor - which result in inflationary wage growth and high attrition rates, which generally lay in a double-digit range. With the Government maintaining a pro-active role many of these problems may however be expected to get resolved to a manageable extent. In its Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12) the Government has announced massive investments in infrastructure and education sectors to enhance both the quantity and the quality. Industrial firms in India have recognized their chances and are investing heavily in R&D capacities. India is also a beneficiary of global mobility and exchange of talents, technology and resources as much as the world, especially the developed Western countries, have profited from India's export of brain power. In sum all these developments raise hopes for a further improvement in the conditions of Indi's National Innovation System. --National Innovation System,India,Offshoring,Globalization,Research and Development
R&D internationalisation from and Indo-German perspective
No full textEven though internationalisation of research and development is not a completely new phenomenon with one of its early academic documentations tracing it back to the late 19th century (Dunning 1958), it was long considered to have been effectively centred in the triad of North America, Western Europe, and Japan (cf. Archibugi and Iammarino 1999, Carlsson 2006). R & D activities in the ëemerging economiesí of the developing world by global MNEs is a relatively recent trend, especially regarding the scope of the truly ëinnovativeí work conducted there (Tiwari and Herstatt 2012). Nevertheless, of late, there have been suggestions that the growing and largely unsaturated markets and increasing technological capabilities in some emerging economies are creating lead markets for affordability-driven ëfrugal innovationsí and acting as a ëpullí factor for FDI in R & D (Asakawa and Som 2008, Tiwari 2013). Even more recent, and still somewhat scattered, is the trend of MNEs from developing countries like India to indulge in outward FDI in the industrialised world for R & D purposes (Dachs and Pyka 2010, Sauvant et al. 2010). Not surprisingly, the issue of probable differences in the motives of the two sets of MNEs and the resultant implications of overseas R & D for the respective home countries require further research for a comprehensive understanding. For, the internationalisation of R & D may lead to a new division of labour in R & D within multinational companies, and different tasks may be shifted to locations abroad. This might, in some instances, have negative implications for the home country, but on the other hand may also help increase R & D activities in the home country; for example when the headquarter activities can benefit from a higher overall demand due to expansion into new markets
Capabilities of proprietary intermediate telehealth devices
Full text linkAbstract Objective: Proprietary intermediate telehealth devices are those which
are specifically designed as connectors between the entities of telehealth
systems. This article seeks to understand what are the capabilities of such
devices and then to investigate how these are clustered on the current
generation of devices. Materials and Methods: Fourteen current-generation
devices available from 12 device providers were selected and analyzed. Four
categories of questions were composed to evaluate the devices: setup/
configuration, available features, inputs, and outputs. Results: Data were
collected and synthesized on the following capabilities: availability from
suppliers, setup, environments of use, multiple-condition monitoring, multiuser
capabilities, prompts, reminders and alerts, interaction with the health
professional, access to historical data, device inputs, and their transfer
technology. Conclusions: There are three main roles for proprietary intermediate
devices in telehealth systems: displaying information to the patient; receiving
data manually/automatically; forwarding results and questionnaire responses to
another entity. Provider Perspective: Intermediate devices are usually part of
closed proprietary systems. Providers produce disease-customisable devices.
Connectivity is considerably ahead of the current generation of point-of-care
devices. However, little data are available on connection to rest of the
proprietary system. Patient Perspective: It shows clear benefit that one
intermediate device can be potentially used with several chronic conditions.
Simple setup, authentication procedures, and automatic data transfer are key
design aspects. Health Professional Perspective: Little direct interaction with
the health professional was observed. Payer Perspective: Details of costs of
devices are generally unavailable; system providers indicate that cost
variability is based on "user requirements.
r codes.R
No full textIn file is a description of codes used to recreate the study of showing emerging impact of drought on boreal stream biogeochemistry by Tejshree Tiwari Ryan Sponsellor and Hjalmar Laudon</p
Bio-inspired composites: Using nature to tackle composite limitations
No full textThe high demand for engineering lightweight materials with an optimal strength- toughness balance is driving the research towards the design of innovative materials with great performance. Composites often provide the best solution for structural applications, offering a good combination of mechanical properties and low weight. However, the relatively low toughness of composite materials is often a limitation. Many researchers tried to overcome this limitation by mimicking nature principles, leading to a new class of composites with improved toughness: the biomimetic composites. Natural hierarchical materials are indeed a good source of inspiration for the design of new smart materials. Among these materials, bone is a promising candidate, showing a great combination of mechanical properties, and having a lightweight structure that provides support to a wide class of animal bodies. In particular, the remarkable toughness of bone makes it attractive for research studies. Here, we provide guidelines to design innovative materials, taking inspiration by the bone structure. The goal is to mimic the main toughening mechanisms occurring in bone microstructure, by implementing the key microstructural features of bone tissue in de novo composite materials. In this chapter, we show different case studies on the realization of new bone-inspired materials, by means of different manufacturing techniques, such as composite lamination and additive manufacturing. A complete characterization of the new materials shows how the bone-like pattern affects the crack path and the overall fracture behavior of the composites, leading to an improvement in the mechanical performance. Moreover, by observing the failure modes, it is possible to notice several similarities with the bone tissue. Microscopic analyses, indeed, confirmed that the toughening mechanisms were correctly implemented in the new materials and positively influenced the overall mechanical behavior
DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A WHOLE GENOME RADIATION HYBRID PANEL FOR TETRAPLOID WHEAT
Full text linkThe recent release of high-quality sequence information from hexaploid wheat (IWGSC 2014)
coupled with the availability of high-density consensus maps for tetraploid wheat (Maccaferri et al.
2014) has accelerated marker and gene discovery in durum wheat (Triticum durum), thus
facilitating the genetic dissection of agronomic traits (Tuberosa and Pozniak 2014). This
notwithstanding, the construction of genetic maps remains a bottleneck for the investigation of the
durum wheat genome. In this context, the development of physical mapping resources to facilitate
the assembly of BAC contigs in future sequencing projects of durum wheat is becoming a primary
necessity. Radiation hybrid (RH) mapping is a promising recombination-independent mapping
approach, which involves the use of radiation-induced chromosomal breakage and marker
segregation to reconstruct marker order (Tiwari et al. 2016).
In this study, for the first time, a RH panel for tetraploid wheat was developed for reference
durum genotype Svevo (Sv-WGRH panel). The Sv-WGRH panel was developed at Kansas State
University (USA), according to the protocol reported by Tiwari et al. 2016. Freshly dehiscing
pollen of Svevo was irradiated with γ-rays (10-Gy) and this was used to pollinate ~150 emasculated
spikes of Senatore Cappelli (used as the female parent), which produced ~1000 RH1 seeds, each
representing an independent RH event. Greenhouse planting of these 1000 RH1 seeds resulted in
~730 RH1 plants, each representing a RH line of Sv-WGRH panel. Initial assessment of Sv-WGRH
panel was performed based on 19 SSR markers. Results indicated that average marker retention of
Sv-WGRH panel is ~85%. Work is in progress to select most informative 188 RH lines and these
selected lines will be genotyped on a high-density marker platform. This RH panel is an important
resource contributing towards the assembly of the genome sequence of durum wheat and other
tetraploid wheats
Barriers to innovation in SMEs: Can the internationalization of R&D mitigate their effects?
Full text linkTechnological advancements, especially in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have enhanced greatly the competition spurred by the globalization of the world economies. Even small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are no more immune to the challenges that the globalization brings about. It is a remarkable, and in certain instances worrisome, situation since SMEs play a key-role in most economies, in that they constitute the largest business block and provide the bulk of employment. However, opportunities presented by the globalization and the entwined, simultaneous pressure to innovate opens for SMEs new arenas to engage in what we may call are global innovation activities so as to gain, retain, and further strengthen the competitive position. This pressure to go for global innovation is enhanced by given socio-demographic factors, e.g. shortage of skilled labour, in many industrialized countries. This paper presents the findings of a survey by the authors carried out in the Metropolitan Region of Hamburg in Germany to identify barriers to innovation in selected industries and to work out solutions. The project RIS-Hamburg was initiated by the State Ministry of Economic and Labour Affairs in Hamburg and co-financed by the European Union (EU). The findings of this survey are here matched against perceived opportunities and challenges presented by global innovation. --Innovation Management,Barriers to Innovation,Globalization of Innovation,Research and Development,SME, Globalization,Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME),Internationalization of R&D,Research &Development
Transcriptional control of epithelial to mesenchymal transition by regulatory factors and epigenetic mechanisms
Full text linkThe World Health Organization (WHO) states cancer to be a leading cause of death worldwide accounting for 7.6 million deaths (around 13% of all deaths) and is projected rising to over 11 million in 2030. This is an alarming call to researchers for putting more effort into the analysis of the underlying patho-mechanisms. In a very simplified manner, cancer represents the destruction of healthy tissues and organs by uncontrolled cell proliferation and subsequent formation of a tumor. One key feature of solid tumors that marks the mostly deadly feature of the disease is the acquisition of the potential to invade into the surrounding tissue and form secondary tumors at distant sites, a process called ‘metastasis’. To gain migratory and invasive properties, cancer cells undergo epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) where epithelial cells lose epithelial properties, e.g. their polarized organization and cell-cell junctions, and thus undergo changes in cytoskeleton organization and cell shape and acquire mesenchymal characteristics. Importantly, besides the formation of metastatic lesions, EMT is also involved during development as well as wound healing.
To gain insights into the complex process of EMT and to identify new potential markers for ongoing metastasis, we established different in vitro EMT model systems. Global expression profiling during TGF-β-induced EMT revealed genome-wide transcriptome reprogramming during EMT and identified Krupple-like factor 4 (Klf4) and the SRY-Related HMG-Box Gene4 (Sox4) as one of the key transcription factors that were modulated and may possibly contribute to transcriptional changes during EMT.
We investigated the role of Klf4 and Sox4 during EMT by employing two different in vitro systems of EMT, using normal murine mammary gland (NMuMG) and Polyoma middle T- breast cancer (Py2T) cells, which undergo a progressive EMT upon transforming growth factor (TGF-β) treatment. We further validated the role of Sox4 in breast cancer carcinogenesis in vivo by orthotropic injection of Sox4-depleted cells into the mammary fat pad of nude mice. In addition, we also investigated whether such TGF-β-induced EMT accompanies epigenetic reprogramming and revealed how Polycomb group (PcG) complex-mediated H3K27me3 modification modulates transcription of key genes underlying this process, thereby regulating EMT.
Klf4 is a zinc-finger protein, known to be abnormally expressed in various cancers. It can act as a tumor suppressor or as an oncogene in context dependent manner in different carcinomas. Klf4 is downregulated during TGF-β-induced EMT. Our data reveal a tumor suppressor role for Klf4 in breast carcinogenesis. Klf4 is essential for the maintenance of an epithelial phenotype during EMT, and forced expression of Klf4 leads to blockage of epithelial differentiation. Furthermore, Klf4 is inhibitory to EMT-driven cell migration and also behaves as a survival factor during TGF-β-induced EMT. Genome-wide location analysis by next generation ChIP-seq analysis revealed that Klf4 directly occupies the promoter of many key EMT genes such as N-cadherin, Vimentin, β-catenin and Mapk8. Moreover, one of these Klf4 targets, Mapk8, encoding Jnk1, is upregulated during EMT and a double-knockdown of Klf4 and Jnk1 is able to overcome Klf4 knockdown-induced EMT, migration and apoptosis. These observations underscore a role of Klf4 during EMT by targeting and regulating crucial EMT genes.
Sox4 is also known to be deregulated in many cancers. Sox4 is upregulated during TGF-β-induced EMT. We show that Sox4 is required for maintaining mesenchymal identity and depletion of Sox4 prevents TGF-β-induced EMT. Sox4 reduction further impairs the migratory capacity of cells. Moreover, Sox4 provides a survival advantage to cells during breast carcinogenesis. In addition, Sox4 contributes towards TGF-β-induced tumorigenicity and metastatic spread. Gene expression profiling after Sox4 depletion in complementation with Chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis revealed many key EMT genes such as Spred1, Edn1, Palld, Cyr61, Ereg, Areg and Yap1 which are directly targeted by Sox4 for transcriptional regulation. Furthermore, Sox4 also controls many genes which are shown to regulate various other features of EMT as well as cancer development such as angiogenesis, adhesion, migration, morphogenesis, cell cycle and cytoskeleton re-modeling. Ezh2, a catalytic subunit of the Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2), has been also found to be transcriptionally regulated by Sox4. To delineate the role of Ezh2 during EMT, a loss of function approach has been used to demonstrate that Ezh2 is required for proper acquisition of EMT and EMT-driven processes such as migration and apoptosis. Taken together, our data provides a role of Sox4 during EMT via transcriptional regulation of key genes, including the Polycomb component, Ezh2.
We also studied the role of two prominent epigenetic modifications- DNA methylation and histone 3 lysine 27 tri-methylation (H3K27me3) during TGF-β-induced EMT in a mammary epithelial cell line. Our data revealed no evidence of a reprogramming of DNA methylation during this process. To assess the role of H3K27me3 during EMT, we performed chromatin immunoprecipitation using H3K27me3-specific antibodies followed by next-generation sequencing (ChIP-seq) on 6 different stages of EMT progression. This analysis revealed that many key EMT genes are regulated by H3K27me3 mark including Mcam, Pdgfrb and Itga5 which are repressed by this mark in epithelial cells and loose it during EMT as they get activated conversely, Cdh1, Ocln and Cdx2 gain this mark during EMT and get repressed in mesenchymal cells. We further illustrated that the coordinated activities of Ezh1 and Ezh2 are required for H3K27me3-mediated repression of the gene expression and their co-depletion de-represses target genes and blocks EMT. This study provides novel insights into the important regulatory role of the Polycomb machinery during EMT.
In summary, our findings demonstrate how transcription factors, such as Klf4 and Sox4 and the epigenetic machinery, such as PcG proteins, regulate EMT by directly contributing to the transcriptional reprogramming underlying this process
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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