Keratinophilic fungi: Nature’s keratin degrading machines!

Keratinophilic fungi are an ecologically important group of fungi that cycle one of the most abundant and highly stable animal proteins on earth —keratin. This article briefly explains how to isolate and identify them, the process of keratin degradation, and the ecological role of this important but unnoticed group of minute keratin cycling machines present in soil. We believe that Indian soil contains many more such fungi which have not been isolated and we hope this article will create interest among students to isolate and study these interesting fungi.     

Why do people use mobile payment technologies and why would they continue? An examination and implications from India

Mobile payment technology continues to spread across the globe, but its diffusion has not been uniform. Its low usage in developing economies is of particular concern to policymakers since this technology has the potential to enable financial inclusion. In this study, in order to develop policy interventions for greater usage, we comparatively analyze factors impacting actual usage and future use intention. India, with its uneven trajectory of mobile payments, gives us an appropriate field to investigate citizens’ usage behaviour. Considering users’ perceptions of both positive and negative attributes of the technology, we develop research models under the umbrella of the valence framework. We utilize technology affordances and constraints theory (TACT) to refine the research models through an understanding of various innovative uses. To test the valence-TACT models, we collect survey responses of 551 citizens across four Indian cities. The results from the models show how certain factors, such as convenience, reflection, and security, have different impacts on actual usage and future use intention, respectively. These findings have implications for critical issues like security, risk, and digital literacy, and can help in the design of policy recommendations for enhancing the use of mobile payments, thereby impacting financial inclusion for all. The valence-TACT model provides a theoretical contribution to mobile payment and innovation literature and also offers several policy insights.     

Transient growth and why we should care about it

The phrases ‘transient growth’ and ‘non-normality’ have become common parlance in fluid mechanics nowadays. We present these ideas with a simple two-dimensional system, to enable the reader to look for transient growth, as a trigger for nonlinear behaviour to set in, in a variety of situations probably having nothing to do with fluid mechanics. The article is aimed at undergraduate students of science, engineering, finance, etc., and the material is based completely on the excellent books of Trefethen and Embree, and Schmid and Henningson [1,2].     

Music, mathematics and Bach

In the earlier part of this article, an introduction to musical scales, counterpoint and harmony was given. In this part these themes are developed further with reference to Bach’s music and the emergence of the equally tempered scale.     

Prevalence of +405G>C,−1154G>A Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Polymorphism in Breast Cancer

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays an important role in the development of Breast Cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of polymorphisms in the VEGF gene on prognosis of Breast Cancer patients. This study comprised 200 patients with histologically confirmed cases of Breast cancer and 200 controls. Genotyping of the VEGF gene polymorphisms at +405G>C,−1154G>A, were performed by PCR-RFLP analysis. Preoperative plasma VEGF levels were determined by ELISA. Amongst both cases and controls, the genotypic distribution of the individual SNPs were all in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. Mean VEGF level was significantly elevated in cases compared to controls (t = 8.248; P < 0.001). No significant association was found between +405G>C,−1154G>A VEGF polymorphism and Breast Cancer. Logistic regression analysis revealed that 405GG & 1154GG were associated with higher levels of VEGF.     

Unmasking the interplay between technology evolution and R&D collaboration: Evidence from the global semiconductor manufacturing industry, 1990–2010

Technological progress in an industry is enabled by the collective R&D efforts of suppliers, users and research organizations. In this study, we explore how the pattern of R&D collaboration within the industry community evolves over the technology life cycle. We propose that as the technology evolves from an initial emergence stage to subsequent stages of growth and maturity, there is a corresponding change in the opportunities and challenges confronting industry participants. This results in a shift not only in the relative propensities for internal and collaborative R&D, but also in the distribution of the different types of collaborative interactions involving research organizations, suppliers and users. The context for the study is the global semiconductor manufacturing industry from 1990 to 2010. During this period, the industry experienced exponential technological progress that was fueled by the deep ultraviolet (DUV) manufacturing technology. We draw upon a comprehensive archival dataset of more than 12,000 articles presented in industry technical conferences to analyze the pattern of collaborative R&D during the emergence, growth and maturity stages of the DUV technology. The observed trends in the semiconductor manufacturing industry point to intriguing shifts in the efforts and interactions among suppliers, users and research organizations as they collectively push the technology envelope forward.     

Quantification of urinary urate with alkylamine glass-bound uricase and arylamine glass-bound peroxidase

Uric acid in urine was analyzed using porcine liver uricase and horseradish peroxidase immobilized on alkylamine and arylamine glass beads (pore diameter 55nm) respectively. The minimum detection limit was 5.0mg/0.1 ml urine. The recovery of added uric acid was 92%. Within and between assay CVS were <1.3% and <5.3% respectively. A good correlation (r=0.93) was found between urinary urate values obtained by a commercial kit method and the present method. The uric acid in 24hr urine of apparently healthy adults and person sufering from various diseases was found to be 450 to 900mg/24hr, 659mg/24hr (range, mean) and 910–1400mg/24hr, 1145 mg/24hr (range, mean) respectively with the present method.