ECONOMIC ANTECEDENTS OF LOW CUSTOMER ORIENTATION LEVEL OF FIRMS IN THE BRICS: PRELIMINARY HYPOTHESES

Nikita I. Popov,Olga A. Tretyak 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2014 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2014 No.8

This research is aimed at finding the economic antecedents of comparatively low level of customer orientation of the firms in the BRIC countries. To generate propositions regarding antecedents, the market environment and conditions for doing business, and management practices and entrepreneurial activity in BRICs are compared based on the cross country studies by the World Economic Forum, the World Bank and the Global entrepreneurship monitor consortium. Also the conclusions regarding the consumer products markets and firm market strategies in emerging countries are generated on the basis of academic literature review in comparative strategic management and expert views on management in emerging countries. The outcome of the research is a group of propositions on the economic determinants of gaps in the level of customer orientation between the developed and the emerging markets. Three potential causes of the comparatively low customer orientation related to the management practices of firms can be hypothesized. First, the level of business management sophistication in the BRIC countries is assessed to be lower compared to the developed countries. Second, the state capitalism, the dominant economic paradigm of the BRIC countries is not conducive to fostering the quality of business management. Third, local entrepreneurs enter the markets being necessity-driven and have relatively low capabilities and are less skilled in the application of the modern management practices. The development of markets in the BRIC countries also could be informative for explaining the relatively low average level of customer orientation of the emerging market companies, and one can infer three potential causes. First, the consumer markets in the BRICs are growing with a fast pace, so suppliers are more powerful than consumers. Second, the intensity of competition at the BRIC markets is comparatively low. Third, the emerging markets today are represented by the less demanding consumers, and on such markets mass marketing might be a winning strategy. Further study could potentially allow us to improve and test empirically the above formulated propositions regarding the sources of gaps in the level of customer orientation between the companies of the developed and emerging markets.

Beneficial effect of phospholipase A2 group IIA inhibitors from Acacia suma in obesity: an in silico and in vitro study

Nikita Kanbarkar,Sanjay Mishra,Pukar Khanal 경희대학교 융합한의과학연구소 2020 Oriental Pharmacy and Experimental Medicine Vol.20 No.4

Acacia suma Roxb. (Fabaceae) is Ayurvedic medicine distributed in Karnataka, Bengal and Bihar region. Phytoconstituents of A. suma were retrieved from ChEIB databases and queried for phospholipase A2 group IIA inhibitors. The present study is an effort to find out a novel therapeutic solution for the management of obesity disorders. Out of 29 reported compounds three were identified in modulating phospholipase A2 group IIA inhibitor their drug likeness score andprobable gene expression was identified. Docking study was performed using autodock4.0 to predict binding affinity of phytoconstituents with phospholipase A2 group IIA inhibitor and compared with clinically proven drug ‘Orlistat’ as lipase inhibitor. The respected pathway to show networking between phytochemicals and target were analyse by kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathway analysis for regulated genes. Further, in silico findings were validated for hydroalcoholic extract of A. suma by in vitro lipase inhibition assay. Molecular docking result revealed the presence of three flavonoid compounds for lipase inhibition activity namely: (1) (5S,7R,8R,9R,10S)-(−)-7,8–seco-7,8–oxacassa-13,15-diene-7,17-diol (2) Fisetinidol-(4α,6)-gallocatechin and (3) Quercetin4′-O-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-3-O-β-d-allopyranoside. However, Quercetin4′-O-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-3-O-β- d-allopyranoside was predicted to possess the highest docking score i.e. − 7.6 kcal/mol with phospholipase A2 group IIA. The in vitro findings revealed significant anti-lipase activity with IC50 value − 46.07 μg/ml. Hence, the in silico and in vitro approaches has presented strong binding affinity and significant lipase inhibition activity respectively which supports antiobesity potential of heart wood hydroalcoholic extract of A. suma.

Menstruation in India

Nikita Arora 이화여자대학교 아시아여성학센터 2017 이화여자대학교 아시아여성학센터 학술대회자료집 Vol.2017 No.7

Menstruation is one of the oldest biological and social phenomenons that possess the potential to cut across continents and societies. Quite often, it has been associated with emotions of awe and fear, and worship and sacredness in primitive societies that had no means and knowledge of understanding the biology of menstruation. However, how it transformed into a taboo subject, particularly in India, where traces of celebrating menstruation can still be found, demands speculation. Considering menstrual taboos intrinsically related to their societies and practices, this paper tends to investigate and unravel the relationship between menstrual myths/stigmas, the Hindu religion, and the times of their origin and propagation. It attempts to establish a parallel relationship between the development of patriarchal economies and menstrual stigmas, between male domination and defamation of menstruation. Further, it tends to problematize the contemporary scenario, where despite significant medical interventions in reproductive and sexual health, menstrual taboos enjoy an upper hand in menstruators and non-menstruators knowledge about menstruation. The second aspect of this research paper focuses on the consequences of menstrual taboos, for which I will refer to the research conducted by Happy to Bleed as well as other secondary sources. The underlying logic and understanding is that the stigmas and silence surrounding menstruation, on one hand, foster a sense of inferiority and substandardness among women and other menstruators. Analyzed psychologically, menstrual taboos have the ability to play the role of a catalyst in persuading women to internalize the status of other been accorded to them by patriarchy; they can be and are in fact tools of silencing women and controlling their sexuality and mobility by means of religious beliefs. On the other hand, this silence and shame leads to a dangerous lack of awareness about menstrual health and a large scale absence of hygienic menstrual care products among menstruators. This is to say that while menstruation remains a taboo topic, market dominates menstrual health of individuals and while doing so, it not only retains the prejudices surrounding menstruation, but also puts at grave risk the health of menstruators as well as that of ecology. Therefore, the paper will attempt to bridge the gaps between menstrual taboos, its various manifestations, and its implications on individuals and society as a whole.

Development of a High-Resolution Multi-Locus Microsatellite Typing Method for Colletotrichum gloeosporioides

( Nikita Mehta ),( Ferry Hagen ),( Sadaf Aamir ),( Sanjay K. Singh ),( Abhishek Baghela ) 한국균학회 2017 Mycobiology Vol.45 No.4

Colletotrichum gloeosporioides is an economically important fungal pathogen causing substantial yield losses indifferent host plants. To understand the genetic diversity and molecular epidemiology of this fungus, we have developed a novel, highresolution multi-locus microsatellite typing (MLMT) method. Bioinformatic analysis of C. gloeosporioides unannotated genome sequence yielded eight potential microsatellite loci, of which five, CG1 (GT)_n, CG2 (GT1)_n, CG3 (TC)_n, CG4 (CT)_n, and CG5 (CT1)_n were selected for further study based on their universal amplification potential, reproducibility, and repeat number polymorphism. The selected microsatellites were used to analyze 31 strains of C. gloeosporioides isolated from 20 different host plants from India. All microsatellite loci were found to be polymorphic, and the approximate fragment sizes of microsatellite loci CG1, CG2, CG3, CG4, and CG5 were in ranges of 213-241, 197-227, 231-265, 209-275, and 132-188, respectively. Among the 31 isolates, 55 different genotypes were identified. The Simpson’s index of diversity (D) values for the individual locus ranged from 0.79 to 0.92, with the D value of all combined five microsatellite loci being 0.99. Microsatellite data analysis revealed that isolates from Ocimum sanctum, Capsicum annuum (chili pepper), and Mangifera indica (mango) formed distinct clusters, therefore exhibited some level of correlation between certain genotypes and host. The developed MLMT method would be a powerful tool for studying the genetic diversity and any possible genotype-host correlation in C. gloeosporioides.

Carbon nanotubes: synthesis, properties and engineering applications

Nikita Gupta,Shipra Mital Gupta,S. K. Sharma 한국탄소학회 2019 Carbon Letters Vol.29 No.5

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) represent one of the most unique materials in the field of nanotechnology. CNT are the allotrope of carbon having sp2 hybridization. CNT are considered to be rolled-up graphene with a nanostructure that can have a length to diameter ratio greater than 1,000,000. CNT can be single-, double-, and multi-walled. CNT have unique mechanical, electrical, and optical properties, all of which have been extensively studied. The novel properties of CNT are their light weight, small size with a high aspect ratio, good tensile strength, and good conducting characteristics, which make them useful for various applications. The present review is focused on the structure, properties, toxicity, synthesis methods, growth mechanism and their applications. Techniques that have been developed to synthesize CNT in sizeable quantities, including arc discharge, laser ablation, chemical vapor deposition, etc., have been explained. The toxic effect of CNT is also presented in a summarized form. Recent CNT applications showing a very promising glimpse into the future of CNT in nanotechnology such as optics, electronics, sensing, mechanical, electrical, storage, and other fields of materials science are presented in the review.

Ultra-high Efficiency Ion Heating System Technology for Industrial and Building Heat Supply

Nikita Ha(하은정) 한국태양에너지학회 2023 한국태양에너지학회 학술대회논문집 Vol.2023 No.4

Hardware Failure in Spinal Tumor Surgery: A Hallmark of Longer Survival?

Nikita Zaborovskii,Adam Schlauch,Dmitrii Ptashnikov,Dmitrii Mikaylov,Sergei Masevnin,Oleg Smekalenkov,John Shapton,Dimitriy Kondrashov 대한척추신경외과학회 2022 Neurospine Vol.19 No.1

Objective: Instrumentation failure in spine tumor surgery is a common reason for revision operation. Increases in patient survival demand a better understanding of the hardware longevity. The study objective was to investigate risk factors for instrumentation failure requiring revision surgery in patients with spinal tumors. Methods: A retrospective cohort from a single tertiary care specialty hospital from January 2005 to January 2021, for patients with spinal primary or metastatic tumors who underwent surgical intervention with instrumentation. Demographic and treatment data were collected and analyzed. Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed for overall survival, and separate univariate and multivariate regression analysis was performed. Results: Three hundred fifty-one patients underwent surgical intervention for spinal tumor, of which 23 experienced instrumentation failure requiring revision surgery (6.6%). Multivariate regression analysis identified pelvic fixation (odds ratio [OR], 10.9), spinal metastasis invasiveness index (OR, 1.11), and survival of greater than 5 years (OR, 3.6) as significant risk factors for hardware failure. One- and 5-year survival rates were 57% and 8%, respectively. Conclusion: Instrumentation failure after spinal tumor surgery is a common reason for revision surgery. Our study suggests that the use of pelvic fixation, invasiveness of the surgery, and survival greater than 5 years are independent risk factors for instrumentation failure.

EU 청년보장제도의 강화 : 유럽 도시의 경험에서 얻은 교훈

Nikita Sanaullah 한국노동연구원 2021 국제노동브리프 Vol.19 No.12

Attacking and Repairing the Improved ModOnions Protocol-Tagging Approach

( Nikita Borisov ),( Marek Klonowski ),( Mirosław Kutyłowski ),( Anna Lauks-dutka ) 한국인터넷정보학회 2010 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.4 No.3

In this paper, we present a new class of attacks against an anonymous communication protocol, originally presented in ACNS 2008. The protocol itself was proposed as an improved version of ModOnions, which exploits universal re-encryption in order to avoid replay attacks. However, ModOnions allowed the detour attack, introduced by Danezis to re-route ModOnions to attackers in such a way that the entire path is revealed. The ACNS 2008 proposal addressed this by using a more complicated key management scheme. The revised protocol is immune to detour attacks. We show, however, that the ModOnion construction is highly malleable and this property can be exploited in order to redirect ModOnions. Our attacks require detailed probing and are less efficient than the detour attack, but they can nevertheless recover the full onion path while avoiding detection and investigation. Motivated by this, we present modifications to the ModOnion protocol that dramatically reduce the malleability of the encryption primitive. It addresses the class of attacks we present and it makes other attacks difficult to formulate.

Identification of flutter derivatives from full-scale ambient vibration measurements of the Clifton Suspension Bridge

Nikitas, Nikolaos,Macdonald, John H.G.,Jakobsen, Jasna B. Techno-Press 2011 Wind and Structures, An International Journal (WAS Vol.14 No.3

The estimated response of large-scale engineering structures to severe wind loads is prone to modelling uncertainties that can only ultimately be assessed by full-scale testing. To this end ambient vibration data from full-scale monitoring of the historic Clifton Suspension Bridge has been analysed using a combination of a frequency domain system identification method and a more elaborate stochastic identification technique. There is evidence of incipient coupling action between the first vertical and torsional modes in strong winds, providing unique full-scale data and making this an interesting case study. Flutter derivative estimation, which has rarely previously been attempted on full-scale data, was performed to provide deeper insight into the bridge aerodynamic behaviour, identifying trends towards flutter at higher wind speeds. It is shown that, as for other early suspension bridges with bluff cross-sections, single-degree-of-freedom flutter could potentially occur at wind speeds somewhat below requirements for modern designs. The analysis also demonstrates the viability of system identification techniques for extracting valuable results from full-scale data.