Narrow Results

This paper presents the design and implementation of an extended-counting incremental sigma–delta ADC (IDC) with hardware-reuse technique. The proposed ADC architecture is a cascaded configuration of a second-order IDC and a two-stage cyclic ADC. The operation of the ADC consists of the “coarse phase” and the “fine phase”. In the “coarse phase”, the circuit works as an IDC to achieve the most significant bits (MSBs) and produce the residue voltage. Then in the “fine phase”, it is reused and changed to work as a cyclic ADC to quantize the residue voltage and achieve the least significant bits (LSBs). Eventual digital output is achieved by combining the two parts together. The utilization of extended-counting technique significantly reduces the conversion time and increases the conversion rate, and the hardware-reuse technique removes the demand for additional circuit area. The ADC is designed in 0.5$\mu$m CMOS process, which has a conversion rate of 43.48kS/s with oversampling ratio (OSR) of 23 and achieves 84.83dB SNDR and 13.799-bit ENOB. It consumes 2.4mW with a 5V voltage supply, and the FOM is 3.87pJ/step.

In this paper, new memristor-less meminductor emulators have been proposed using voltage differencing transconductance amplifier (VDTA), current differencing buffered amplifier (CDBA) and a grounded capacitor. The proposed decremental/incremental meminductor emulators have been realized in both grounded and floating types of configurations. In the proposed meminductor emulators, analog multiplier, memristor and passive resistors are not used which result in simpler configurations. The pinched hysteresis loops are maintained up to 2MHz for both decremental and incremental configurations of meminductor emulators. The behaviors of decremental and incremental meminductor emulators have been analyzed after applying input pulses. The obtained results verify the performances as decremental and incremental meminductor emulators. The simulation results have been obtained using Mentor Graphics Eldo simulation tool with 180nm CMOS technology parameters. To verify the performances of the proposed meminductor emulators, adaptive learning circuit and chaotic oscillator have been designed. The performances of the proposed meminductor emulators are compared with other meminductor emulators reported in the literature.

In this paper, a new design of meminductor emulator has been suggested using voltage differencing buffered amplifier (VDBA), current differencing buffered amplifier (CDBA), a resistor and two grounded capacitors. The key advantages of the proposed meminductor emulator circuits are their design simplicity, implementation without memristors and easily adjustable design for grounded/ floating decremental to incremental configurations. The proposed circuits have been designed and simulated using 180-nm process technologies in the Mentor Graphics Eldo simulation tool. The nonvolatility and Monte Carlo analysis of the proposed meminductor emulators have been given. A comparison table has also been presented to discuss the benefits of the suggested meminductor emulator designs with existing designs. The operation of the designed emulator has been corroborated by using it in the chaotic oscillator and neuromorphic circuit applications.

Several approaches have been proposed in the literature for offering RDF views over databases. In addition to these, a variety of tools exist that allow exporting database contents into RDF graphs. The approaches in the latter category have often been proved demonstrating better performance than the ones in the former. However, when database contents are exported into RDF, it is not always optimal or even necessary to export, or dump as this procedure is often called, the whole database contents every time. This paper investigates the problem of incremental generation and storage of the RDF graph that is the result of exporting relational database contents. In order to express mappings that associate tuples from the source database to triples in the resulting RDF graph, an implementation of the R2RML standard is subject to testing. Next, a methodology is proposed and described that enables incremental generation and storage of the RDF graph that originates from the source relational database contents. The performance of this methodology is assessed, through an extensive set of measurements. The paper concludes with a discussion regarding the authors' most important findings.

Digital innovations are happening all over the globe with the advent of technology. The digital platforms are not only introducing the traditional services online but are also continuously engaged in making frequent modifications to them in the form of incremental innovations. In our quest of creating a time horizon for innovation adoption, and determining levels of adopters of incremental innovations 837 participants from India were asked about their level of adoption of digital innovations. While most of the respondents did not seem affected by the digital transition, amongst the ones adopting these innovations are mostly Early Adopters and Early Majority. The study arrived at an adoption score for the respondents based on the time from the introduction of the innovation and their adoption. The time horizon suggests the increase in adoption of innovation with each new digital innovation introduced. In the case of incremental innovations, ten levels of adoption, and three categories consisting of the ten levels of adoption are formulated based on the LoA model. The users in India fall majorly on the Beginner category in which maximum is aware of the incremental innovations but are skeptical about using them. The study further suggests certain measures for the digital platform providers for each category of users to make them accustomed to the process of incremental innovations.

The last century has witnessed groundbreaking advances in clinical medicine across the entire diagnostic and therapeutic range, but inequities in access to these advances and innovations continue to be a major challenge to our societies.

Innovations are often initiated by "eureka" moments of discovery, but realising their full potential depend on a process of continuous incremental innovation and interaction involving complex networks. When developing systems that reward, encourage, and sustain medical advances, policy makers must recognise four important factors. First, "incremental" and "continuous" innovation is as important as "breakthrough" innovation. Second, investment across the entire innovation process is needed. Third, the ability of physicians to work across a wide range of scientific fields at "the bench and bedside" is critical to continuous innovation. And fourth, final medical advance that can result from an initial discovery may not be obvious and only occur following interaction with experts and innovations in other fields.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into how the successors of family-owned manufacturing SMEs view and manage innovativeness. Research into company takeovers mainly focuses on large companies and little is known about innovativeness in research on family-owned businesses, often SMEs. This paper presents findings from ten company successions, five of which describe family successions and five external ones. The paper points to that there is little difference in how various types of successor view and manage innovativeness. A successor is chosen with care and this also influences the view and management of innovativeness; other criteria seem to apply in the succession and radical changes can only be introduced if a number of contextual factors are managed properly. The paper also indicates that while financial constraints may limit innovations, a strong financial situation is not an antecedent for innovativeness.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of the relationship between leadership styles, organisational climate, innovation and organisational performance. The study was quantitative in nature using questionnaires submitted by 231 participants from various companies in South Africa. The statistical analysis was based on Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using the path analysis. The results from SEM reveal that transformational leadership style influences the climate for innovation and organisational performance directly and innovation indirectly. Similarly, a direct relationship between transactional leadership style and organisational performance was found, but no relationship was found between transactional leadership style and innovation. The findings assist managers to better understand which leadership style to adopt when the aim is to increase organisational performance using innovation as an enabler. This is the first study that investigated the nature of the relationship between leadership styles, organisational climate, innovation and organisational performance taking into account the nature of innovation (i.e., incremental and radical) and the stage at which innovation is operating in the innovation process.

Digital innovations are happening all over the globe with the advent of technology. The digital platforms are not only introducing the traditional services online but are also continuously engaged in making frequent modifications to them in the form of incremental innovations. In our quest of creating a time horizon for innovation adoption, and determining levels of adopters of incremental innovations 837 participants from India were asked about their level of adoption of digital innovations. While most of the respondents did not seem affected by the digital transition, amongst the ones adopting these innovations are mostly Early Adopters and Early Majority. The study arrived at an adoption score for the respondents based on the time from the introduction of the innovation and their adoption. The time horizon suggests the increase in adoption of innovation with each new digital innovation introduced. In the case of incremental innovations, ten levels of adoption, and three categories consisting of the ten levels of adoption are formulated based on the LoA model. The users in India fall majorly on the Beginner category in which maximum is aware of the incremental innovations but are skeptical about using them. The study further suggests certain measures for the digital platform providers for each category of users to make them accustomed to the process of incremental innovations.

The last century has witnessed groundbreaking advances in clinical medicine across the entire diagnostic and therapeutic range, but inequities in access to these advances and innovations continue to be a major challenge to our societies.

Innovations are often initiated by “eureka” moments of discovery, but realising their full potential depend on a process of continuous incremental innovation and interaction involving complex networks. When developing systems that reward, encourage, and sustain medical advances, policy makers must recognise four important factors. First, “incremental” and “continuous” innovation is as important as “breakthrough” innovation. Second, investment across the entire innovation process is needed. Third, the ability of physicians to work across a wide range of scientific fields at “the bench and bedside” is critical to continuous innovation. And fourth, final medical advance that can result from an initial discovery may not be obvious and only occur following interaction with experts and innovations in other fields.