Ethereum Blockchain based Smart Contract for Secured Transactions between Founders/Entrepreneurs and Contributors under Start-up Projects

Many implementation of blockchain technology are widely available today. This Project explains how blockchain technology improves efficiency and builds faith in funding process of startup process which affect today’s business and industries. Designing Block chain based a decentralized, distributed ledger, which records transactions or events of funding process in Start-up is discussed.Start –ups facing an issue of raising a required fund. Although there are many sources are available to entrepreneurs who wish to begin new businesses or expand existing ones, like family, friends, friends of friends, bank loan, use of internet, online crowd funding platform and many more. However, to look at the proper distribution and utilization of money and to keep track of it is main problem. This proposed system may provide the solution with blockchain technology for issues related to crowdfunding contract. Through the notion of smart contract automated interaction between and existing transaction system is discussed. A solution for the issues like security, abuse of investor and illegal transactions in crowdfunding process is prompted in this project.The idea behind model is to use ethereum based smart contract for securely and effectively handling connection between fundraisers,vendors and project manager/idea person. Blockchain enabled,distributed platforms is used to avoid fraud and to view proper utilization and distribution of money raised by different contributors.

Systematic Literature Review on Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship: Citation and Thematic Analysis

This paper presents a systematic review of the literature on ethnic minority entrepreneurship. A total of 174 articles converging on ethnic minority entrepreneurship, published between 2010 and 2020, were investigated. This paper extends existing knowledge of the sub-areas in ethnic minority entrepreneurship research by focusing on two different angles. Firstly, Citation analysis was performed to review research papers to recognize and classify the key areas of ethnic minority entrepreneurship currently being focused on and examined by the research community. Secondly, Thematic analysis was executed to discover the specific themes that are being researched. The study found seven different themes: immigrant studies, ethnic entrepreneurial motivations, ethnic startup process, motives of ethnic business success, failure factors of ethnic businesses, ethnic unique challenges, and favourite strong ties of ethnic minorities were identified as main themes. The number of research gaps identified should encourage novel paths and scopes in the ethnic minority entrepreneurship research field to fill these gaps in the literature.

Ready or not? Nascent entrepreneurs’ actions and the acquisition of external financing

PurposeThis study offers empirical evidence from a nationally representative panel dataset of nascent entrepreneurs (PSED-II) regarding when external financing is acquired and how certain factors affect this timing during the cumulative process of nascent entrepreneurs taking actions toward establishing an operational entity. By assessing the relationship between the external financing event and the cumulative set of actions that nascent entrepreneurs undertake to create new businesses, we improve our understanding of how the timing of acquiring external financing affects organizational survival and growth.Design/methodology/approachWe apply nonparametric and semiparametric survival analysis techniques to a nationally representative panel dataset of nascent entrepreneurs. This ascertains the probability of an external financing event at any given moment in time and a set of startup conditions that we hypothesize will affect this timing. First, we use Kaplan–Meier analysis to explore when external financing occurs during new business creation. We then use discrete-time survival analysis to investigate whether certain startup conditions affect when external financing occurs. Finally, we conduct a test of independence to examine the external financing event relative to other startup activities completed during new business creation.FindingsNascent entrepreneurs tend to acquire external funding relatively late in the new venture startup process – on average, about two-thirds of the way from conceiving of the idea and becoming operational. They tend to take actions that are less resource-demanding early in the startup process to build their organizations to a fundable stage. Net worth tends to speed up the acquisition of external funding as wealthy entrepreneurs tend to ask for funding earlier in the process. Finally, entrepreneurs in capital-intensive industries do not seem to get outside funding before entrepreneurs in other industries.Originality/valueThis study is unique in three ways. First, we investigate the timing of the highly important external financing event. Timing is critical in unpacking and making sense of the very early stages of a new business and in guiding entrepreneurs and students about when to do what. Second, we do so in a subsample of preoperational, nascent, funded entrepreneurs derived from a nationally representative panel dataset of startup attempts. Third, our findings provide a counter-intuitive yet systematic understanding of organizational emergence and very early-stage financing.

A Hybrid Metaheuristic Optimization Approach for the Synthesis of Operating Procedures for Optimal Drum-Boiler Startups

A steam generator serves as a power generation equipment that uses the expansive power of steam to generate electricity. The startup process of a steam generator plays an important process in a power plant to adjust its electricity generation in response to changes in load demand. As renewable generation plants increase, the levels of variability in electricity production increase. Fast startups become instrumental as they enable traditional power generation plants to provide the quantity of electricity missing when variable renewable energies cannot satisfy the load demand. The drum boiler is one of the main pieces of equipment involved in the startup process of a steam generator. However, if the startup process is carried out too fast, excessive thermal stresses may occur, thus provoking damage to the components of the drum boiler. This paper proposes a dynamic optimization methodology to synthesize operating procedures that minimize the startup time of the drum boiler while avoiding the excessive formation of thermal stresses. Since valve operations influence the time-varying behavior of the steam, dynamic simulation is needed in order to evaluate the operating procedure. The proposed algorithm is based on two important elements of two metaheuristic algorithms: the acceptance probability of the simulated annealing algorithm and the tabu search memory structures. A case study evaluates the proposed approach by comparing it against results previously published in the literature.

Improvement of Turboshaft Restart Time Through an Experimental and Numerical Investigation

Inflight shutdown of one engine for twin-engine helicopters has proven beneficial for fuel consumption. A new flight mode is then considered, in which one engine is put into sleep mode while the second engine runs at nominal load. The ability to restart the engine in sleep mode is then critical for safety reasons. Indeed, the certification of this flight mode involves ensuring a close-to-zero failure rate for in-flight restarts and a fast restart capability of the shutdown engine (focus of this paper). Fast restart capability is necessary in case of a failure of the operating engine. Indeed, there is no more power available, and the helicopter can lose up to 15–20 meters per second during autorotation. The restart time becomes a critical parameter to limit the loss of altitude. The aim of the paper is to assess the potential restart time saving using an approach combining test rig data analysis and numerical results generated by a thermodynamic model able to simulate at low rotational speed. It is important to understand the detailed phenomenology of the startup process and the various subsystems involved, first to highlight the influencing parameters and then to establish an exhaustive listing of the possible time optimizations. The results of this study show that a fast restart going from sleep mode to max power speed can be up to 60% faster than a conventional restart going from sleep mode to idle speed, which is significantly faster.

How Does The Use Of Technology In Entrepreneurial Process Affect Firms’ Growth?

This paper summarizes the arguments and counterarguments within the scientific discussion on the issue of how technology use in entrepreneurial process relates to firm performance and business owner’s optimism in U.S. states. We specifically focus on each U.S. state’s success in employing internet as a tool during the startup process, the tax payment process, and the licensing process. We try to answer the following question: “Do the small firms that operate in an internet-friendly state perform better than the small firms that operate in a less internet-friendly state?” We also examine how internet usage affects owners’ outlook for the future. Our results show that the prevalence of internet use for tax payments or for licensing in a state is not related to companies’ performance or their owners’ outlook. The prevalence of internet use during the startup process also does not affect firms’ performance. However, our findings indicate that the prevalence of internet use during the startup process affects owners’ outlook for the future. If a state is more business friendly in terms of the internet startup process, the small business owners in that state tend to be more optimistic in terms of future hiring plans and in terms of encouraging others to start a business in their state. The relevance of these findings is that, to improve the environment for small businesses, states should focus on starting an internet startup process or on improving their existing process. Investigation of the impact of technology use on growth and on owner’s optimism in the paper is carried out in the following logical sequence: First, each state is assigned into one of two groups based on their “Internet start score”. The states that have a score higher than the mean state were assigned into the “High-Internet Start Score” group and the others were assigned into the “Low-Internet Start Score” group. Then, the two groups were compared in terms of firm growth and owner’s optimism. Then, the same procedure is followed for “Internet Tax Score”. The states that have a score higher than the mean state were assigned into the “High-Internet Tax Score” group and the others were assigned into the “Low-Internet Tax Score” group. The two groups were compared in terms of firm growth and owner’s optimism. Finally, the same procedure is followed for “Internet Licensing Score”. The states that have a score higher than the mean state were assigned into the “High-Internet Licensing Score” group and the others were assigned into the “Low-Internet Licensing Score” group. Then, the two groups were compared in terms of firm growth and owner’s optimism. We used nonparametric tests to compare high and low score states in each category. Only 41 states had sufficient data to run the analyses. The paper presents the results of these nonparametric tests which showed that internet start score, internet tax score, or internet licensing score does not explain firm growth. However, the prevalence of internet use during the startup process affects owners’ outlook for the future. The results of the research can be useful for state or local governments that want to support their small businesses by improving the technology use in these areas.

Transient tribo-dynamic analysis of crosshead slipper in low-speed marine diesel engines during engine startup

A crosshead slipper-guide system, which bears a significant thrust force, is an essential friction pair in low-speed marine diesel engines. Owing to the low moving speed of the crosshead slipper during engine startup, it is difficult to form good hydrodynamic lubrication between the crosshead slipper and guide. Therefore, a detailed analysis of the crosshead slipper during engine startup is needed. In this study, a new transient tribo-dynamic model for a crosshead slipper during the engine startup process is presented. The model consists of a mixed lubrication model of the crosshead slipper-guide and dynamic models of the piston assembly, crosshead assembly, connecting rod, and crankshaft. The tribo-dynamic performances of the crosshead slipper during startup and under the rated conditions were simulated and compared. The results show that the tribo-dynamics of the crosshead slipper during the startup process are significantly different from those under the rated conditions. Some measures beneficial for the low friction of a crosshead slipper-guide under the rated conditions may significantly increase the friction loss of the crosshead slipper-guide system during the startup process.