Lessons Learned: Research Benefits and Beyond Associated with Participating in the NSF I-Corps™ Customer Discovery Program

The purpose of this study is to communicate lessons learned and benefits (which go beyond assessing commercial viability) from faculty principal investigator participation in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps (I-Corps™) Customer Discovery National Teams Program. The NSF I-Corps Customer Discovery National Teams Program markets itself as a program that "prepares scientists and engineers to extend their focus beyond the university laboratory and accelerates the economic and societal benefits of NSF-funded, basic-research projects that are ready to move toward commercialization." However, there is so much more to be gained by program participants. Unfortunately, researchers wouldn't know this unless they personally participated in the program or received insights from someone who has completed the program. This study aims to respond to the following research question: How does participation in the NSF I-Corps Customer Discovery Program benefit faculty principal investigators? This study integrates both secondary data, using VentureWell's data file and code book, which was developed as an assessment tool for the NSF I-Corps National Teams Program, and autoethnography, whereby the authors use a qualitative research approach to self-reflect upon their own experiences conducting customer discovery on energy-focused technologies. Findings show there is much to be gained by program participants, including improvements in overall career success attributes, such as learning, mentoring, and research capabilities. In addition, the results show faculty researchers how they can recreate the process on their own.

IMPLEMENTASI KURIKULUM EXPLORE DISCOVERY PROGRAM (EDP) DALAM MENGEMBANGKAN POTENSI DASAR ANAK

Potensi merupakan kemampuan yang dimiliki setiap anak sejak dalam kandungan. Potensi anak kalau tidak dikembangkan maka tidak maksimal perkembangannya apalagi pada usia dini, anak memiliki kemampuan yang besar. Terutama dalam kehidupan pada saat ini, manusia dituntut harus memiliki karakter yang baik, perubahan hidup yang dinamis serta pengembangan potensi untuk menolong banyak orang. Dalam penulisan ini, penulis menemukan rumusan masalahnya: bagaimana mengembangkan potensi dasar anak, bagaimana potensi anak dapat menjadi berkat bagi orang lain, dan apakah implementasi kurikulum Explore Discovey Program dapat mengembangkan potensi dasar anak? Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah metode Research Library, menggunakan sumber buku dan jurnal. Hasil analisa data, setelah mengolah sumber maka implementasi kurikulum Explore Discovery Program, potensi dasar anak berkembang maksimal jika implementasinya sesuai dengan perkembangan usia. Anak yang menjadi obyek dalam penelitian ini adalah umur 2-6 tahun. Anak yang mendapat kurikulum Explore Discovery Program mengalami perubahan karakter, perubahan hidup dan memuridkan orang lain. Dari pencapaian ini menunjukkan potensi dasar anak dapat dikembangkan melalui implementasi kurikulum Explore Discovery

Mid-Norwegian continental margin magmatism and Paleogene global climate change: An overview of the upcoming International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 396

<p>Continental breakup between Greenland and NW Europe in the Paleogene was associated with transient massive magmatism and a global hot-house named the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 396 will study the cause of this magmatism and its climate implication by drilling up to nine boreholes across the Vøring and Møre continental margins in August-September 2021. The expeditions will be conducted in conjunction with ICDP project PVOLC which plan to drill the Paleogene sequences in a more distal setting in Denmark in 2022. The NE Atlantic conjugate volcanic rifted margins are characterized by extensive break-up magmatism recorded by basalt flows, volcanogenic sediments, magmatic underplates, and intrusive complexes in sedimentary basins and the crust. Massive injection of magma into organic-rich sedimentary basins is a likely mechanism for triggering short-term global warming during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). A key objective of this expedition is to document the nature and explain the causes and consequences of excess magmatism during breakup as the large amount of magmatism cannot be easily be explained by passive decompressional melting of sub-lithospheric mantle with a normal potential temperature. New constraints on 1) melting conditions, 2) timing of magmatism, 3) spatial and temporal variations, 4) eruption environment, 5) sedimentary proxy data, and 6) temporal resolution of magmatism and climate change events are required to resolve current controversies. Systematic IODP drilling is a way to provide these constraints and will allow the development of a quantitatively testable framework for volcanic rifted margin formation and consequences for global climate change. New 3D seismic data collected by the industry and academia during the past few years have provided unique imaging of the basalt and sub-basalt sequences and allowed for optimal planning of the drill sites for scientific purposes. Additional holes are located along and outboard of the continent-ocean boundary to constrain the temporal evolution of the breakup magmatism. Two of the scientific drilling aims of this cruise are to core Paleogene sequences across the PETM and to drill one of the thousands of hydrothermal vent complexes to attain a proximal record of NAIP activity. This will give vital information on the proximal environmental disturbances during the NAIP emplacement.</p>

Virtual Screening, Molecular Docking and QSAR Studies in Drug Discovery and Development Programme

Structure-based drug design (SBDD) and ligand-based drug design (LBDD) are the two basic approaches of computer-aided drug design (CADD) used in modern drug discovery and development programme. Virtual screening (or in silico screening) has been used in drug discovery program as a complementary tool to high throughput screening (HTS) to identify bioactive compounds. It is a preliminary tool of CADD that has gained considerable interest in the pharmaceutical research as a productive and cost-effective technology in search for novel molecules of medicinal interest. Docking is also used for virtual screening of new ligands on the basis of biological structures for identification of hits and generation of leads or optimization (potency/ property) of leads in drug discovery program. Hence, docking is approach of SBDD which plays an important role in rational designing of new drug molecules. Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) is an important chemometric tool in computational drug design. It is a common practice of LBDD. The study of QSAR gives information related to structural features and/or physicochemical properties of structurally similar molecules to their biological activity. In this paper, a comprehensive review on several computational tools of SBDD and LBDD such as virtual screening, molecular docking and QSAR methods of and their applications in the drug discovery and development programme have been summarized. Keywords: Virtual screening, Molecular docking, QSAR, Drug discovery, Lead molecule

An Efficient Palladium-Catalyzed α-Arylation of Acetone Below its Boiling Point

The monoarylation of acetone is a powerful transformation, but is typically performed at temperatures significantly in excess of its boiling point. Conditions described for performing the reaction at ambient temperatures led to significant dehalogenation when applied to a complex aryl halide. We describe our attempts to overcome both issues in the context of our drug-discovery program.