Department Of Scientific And Industrial Research Research Articles

R&D tax credit and innovation: Evidence from private firms in india

Using firm-level data from 2001 to 2016, this paper evaluates the impact of India’s R&D tax credit scheme and its 2010-11 reform on the innovation activity of the country’s private firms. Registration with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) is a requirement for the R&D tax credit eligibility. Not all firms have registered with the DSIR by 2016 and those that did, vary by year of registration. In a difference-in-difference setting, we evaluate the change in innovation activity after the reform in DSIR-registered firms relative to non-DSIR-registered firms. We also study the timing of DSIR registration and examine how the changes in firm innovation activity following registration were impacted by the 2010-11 reform. Among firms first registered with the DSIR after the 2010-11 reform, we find a sharp increase in firm R&D expenditures, R&D intensity, and the number of patent applications filed at the Indian Patent Office following registration. The reform has also spurred innovation in firms registered with the DSIR in or before 2001. The results are not driven by unobserved cross-firm heterogeneity or firm-specific time trends.

Bridge loading in Malaysia : past, present and the future

A rapid growth of development in our country has demanded our road network to be expanded over the last few decades. To cope with rapid development, the transport industry has deployed larger vehicles with heavier axle loads. In many instances, the level of services of our road network governed by the bridge load capacity. Since pre-independence era, our bridges have been designed based on the British Code. Begin with British developed code of DSIR at early 20s to British Code (BS) and eventually to Eurocode, our bridge loadings have been evolved substantially. In the midst of foreign code, our National Axle Load study conducted in mid 80s has also marked a significant finding to our local bridge capacity in which three major groups of load carrying capacity have emerged from namely STAL, MTAL and LTAL. This paper presents the journey of our local bridge loading code of practice and the corresponding impact to the structural design and construction. Comparisons are made as early as in 20s at the time where the code was based on British Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) to the early age of British Code and to the migration of Eurocode. A typical concrete bridge deck spanning of 20m to 60m are modeled and analyzed with respective live loading derived from these established code of practice. Discussion on the way forward of implementing the Eurocode into our local design practices are also included.

‘A Matter of Practical Emergency’: Herbert Baker, Hope Bagenal, and the Acoustic Legacy of the Assembly Chamber in Imperial Delhi

AbstractIn 1923, at the request of the government of India, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) in Britain authorised a specialist research stream. Its purpose was to investigate problems in architectural acoustics specifically related to the new Assembly Chamber then under construction in Imperial Delhi. The design, by Sir Herbert Baker, was unusual for its era in that it was refined with recourse to measured data and calculations with a basis in modern physics. The acoustician, or ‘consulting architect’, was Hope Bagenal, and his appointment by Baker in 1922 marked the first international commission of a British acoustic consultant. This article examines the acoustic design of the Assembly Chamber in Delhi and identifies the inputs of the various individuals, both architects and scientists, involved. Drawing on the archives of Baker and Bagenal, the records of the DSIR and the Guastavino Company, as well as contemporaneous newspaper coverage, it also demonstrates the longer-term implications of the design and construction process at Delhi, including its role in stimulating subsequent government-funded research in architectural acoustics in Britain.

Emeritus Professor Reinhard Ferdinand Mathias Van Steveninck (1928-2017) and Dr Margaret Elva Van Steveninck (1931-2017) - plant physiologists and electron microscope X-ray microprobe specialists.

This obituary highlights the careers and contributions of two eminent plant physiologists. Emeritus Professor Reinhard Van Steveninck (1928-2017) was educated at Wageningen and London University. He joined the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), New Zealand, and achieved early recognition for his publications on abscission and mechanisms of salt uptake of plants. He was appointed Professor of Agriculture (Plant/Soil Science) at La Trobe University in 1976. He expanded his research into salinity tolerance of lupins and the ultrastructural localisation of ions using X-ray microprobe analysis. He was a good teacher and nurtured and trained many researchers in this area. He was a recognised expert in using a combination of ultrastructural techniques to study the movement of ions within plant cells and across tissues. His publications include book chapters on plant physiology, as well as a major review on the 'washing' or 'ageing' phenomenon in plant tissues. He was an active member and President of the Australian Society of Plant Physiologists. Margaret Van Steveninck (1931-2017) worked as a Research Assistant at Adelaide University and subsequently as a Demonstrator and Senior Demonstrator in Botany at Queensland and La Trobe University. Her plant physiology research with her husband resulted in numerous joint publications including a chapter on microanalysis in 'Electron microscopy of plant cells'.

On tap or on top? Scientists and the control of research in the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research 1926–1974

ABSTRACTThe development of the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) is examined in terms of the control and supervision of research. The original concept in 1926 was for a department headed by an administrator and tasked with maintaining and administering various research laboratories and investigations, with scientific supervision by outside committees. But external oversight of research was progressively reduced and by the 1970s DSIR had evolved into a department of science undertaking research in its own institutes, led and controlled by its own scientists.

Sydney Street West: a first place for science in Wellington

ABSTRACTThe Colonial Museum accommodated geological work and a small Colonial Laboratory adjacent was used for analytical chemistry in Sydney Street West from 1865. A larger Colonial Laboratory was built in 1905, from which activities soon expanded into the neighbouring ‘Vaccine Station’ and ‘Museum House’. The establishment of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) in 1926 and the extension of Bowen Street in the 1930s prompted the acquisition of residential properties built by Walter Godfrey Mantell (the son of scientist and politician Walter Baldock Durrant Mantell) and other neighbouring houses for scientific purposes. DSIR divisions decamped in the 1950s and 1960s, and the buildings were demolished, replaced by high-rise offices and a motorway overbridge.

Tony Whitaker: life and achievements of a pioneer New Zealand lizard ecologist

ABSTRACTTony Whitaker grew up in Pinehaven, north of Wellington, New Zealand. He soon became interested in natural history, with interests centred on lizard ecology. Newly developed nocturnal, mark–recapture and quadrat survey techniques enabled density and niche segregation studies, resulting in numerous scientific publications throughout his life. From 1966 to 1977 he worked as an ecologist at the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). His surveys of islands off northern New Zealand led to an important study of the impact of kiore (Polynesian rat; Rattus exulans) on lizard populations, showing that rat eradication was necessary for conservation. At DSIR he also researched birds and mammals. Later, Tony and his wife Viv established a farm near Motueka and began mainland studies of lizards, contracted to mining companies or the New Zealand Wildlife Service/Department of Conservation. Having built up a well-documented collection of New Zealand lizards (now at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa), Tony then contributed to a bibliography, atlas and field guide. During the period when the taxonomy of lizards was revolutionised by the use of molecular techniques, Tony provided specimens, guidance and encouragement to many herpetologists. From 2000, his interests turned to the little-known and threatened lizards of New Caledonia, on which he contributed to 13 major papers. His life and work are here described under thematic, rather than strictly chronological, headings.

The Diverse Contributions of J. Roger Bray and Gwendolyn Struik

The Diverse Contributions of J. Roger Bray and Gwendolyn Struik

Dr. Roger Huntly Newman (1st March 1949–26th July 2014)

Roger’s nature, and he himself freely admitted to being a pedant, meant that he was destined to excel in his chosen fields of interest. In 1966 Roger had an idea that he would like to pursue a career in Science. In New Zealand in the 1960s this meant either becoming staff at a University or joining the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). Roger cold-called Ian Walker the director of the DSIR and enquired what he would need to do to be a scientist? The answer saw Roger enrolled at the University of Canterbury (NZ) where he obtained a BSc (Hons) in quantum chemistry and in the process learned to use the powerful multi-kilobyte computers of the time. This instilled in Roger a love of computational chemistry and mathematical modelling of data that became such a large part of Roger’s final research years. From 1970 until 1973 Roger was employed as a scientist in the physical chemistry division of the DSIR. His section was responsible for X-ray diffraction and spectroscopic techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance. Roger was involved in some of the initial work on spin–lattice relaxation of liquid crystal systems and the effect of gradients on NMR experiments (McLachlan et al. 1971, 1973) that thus became a mainstay technique over Roger’s long research career. In 1973 Roger was awarded an NRAC Fellowship to carry out a PhD at the University of East Anglia (UK) in the area of theoretical and practical carbon, phosphorus and silicon NMR under Robin Harris (Harris and Newman 1977; Harris et al. 1984). He returned to DSIR to become the Spectroscopy Section Leader in 1984 and later, in 1986, took up a 2 year position at Oxford University (UK) as a visiting scientist investigating maximum entropy applications to NMR signal processing (Newman 1988). Roger returned to work as a Research Scientist from 1987 at the DSIR (which became Industrial Research Limited in 1992) until 2004 when he accepted a position at Scion as a Principal Scientist in the area of bio-based materials (Newman et al. 2007). After a brief foray in 1974 into lanthanide induced proton chemical shift modelling (Newman and Neal 1974), Roger’s focus was directed toward the use of NMR to problems in natural materials and environmental science. Roger applied NMR to soil, coal and mineral research, utilising multinuclear and NMR relaxation experiments (Newman and Tate 1980; Newman and Davenport 1987; Parker et al. 1995). In 1979 Roger published the first paper in what was to become his primary area of expertise, NMR, to study the chemistry of plant biology and structure. Roger’s initial focus was on structural determination S. J. Hill (&) Biopolymers and Chemicals, 49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3010, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand e-mail: stefan.hill@scionresearch.com

Seeing the Invisible: The Introduction and Development of Electron Microscopy in Britain, 1935–1945

INTRODUCTIONSpring, 1941. The German campaigns in the Balkans are strengthening the Nazi domination of continental Europe. The Lend-Lease bill signed by Roosevelt on 1 1 March has broken any neutrality pretence of the USA. War material is being sold, transferred or leased to the Allied nations in the name of assisting US defence. The war is about to become global and US and British leaders discuss strategy in the event that the USA finally enters actively into the war. In this context, the British physicist Charles Galton Darwin (1887-1962) is appointed Director of the British Central Scientific Office in Washington - an institution conceived to promote closer contact and exchange of information on uranium investigation between US and British scientists.1 Darwin is one of the British scientists involved in the work on an atom bomb project. He spends almost one year in Washington. During this time, he reports to the physicist and member of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR),2 Edward Victor Appleton (1892-1965), on the electron microscope, strongly advocating for the importation of several of these instruments.3 What was this new apparatus? Why was there such an interest in it? Was it expected to help in the war effort at all?This paper explores the introduction of electron microscopy in Britain in the early 1940s. It deals not only with the interest that the electron microscope originally awoke amongst some scholars, but also with the doubts and reluctance shown by several scientists - particularly life scientists - towards its development and potential uses. I contend that the specific context of World War ? was crucial in overcoming these differences, favouring the introduction of the electron microscope in Britain. It was the thread of chemical and biological warfare, together with industrial interests and the prospective uses of the electron microscope to the war effort, that finally made British scientists and policymakers advocate for the importation of several electron microscopes and for the development of electron microscopy in the country.THE EARLY DAYSThe development of the electron microscope in the 1930s had been possible thanks to the improved understanding of cathode ray tubes, together with the progress in techniques for achieving high vacuums. In 1928, Hans Busch (1884-1973) had demonstrated and proved mathematically how coils that generate a magnetic field of rotational symmetry could be used to focus electron beams. Soon after this, work on the development of electron microscopy began in Germany, such as that at the Allgemeine Elektrizitats-Gesellschaft (AEG) under the leadership of the head of the physics laboratories Ernst Bruche (1900-85). However, it was the engineers from the Technische Hochschule of Berlin Max Knoll (1897-1969) andErnst Ruska (1906-88) who in the early 1930s, using some of the methods and apparatus already developed to some extent for the purpose of cathode-ray oscillography, were the pioneers of the construction of an electron microscope in Germany.4The publication of the first results obtained by the Germans, though still very modest, opened the doors for the development of several electron microscope projects in countries such as the USA, Canada, Belgium, and Great Britain. A good example is that of Ladislaus Marton (1901-79), a physical chemist at the Free University of Brussels and one of the pioneers not only of electron microscopy, but also of the application of electron microscopy to biomedical studies. In fact, he was one of the individuals involved in the development of electron microscopy both in Belgium and America, where the Radio Corporation of America Company (RCA) was to play a crucial role.It was not Marton but James Hillier (191 5-2007), a postgraduate student who was building an electron microscope for his doctoral research in physics at the University of Toronto, who produced the first commercial American electron microscope for the RCA in February 1940 - just a few months after the German firm Siemens had offered the first commercial model. …

Pure Science with a Practical Aim: The Meanings of Fundamental Research in Britain, circa 1916–1950

Historians tell us that the term "fundamental research" entered the discourse of science in the interwar period as a synonym for "pure science" and that both terms referred to work concerned with the search for knowledge, without thought of application. The aim of this paper is to show that when the expression "fundamental research" was used in Britain during and after World War I, it had a particular status that was not equivalent to pure science. In the annual reports of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) "fundamental research" was endowed with multiple meanings, including work that was orientated towards some practical goal. The fluidity of the meaning of "fundamental research" in the reports of the DSIR can be understood as a strategy; "fundamental research" was a rhetorical term that served to persuade more than one audience of the legitimacy of the DSIR and its policies.

Technology and customer expectation in academic libraries: A special reference to technical/management libraries in Karnataka

Technology has transformed the way people live. Current day information seekers are empowered with multiple choices of information sources and libraries no longer remain the primary centre for information seekers. With diminishing time and geographical barriers the world has become a global village and information seekers are stressed with time constraints. It is the duty of library and information professionals to address these tech-savvy library users' needs and align their services to satisfy them.Recently, the author of this paper conducted a research study on the “Impact of technology on quality of services in technical and management libraries in Karnataka” sponsored by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Government of India, New Delhi. The study was approved in 2005 and the final report was submitted to the government in 2007. This paper carries some of the results of this research study conducted by the author in Karnataka state in Southern India.

Technology and customer expectation in academic libraries: A special reference to technical/management libraries in Karnataka

Technology has transformed the way people live. Current day information seekers are empowered with multiple choices of information sources and libraries no longer remain the primary centre for information seekers. With diminishing time and geographical barriers the world has become a global village and information seekers are stressed with time constraints. It is the duty of library and information professionals to address these tech-savvy library users' needs and align their services to satisfy them. Recently, the author of this paper conducted a research study on the “Impact of technology on quality of services in technical and management libraries in Karnataka” sponsored by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Government of India, New Delhi. The study was approved in 2005 and the final report was submitted to the government in 2007. This paper carries some of the results of this research study conducted by the author in Karnataka state in Southern India.

Contestability and contested stability: Life and times of CSIRO’s New Zealand cousins, the Crown Research Institutes

SummaryThe progress of the Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) since their formation in 1992 from the dismantling of the centralised Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) is charted. Particular attention is paid to the funding environment, characterised by the concept of contestability, in which the CRIs have operated. In recent years, the CRIs have lobbied for more funding stability arguing that contestability has resulted in fickle funding decisions, eroding their ability to plan for the long-term and build human capital. Certainly recent changes in policy reflect a greater concern with CRI capability. When the Government moved to increase the amount of core funding for CRIs, however, the universities, concerned that this would reduce their access to funding, argued that this ‘stability’ would result in ossification and less than excellent science. The paper concludes with some reflections on the contrast between the CSIRO and CRI cousins, and on the future for CRIs.

All our yesterdays: a hydrological retrospective

Abstract. This paper traces the development and eventual recognition of hydrology as a scientific subject in its own right in the UK and, later, in the European Geophysical Society (EGS), now the European Geosciences Union (EGU). In the early 1960s, to facilitate decisions of executive government departments in meeting the rapidly increasing demand for industrial and domestic water supplies, a small Hydrological Research Unit (HRU) was established by the UK Department of Scientific and Industrial Research(DSIR) to investigate the comparative water use of forested and grassed upland catchments. These small beginnings in the HRU developed in a few years into the highly multi-disciplinary Institute of Hydrology (IH) as a source of independent advice for policy makers, with a capability to undertake longer term research, monitoring and data collection than was feasible in individual government departments or in the universities. Within IH, the range of specialities included not only engineering, physics, geography, geology, meteorology and instrumentation but also pollution, plant physiology, ecology, chemistry and economics. Said quickly in retrospect, the trajectory of the growth of IH seems smooth but, in reality, it masked many struggles between competing disciplines and departments before hydrology was recognised as a subject in its own right – the science of water.

Acceptance of the SEG Silver Medal Award for 2000

President Franklin, members and friends of the Society of Economic Geologists: Looking back 10 to 20 years at those who have been granted this medal, I see people who are now among the leaders of our profession. Their subsequent careers are examples of academic excellence and ever-increasing service to the community of economic geologists, and this is quite a challenge to follow. As is the case for many of us during our student careers, it was the personal interaction with professors that was very influential during my formative years. At Macalester College, I became enthused about geology, despite the normal undergraduate shenanigans. I was challenged at The Johns Hopkins University by academic excellence, and I was given free rein to follow my interests at the University of Auckland. In addition, I was fortunate to be mentored by several people in the U.S. Geological Survey and the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). I regret that the changes in these and many other national institutes means that there is much less opportunity now for students to benefit from such a critical part of their professional development. Indeed, today there are fewer young economic geologists, and this should be our most serious concern, as individuals and as a professional society. I have also been extremely fortunate in my professional career, having had a tremendous amount of academic freedom. I spent over 19 years with two national institutes, first with the old DSIR—now a New Zealand government corporation—and subsequently at the Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ)—which has just become a …

War of words: the public science of the British scientific community and the origins of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1914–16

In late 1916 the British Government finally bowed to pressure from scientists and sympathetic elements of the public to organize and fund science centrally and established the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). Since just before the turn of the century state funding for science had steadily increased: the National Physical Laboratory was established in 1899, the Development Commission in 1909 and the Medical Research Committee in 1913. The establishment of the DSIR marked an end to piecemeal support and it was therefore a watershed when the statefinally accepted its responsibility to fund science properly, to develop a coherent science policy and thus recognise that science and scientists were crucial components of modern national life; not just in wartime, but in the development of the peacetime economy as well.At least this is how the history of the DSIR is currently still represented. The following analysis is more sensitive than previous treatments as it points out that the state's organization of a centrally planned and funded national policy for science began before the DSIR, and that this new body (in its support of pure research) reflected priorities established before the outbreak of the war. In previous accounts the DSIR was presented as a total break with the laissez-faire past. So, as historians we no longer follow the special pleading of the contemporary science lobby in arguing that the state was deaf to the needs of modern science. However, I want to argue that we are still deaf to the wider concerns of this contemporary pro-science rhetoric, which argued not only for centrally planned and funded science, but also often that scientists themselves should make policy for science.

Oscar Victor Sayer Heath. 26 July 1903—16 June 1997

O.V.S. ‘Peter’ Heath was born in London on 26 July 1903. In childhood, he encountered many problems, for he was often ill and he found learning difficult. At the time he may well have been regarded as ‘backward’. Now, with hindsight, we would say that his was a case of remarkable late development. His biographical notes (over 130 pages in his precise handwriting, with a note of apology at the front: ‘The notes are intended to assist the unfortunate Fellow who has to write me up‘) describe his early schooling and the subsequent private tuition which became necessary because of undiagnosed illness. He learned to read at the age of seven, but his reading remained slow throughout his life because he frequently needed to re-read passages. However, he did then have accurate recall of much of the subject matter. His father (Sir Frank Heath, 1863–1946, Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), 1916–27) had been a professor of English literature at Bedford College, and Peter had access to a vast collection of books, of which he took much advantage. He also took music lessons and learned to appreciate great music from his mother's piano playing, particularly the Beethoven piano sonatas.

REPORT ON THE THIRD NATIONAL MEETING OF CDROM/ONLINE USERS NICLAI, CLRI, MADRAS, INDIA, 9–10 AUGUST 1994

The Third National Meeting of CDROM/Online Users was sponsored by National Information System for Science and Technology (NISSAT), Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), New Delhi; organised by the National Information Centre for Leather & Allied Industries (NICLAI); and held at the Central Leather Research Institute, Madras during 9–10 August 1994. The previous two Meetings were held at New Delhi in 1992 and 1993. The Meeting's objective was to assess the current national and international situation, the utility of CDROM services, and their popularisation within the country, and to provide a forum for exchange of experiences on this new technique. The Meeting focused its attention on databases available, demand for search services, target users, problem areas and possible solutions. The Meeting was attended by 205 participants from 91 institutions all over the country, representing a galaxy of R&D, academic, corporate, entrepreneurial and so forth institutions. Eleven industries engaged in information technology products participated in the Meeting. The Meeting included technical sessions where 39 presentations were made.

N. J. de Jersey & J. I. Raine 1990. Triassic and earliest Jurassic miospores from the Murihiku Supergroup, New Zealand . NZGS Paleontological Bulletin 62. ii + 164 pp. Lower Hutt, New Zealand: Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). Price overseas US $60.00 (includes airmail postage). ISSN 0114-2283.

Jersey N. J. de & Raine J. I. 1990. Triassic and earliest Jurassic miospores from the Murihiku Supergroup, New Zealand. NZGS Paleontological Bulletin 62. ii + 164 pp. Lower Hutt, New Zealand: Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). Price overseas US $60.00 (includes airmail postage). ISSN 0114-2283. - Volume 128 Issue 2