Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how heuristics are formed and whether herding and prospect theory act as antecedents to heuristics. The relationship is explored specifically for millennials. Design/methodology/approach The proposed relationship is explored specifically for millennials. Herding and prospect theory are modelled as antecedents to heuristics. The study uses survey data from 923 millennials from India to test the model for two financial products: equity and mutual funds. Regression analysis is used to evaluate the model. Findings Findings support the role of herding and prospect theory as antecedents to heuristics of millennials although to varying degrees for equity and mutual fund investments. The impact of herding on heuristics is likely to be smaller for equity investments as compared to mutual fund investments. Research limitations/implications The findings provide insights into how heuristics are formed for millennials. The findings add to literature by beginning a new line of inquiry on how heuristics are formed. Since the model is tested on a single generation, future research can test the model on other generations. In addition, future research can also add more antecedents to our proposed model. Practical implications Findings from this study can provide financial planners and marketers with an understanding of how heuristics are formed for millennials. Financial planners can use these insights while providing financial advice to this generation and marketers can use them to create more relevant outreach. Social implications Financial investments are an important conduit for financial security. By understanding the cognitive processes that influence financial investment decision-making, it is possible for educators to create content appropriately and for financial planners to advise clients accordingly to enable optimal financial decisions that will be wealth-creating. Originality/value Existing literature primarily treats heuristics, herding and prospect theory as being independent of each other. The authors take a novel approach to model the antecedents to heuristics to be herding and prospect theory. The model is tested on millennials for two financial products: equity and mutual funds.

Background: Effective skill development remains an important vehicle for national prosperity. Aswhat appeared to work with their predecessor generation (Gen X) does not have the same results with Millennials many educators today are experimenting with pedagogies to effectively train Millennials. Globally, it is becoming evident that the Millennials in higher education learn very differently than their predecessors. Purpose: Our study provides comparisons on three learning parameters of learning affectivity, goal orientation and competition between Gen X & Millennials.. Methods: To study whether the learning attributes are similar or they differ across the two generations we compared the means of the three attributes under consideration. Results: We find Millennials to be different from Gen X across the three studied parameters suggesting that teaching pedagogies require a rethink for Millennials. Conclusions: These results could be useful in designing appropriate teaching pedagogies that are likely to improve Millennials’ learning.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to design and incorporate gamebased pedagogy grounded in self-determination theory (SDT) for a higher education course in a business school program.Design/methodology/approachThe study evaluates the learning outcomes of students from higher education in gamified and non-gamified contexts. The study was conducted over a period of two years in a management institute in the National Capital Region of India. The participants of the gamification study were the students in the age group 22–25 years with 0–3 years of work experience.FindingsIn general, findings of this study suggest that the group that underwent the course with the game-based pedagogy had better learning outcomes. In the game design, this study found that the addition of “meaningfulness” to the game elements improved the engagement with the gamification process for the learners. Consequently, this study found that “meaningfulness” played an important role in engaging the students, thereby, leading to improved learning outcomes.Research limitations/implicationsThe study suggests that when the game design is rooted in theory, it is likely that the desired results from gamification will be achieved. The evaluation of the courses was done by the researcher themselves. An external evaluation is required to confirm the results of the gamification elements used in the course as enumerated in the paper.Practical implicationsAll the game elements used in the game design were underpinned by SDT which suggests that if the three innate needs of competence, relatedness and autonomy in individuals are met, the desired learning outcomes is likely to follow.Social implicationsDue to the use of an online environment for the conduct of the evaluations, the study permitted the students to receive and have access to constant feedback enabling them to improve and enhance their learning.Originality/valueExisting research shows inconsistent results with the use of gamification in the learning process. This study suggests that by grounding the gamification design in learning theory is more likely to achieve favourable results. In addition, if the game elements provide meaningfulness to the participants, the gamification process is more likely to succeed.

This study explores the similarities and differences in herding behaviour and influencers by gender, specifically for the millennial generation. We find evidence that both groups exhibit very similar behaviour when it comes to herding and the influencers they choose to listen to. The two groups differ somewhat in the influence parents and siblings have on them, with females experiencing more influence from them. These findings are significant as they are contrary to most existing literature which suggests that males and females are quite different while making investment decisions. Regression model for the impact of influencers on herding behaviour was also similar for both genders. Both groups listen to experts but do not herd based on this. Both groups tend to herd more based on friends, relatives, siblings and parents. The insights from the study will be useful for services marketing professionals and financial planners who can use the influencers who will be effective in communicating information as well as enrol those influencers who male and female millennials herd with for their financial investment decisions. This should help them achieve more targeted communication strategies.

In a large developing country such as India where much of the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector is not yet fully organized and often receives limited support through government improvement programs, the journey to become integrated into a circular economy (CE) may seem impossible. This paper describes the foundations for establishing a CE in SMEs in India based on a culture that focuses on less waste more recycling, reusing, repurposing and repairing of parts and products. But much of this is done in an unorganized and informal way, without a long-term vision or strategy in place. We draw on the socio-technical system (STS) theory to explain how social, technical and environmental features influence CE. Based on a qualitative inquiry, we provide evidence from four exemplar SME companies in their transition to a CE covering issues such as motivation, strategy/practices and the challenges/hurdles faced. Using micro-level insights from STS theory, we then elaborate on various enablers and drivers that can be adopted by managers, policy-makers and industry associations in helping SMEs move toward a CE paradigm.

There has been a growing global focus on student learning outcomes. Research has also shown that the current generation in higher education has significantly different learning characteristics than its predecessors. It then becomes essential to understand this generation's learning attributes that can provide useful guidance in designing teaching pedagogies for this generation. We specifically study goal orientation, learning affectivity, competition and trust in this generation. The findings indicate that this generation significantly differs from the previous generation on the attributes of trust and competition. Gen Y was found to be more competitive and less trusting than Gen X.

There has been a significant effort to integrate regional capital markets which has required the integration of the underlying infrastructure. Addressing these challenges will require structural changes to the infrastructure. Clearing and settlement process is at the heart of this infrastructure. It enables the transfer of funds and equity shares between the buyer and the seller. Using the structural changes to the clearing and settlement process in the Indian stock markets, this study aims to study the impact of these changes on the level of trades that fail to settle. Our findings suggest that in general the level of trades failing to settle has seen considerable decrease, and that the structural changes to the process have been generally successful. Our findings will find significance in choosing the solutions to address the challenges that are arising from integration of stock market infrastructure.

Phosphorylation of histone H3 at serine 10 (H3S10ph) by Aurora kinases plays an important role in mitosis; however, H3S10ph also marks regulatory regions of inducible genes in interphase mammalian cells, implicating mitosis-independent functions. Using the fluorescent ubiquitin-mediated cell cycle indicator (FUCCI), we found that 30% of the genome in interphase mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is marked with H3S10ph. H3S10ph broadly demarcates gene-rich regions in G1 and is positively correlated with domains of early DNA replication timing (RT) but negatively correlated with H3K9me2 and lamin-associated domains (LADs). Consistent with mitosis-independent kinase activity, this pattern was preserved in ESCs treated with Hesperadin, a potent inhibitor of Aurora B/C kinases. Disruption of H3S10ph by expression of nonphosphorylatable H3.3S10A results in ectopic spreading of H3K9me2 into adjacent euchromatic regions, mimicking the phenotype observed in Drosophila JIL-1 kinase mutants. Conversely, interphase H3S10ph domains expand in Ehmt1 (also known as Glp) null ESCs, revealing that H3S10ph deposition is restricted by H3K9me2. Strikingly, spreading of H3S10ph at RT transition regions (TTRs) is accompanied by aberrant transcription initiation of genes co-oriented with the replication fork in Ehmt1−/− and Ehmt2−/− ESCs, indicating that establishment of repressive chromatin on the leading strand following DNA synthesis may depend upon these lysine methyltransferases. H3S10ph is also anti-correlated with H3K9me2 in interphase murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and is restricted to intragenic regions of actively transcribing genes by EHMT2. Taken together, these observations reveal that H3S10ph may play a general role in restricting the spreading of repressive chromatin in interphase mammalian cells.

Repression of endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) in mammals involves several epigenetic mechanisms. Acute loss of the maintenance methyltransferase Dnmt1 induces widespread DNA demethylation and transcriptional activation of ERVs, including CpG-rich IAP (intracisternal A particle) proviruses. Here, we show that this effect is not due simply to a loss of DNA methylation. Conditional deletions reveal that both Dnmt1 and Np95 are essential for maintenance DNA methylation. However, while IAPs are derepressed in Dnmt1-ablated embryos and embryonic stem cells (ESCs), these ERVs remain silenced when Np95 is deleted alone or in combination with Dnmt1. This paradoxical phenotype results from an ectopic interaction between NP95 and the H3K9 methyltransferase SETDB1. Normally, SETDB1 maintains silencing of IAPs, but in the absence of DNMT1, prolonged binding of NP95 to hemimethylated DNA transiently disrupts SETDB1-dependent H3K9me3 deposition. Thus, our observations reveal an unexpected antagonistic interplay between two repressive pathways involved in retroviral silencing in mammalian cells.

Research on user innovation and entrepreneurship has focused almost entirely on developed economy settings focusing largely on technologically advanced user innovations. Since very less is known on user innovation occurring in the rural context, we used the qualitative research lens to understand in detail the phenomenon of user innovation and entrepreneurship. Detailed case studies of five rural user innovations were conducted in rural India. These users innovated to alleviate drudgery while fulfilling their need for a low-cost local solution to a widespread rural problem. These user innovators often encountered a resource void for commercialising their innovations. Our study finds that external actors fill this void by extending financial aid without collateral, research and development support, business development support, and intellectual property protection support. In addition to poverty alleviation, our study finds a positive social impact on the lives of rural entrepreneurs and their communities.

Innovation research has abundant literature on technologically advanced innovations and entrepreneurship. However, literature from a rural innovator and entrepreneur perspective is sparse. Therefore, we explore rural user innovation and entrepreneurship in a developing country, India. Using multiple case study research method, we study cases of five rural user innovations in detail. These rural innovators innovated to alleviate the drudgery of their lives and to fulfill their need for a low-cost local solution to a widespread rural problem. They often face a resource void for commercializing their innovations and we find that external actors can play an enabling role in filling this void. The findings of our study help propose a framework for enabling rural innovation and entrepreneurship in developing countries like India. Further, in addition to poverty alleviation, we found that there was a positive social impact on the lives of rural entrepreneurs and their community.

During mammalian development, DNA methylation patterns need to be reset in primordial germ cells (PGCs) and preimplantation embryos. However, many LTR retrotransposons and imprinted genes are impervious to such global epigenetic reprogramming via hitherto undefined mechanisms. Here, we report that a subset of such genomic regions are resistant to widespread erasure of DNA methylation in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) lacking the de novo DNA methyltransferases (Dnmts) Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b. Intriguingly, these loci are enriched for H3K9me3 in mESCs, implicating this mark in DNA methylation homeostasis. Indeed, deletion of the H3K9 methyltransferase SET domain bifurcated 1 (Setdb1) results in reduced H3K9me3 and DNA methylation levels at specific loci, concomitant with increased 5-hydroxymethylation (5hmC) and ten-eleven translocation 1 binding. Taken together, these data reveal that Setdb1 promotes the persistence of DNA methylation in mESCs, likely reflecting one mechanism by which DNA methylation is maintained at LTR retrotransposons and imprinted genes during developmental stages when DNA methylation is reprogrammed.

BACKGROUND:In mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs), transcriptional silencing of numerous class I and II endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), including IAP, ETn and MMERVK10C, is dependent upon the H3K9 methyltransferase (KMTase) SETDB1/ESET and its binding partner KAP1/TRIM28. In contrast, the H3K9 KMTases G9a and GLP and HP1 proteins are dispensable for this process. Intriguingly, MERVL retroelements are actively transcribed exclusively in the two-cell (2C) embryo, but the molecular basis of silencing of these class III ERVs at later developmental stages has not been systematically addressed.RESULTS:Here, we characterized the roles of these chromatin factors in MERVL silencing in mESCs. While MMERVK10C and IAP ERVs are bound by SETDB1 and KAP1 and are induced following their deletion, MERVL ERVs show relatively low levels of SETDB1 and KAP1 binding and are upregulated exclusively following KAP1 depletion, indicating that KAP1 influences MERVL expression independent of SETDB1. In contrast to class I and class II ERVs, MERVL and MERVL LTR-driven genic transcripts are also upregulated following depletion of G9a or GLP, and G9a binds directly to these ERVs. Consistent with a direct role for H3K9me2 in MERVL repression, these elements are highly enriched for G9a-dependent H3K9me2, and catalytically active G9a is required for silencing of MERVL LTR-driven transcripts. MERVL is also derepressed in HP1α and HP1β KO ESCs. However, like KAP1, HP1α and HP1β are only modestly enriched at MERVL relative to IAP LTRs. Intriguingly, as recently shown for KAP1, RYBP, LSD1 and G9a-deficient mESCs, many genes normally expressed in the 2C embryo are also induced in HP1 KO mESCs, revealing that aberrant expression of a subset of 2C-specific genes is a common feature in each of these KO lines.CONCLUSIONS:Our results indicate that G9a and GLP, which are not required for silencing of class I and II ERVs, are recruited to MERVL elements and play a direct role in silencing of these class III ERVs, dependent upon G9a catalytic activity. In contrast, induction of MERVL expression in KAP1, HP1α and HP1β KO ESCs may occur predominantly as a consequence of indirect effects, in association with activation of a subset of 2C-specific genes.

Vitamin C is a direct regulator of Tet enzyme activity and DNA methylation fidelity in mouse ES cells; addition of vitamin C promotes Tet activity, increases 5-hydroxymethlycytosine (5hmC) and DNA demethylation of many gene promoters, upregulates demethylated germline genes, and induces a state that more closely approximates that of the inner cell mass of the blastocyst.

Methylation on lysine 9 of histone H3 (H3K9me) and DNA methylation play important roles in the transcriptional silencing of specific genes and repetitive elements. Both marks are detected on class I and II endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) in murine embryonic stem cells (mESCs). Recently, we reported that the H3K9-specific lysine methyltransferase (KMTase) Eset/Setdb1/KMT1E is required for H3K9me3 and the maintenance of silencing of ERVs in mESCs. In contrast, G9a/Ehmt2/KMT1C is dispensable, despite the fact that this KMTase is required for H3K9 dimethylation (H3K9me2) and efficient DNA methylation of these retroelements. Transcription of the exogenous retrovirus (XRV) Moloney murine leukemia virus is rapidly extinguished after integration in mESCs, concomitant with de novo DNA methylation. However, the role that H3K9 KMTases play in this process has not been addressed. Here, we demonstrate that G9a, but not Suv39h1 or Suv39h2, is required for silencing of newly integrated Moloney murine leukemia virus-based vectors in mESCs. The silencing defect in G9a(-/-) cells is accompanied by a reduction of H3K9me2 at the proviral LTR, indicating that XRVs are direct targets of G9a. Furthermore, de novo DNA methylation of newly integrated proviruses is impaired in the G9a(-/-) line, phenocopying proviral DNA methylation and silencing defects observed in Dnmt3a-deficient mESCs. Once established, however, maintenance of silencing of XRVs, like ERVs, is dependent exclusively on the KMTase Eset. Taken together, these observations reveal that in mESCs, the H3K9 KMTase G9a is required for the establishment, but not for the maintenance, of silencing of newly integrated proviruses.

Background Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are parasitic sequences whose derepression is associated with cancer and genomic instability. Many ERV families are silenced in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) via SETDB1-deposited trimethylated lysine 9 of histone 3 (H3K9me3), but the mechanism of H3K9me3-dependent repression remains unknown. Multiple proteins, including members of the heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) family, bind H3K9me2/3 and are involved in transcriptional silencing in model organisms. In this work, we address the role of such H3K9me2/3 "readers" in the silencing of ERVs in mESCs. Results We demonstrate that despite the reported function of HP1 proteins in H3K9me-dependent gene repression and the critical role of H3K9me3 in transcriptional silencing of class I and class II ERVs, the depletion of HP1α, HP1β and HP1γ, alone or in combination, is not sufficient for derepression of these elements in mESCs. While loss of HP1α or HP1β leads to modest defects in DNA methylation of ERVs or spreading of H4K20me3 into flanking genomic sequence, respectively, neither protein affects H3K9me3 or H4K20me3 in ERV bodies. Furthermore, using novel ERV reporter constructs targeted to a specific genomic site, we demonstrate that, relative to Setdb1 , knockdown of the remaining known H3K9me3 readers expressed in mESCs, including Cdyl , Cdyl2 , Cbx2 , Cbx7 , Mpp8 , Uhrf1 and Jarid1a-c , leads to only modest proviral reactivation. Conclusion Taken together, these results reveal that each of the known H3K9me3-binding proteins is dispensable for SETDB1-mediated ERV silencing. We speculate that H3K9me3 might maintain ERVs in a silent state in mESCs by directly inhibiting deposition of active covalent histone marks.

Clearance and settlement process is at the core of the securities market infrastructure. This paper presents the importance of this process, describes the pre-redesign state of the Indian capital markets which was riddled with ineffective processes and regulations that led to a loss of investor confidence in the capital markets. In India the clearance and settlement process has been redesigned substantially due to various reasons including the integration of Indian capital markets with the global markets, growing trading volumes, various scams, and the need to boost investor confidence in the capital markets.

The "arms race" relationship between transposable elements (TEs) and their host has promoted a series of epigenetic silencing mechanisms directed against TEs. Retrotransposons, a class of TEs, are often located in repressed regions and are thought to induce heterochromatin formation and spreading. However, direct evidence for TE-induced local heterochromatin in mammals is surprisingly scarce. To examine this phenomenon, we chose two mouse embryonic stem (ES) cell lines that possess insertionally polymorphic retrotransposons (IAP, ETn/MusD, and LINE elements) at specific loci in one cell line but not the other. Employing ChIP-seq data for these cell lines, we show that IAP elements robustly induce H3K9me3 and H4K20me3 marks in flanking genomic DNA. In contrast, such heterochromatin is not induced by LINE copies and only by a minority of polymorphic ETn/MusD copies. DNA methylation is independent of the presence of IAP copies, since it is present in flanking regions of both full and empty sites. Finally, such spreading into genes appears to be rare, since the transcriptional start sites of very few genes are less than one Kb from an IAP. However, the B3galtl gene is subject to transcriptional silencing via IAP-induced heterochromatin. Hence, although rare, IAP-induced local heterochromatin spreading into nearby genes may influence expression and, in turn, host fitness.