CP-ALL and the Case of Value Web Creation

How should convenience store operators like Thailand’s CP-ALL construct its value chains? What does economic theory teach us about an under-modelled area of management theory (namely value chains)? In this paper, we use a seemingly unrelated economic model analysing Vietnam to tell us something about the conglomerates running convenience stores licenses like CP-ALL. We find that convenience stores may not want to raise capital from Thai banks and the Bangkok stock market when labour productivity exceeds capital’s. We also find that inefficiencies inherent in Thai markets may significantly reduce the optimal size of a convenience store operator like CP-ALL. These operators may also (counter-intuitively) need to give up a significant share of their profits to “value service providers” when the cost of capital falls. As such, counter to the usual World Bank nostrums, improvements in Bangkok’s stock market and banks may actually hurt firms like CP-ALL.preprin

Dyslexia or Literacy Difficulties: What Difference Does a Label Make? Exploring the Perceptions and Experiences of Young People

This study explores the views of young people (YP), with and without self-reported dyslexia or literacy difficulties, focussing on the impact of labels. Qualitative data were gathered through an online survey and individual interviews. The study highlights how the presence or absence of a label can impact people’s perceptions. Dyslexia was perceived as biological in origin; therefore, YP with the label were seen as not to blame for their difficulties. However, more negative judgements were made about YP without the label but with the same difficulties. Participants viewed the label as important for gaining support, yet highlighted the potential for discrimination in terms of access to diagnosis and resources. What was important to participants with dyslexia was not necessarily the label but the support that they received and how they were viewed by others. Implications for school professionals are discussed in terms of ensuring that YP feel empowered by the way they are described

Self-organized Pattern Formation in Motor-Microtubule Mixtures

We propose and study a hydrodynamic model for pattern formation in mixtures of molecular motors and microtubules. The steady state patterns we obtain in different regimes of parameter space include arrangements of vortices and asters separately as well as aster-vortex mixtures and fully disordered states. Such stable steady states are observed in experiments in vitro. The sequence of patterns obtained in the experiments can be associated with smooth trajectories in a non-equilibrium phase diagram for our model.Comment: 11 pages Latex file, 2 figures include

Evaluating Language and Communication Surrounding Responsible Gambling

The topic of responsible gambling has been the focus of debate over recent years. Unfortunately the language surrounding responsible gambling has proven ineffective, due to varying definitions and debate over stigma related to responsibility. This paper discusses the importance of language in communicating about consumer protection and harm minimization to the public. Three key areas of discussion are highlighted: 1) decoupling responsible gambling and problem gambling to reduce the barrier of stigma; 2) redefining responsible gambling, and 3) the need for conversations amongst peers and parents, all with the view to proactively prevent gambling-related harms

If You’re Going Through Hell, Keep Going: Nonlinear Effects of Financial Liberalization in Transition Economies

Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Did increasing the level and pace of financial liberalization during transition expose countries to crises? And if a crisis did strike, did liberalization do more harm or good? Using a database of 28 transition economies over 22 years, this article examines these questions across a host of economic outcomes, including savings and the size of the private sector. The results provide evidence that, while liberalization may initially increase the probability of a crisis, the prospect of a crisis drops dramatically at higher levels of financial openness. Moreover, the benefits of liberalization across several metrics outweigh the risks of these intermediate stages

Hospital food service: a comparative analysis of systems and introducing the ‘Steamplicity’ concept

Background Patient meals are an integral part of treatment hence the provision and consumption of a balanced diet, essential to aid recovery. A number of food service systems are used to provide meals and the Steamplicity concept has recently been introduced. This seeks, through the application of a static, extended choice menu, revised patient ordering procedures, new cooking processes and individual patient food heated/cooked at ward level, to address some of the current hospital food service concerns. The aim of this small-scale study, therefore, was to compare a cook-chill food service operation against Steamplicity. Specifically, the goals were to measure food intake and wastage at ward level; ‘stakeholders’ (i.e. patients, staff, etc.) satisfaction with both systems; and patients’ acceptability of the food provided. Method The study used both quantitative (self-completed patient questionnaires, n = 52) and qualitative methods (semi-structured interviews, n = 16) with appropriate stakeholders including medical and food service staff, patients and their visitors. Results Patients preferred the Steamplicity system overall and in particular in terms of food choice, ordering, delivery and food quality. Wastage was considerably less with the Steamplicity system, although care must be taken to ensure that poor operating procedures do not negate this advantage. When the total weight of food consumed in the ward at each meal is divided by the number of main courses served, at lunch, the mean intake with the cook-chill system was 202 g whilst that for the Steamplicity system was 282 g and for the evening meal, 226 g compared with 310 g. Conclusions The results of this small study suggest that Steamplicity is more acceptable to patients and encourages the consumption of larger portions. Further evaluation of the Steamplicity system is warranted. The purpose of this study was to directly compare selected aspects (food wastage at ward level; satisfaction with systems and food provided) of a traditional cook-chill food service operation against ‘Steamplicity’. Results indicate that patients preferred the ‘Steamplicty’ system in all areas: food choice, ordering, delivery, food quality and overall. Wastage was considerably less with the ‘Steamplicity’ system; although care must be taken to ensure that poor operating procedures do not negate this advantage. When the total weight of food consumed in the ward at each meal is divided by the number of main courses served, results show that at lunch, mean intake with the cook-chill system was 202g whilst that for the ‘Steamplicity’ system was 282g and for the evening meal, 226g compared with 310g

Four-point functions in N=2 superconformal field theories

Four-point correlation functions of hypermultiplet bilinear composites are analysed in N=2 superconformal field theory using the superconformal Ward identities and the analyticity properties of the composite operator superfields. It is shown that the complete amplitude is determined by a single arbitrary function of the two conformal cross-ratios of the space-time variables.Comment: 36 pp LaTeX2e, uses amsfonts, amssymb. Some references adde

Prolactin prevents hepatocellular carcinoma by restricting innate immune activation of c-Myc in mice

Women are more resistant to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) than men despite equal exposure to major risk factors, such as hepatitis B or C virus infection. Female resistance is hormone-dependent, as evidenced by the sharp increase in HCC incidence in postmenopausal women who do not take hormone replacement therapy. In rodent models sex-dimorphic HCC phenotypes are pituitary-dependent, suggesting that sex hormones act via the gonadal-hypophyseal axis. We found that the estrogen-responsive pituitary hormone prolactin (PRL), signaling through hepatocyte-predominant short-form prolactin receptors (PRLR-S), constrained TNF receptor-associated factor (TRAF)-dependent innate immune responses invoked by IL-1β, TNF-α, and LPS/Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), but not TRIF-dependent poly(I:C)/TLR3. PRL ubiquitinated and accelerated poststimulatory decay of a “trafasome” comprised of IRAK1, TRAF6, and MAP3K proteins, abrogating downstream activation of c-Myc–interacting pathways, including PI3K/AKT, mTORC1, p38 MAPK, and NF-κB. Consistent with this finding, we documented exaggerated male liver responses to immune stimuli in mice and humans. Tumor promotion through, but regulation above, the level of c-Myc was demonstrated by sex-independent HCC eruption in Alb-Myc transgenic mice. PRL deficiency accelerated liver carcinogenesis in Prl[superscript −/−] mice of both sexes. Conversely, pharmacologic PRL mobilization using the dopamine D2 receptor antagonist domperidone prevented HCC in tumor-prone C3H/HeN males. Viewed together, our results demonstrate that PRL constrains tumor-promoting liver inflammation by inhibiting MAP3K-dependent activation of c-Myc at the level of the trafasome. PRL-targeted therapy may hold promise for reducing the burden of liver cancer in high-risk men and women.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant CA067529

Partial non-renormalisation of the stress-tensor four-point function in N=4 SYM and AdS/CFT

We show that, although the correlator of four stress-tensor multiplets in N=4 SYM is known to have radiative corrections, certain linear combinations of its components are protected from perturbative renormalisation and remain at their free-field values. This result is valid for weak as well as for strong coupling and for any gauge group. Our argument uses Intriligator's insertion formula, and includes a proof that the possible contact term contributions cannot change the form of the amplitudes. Combining this new non-renormalisation theorem with Maldacena's conjecture allows us to make a prediction for the structure of the corresponding correlator in AdS supergravity. This is verified by first considerably simplifying the strong coupling expression obtained by recent supergravity calculations, and then showing that it does indeed exhibit the expected structure.Comment: 21 pages, no figure