Loyalty Program in the Alcohol Beverage Industry: A Preliminary Look

In the United States the alcoholic beverage industry has created one of the largest markets in the world. Alcohol is a taxed and well-regulated product most profitable for large chain retailers who continuously dominate the industry. This research paper reports the story of loyalty programs throughout the beverage industries. Additionally, by analyzing a database of 107 top alcohol beverage retailers, this research paper provides a profile of the market trends for alcohol beverage retailers in the United States. Secondly, this research aims to shed light on how loyalty programs form a part of the current market trends in the alcohol beverage industry

HIGH RESOLUTION MASS SPECTROMETRIC STRATEGIES FOR DETECTION OF PROTEINS AND PEPTIDES COVALENTLY MODIFIED BY ELECTROPHILIC XENOBIOTICS AND ENDOGENOUS INTERMEDIATES

Non enzymatic protein covalent modifications are involved in the toxic effects induced by electrophilic xenobiotics as well as by endogenous cytotoxic oxidation by-products. Aim of my Ph.D work was to set-up MS methods for the identification, characterization and quantification of non-enzymatic covalently modified proteins and peptides in biological matrices. To reach this goal both tandem MS and high resolution approaches were employed due to the wealth of structural and molecular information that these techniques can provide. As a first step the MS methods were applied for understanding in both in vitro and ex vivo conditions the mechanism of protein haptenation induced by amoxicillin (AX). The MS approach was then focused to study in ex vivo condition the covalent reaction between histidine dipeptides, such as carnosine, and toxic endogenous intermediates like reactive carbonyl species (RCS).

Distribution of red clump stars does not support the X-shaped Galactic bulge

CONTEXT. Claims of an X-shaped Galactic bulge were based on the assumption of red clump stars as standard candles in some lines of sight crossing the off-plane bulge. However, some doubts have been cast on whether the two peaks in star counts along the line of sight really represent a double peak in the density distribution, or whether there is something wrong with the assumption of a unique constant absolute magnitude for all of these stars. AIMS. With the advent of Gaia-DR2 parallaxes in combination with near-infrared VISTA-VVV data, we are able to check which of the hypotheses is correct. METHODS. We calculated the median absolute magnitude $M_K$ corresponding to both peaks of putative red clumps in seven lines of sight with the lowest extinction in the interesting coordinates' range. RESULTS. The difference between the absolute magnitude of the bright and the faint peak is $\Delta M_K\approx 0.4$. The selected stars in both peaks cannot be represented by the same red clump giants with constant $M_K\approx -1.6$. CONCLUSIONS. The hypothesis that the bulge contains an X-shape is based on the assumption that the faint and bright peaks of the density distribution towards the bulge are dominated by standard red clump stars. However, we show that both the faint and bright peaks cannot be dominated by standard red clump stars simultaneously.Comment: 5 pages, accepted to be published in A&

A photometricity and extinction monitor at the Apache Point Observatory

An unsupervised software ``robot'' that automatically and robustly reduces and analyzes CCD observations of photometric standard stars is described. The robot measures extinction coefficients and other photometric parameters in real time and, more carefully, on the next day. It also reduces and analyzes data from an all-sky $10 \mu m$ camera to detect clouds; photometric data taken during cloudy periods are automatically rejected. The robot reports its findings back to observers and data analysts via the World-Wide Web. It can be used to assess photometricity, and to build data on site conditions. The robot's automated and uniform site monitoring represents a minimum standard for any observing site with queue scheduling, a public data archive, or likely participation in any future National Virtual Observatory.Comment: accepted for publication in A

A simplified scheme for piezoelectric anisotropic analysis in human vertebrae using integral methods

This paper outlines a computational model for the analysis of the piezoelectric behaviour of the vertebral body remodelling process. Particular attention is paid to the algorithms for the simulation of the stress energy density for each point of the geometry and the distribution of the density in the bone. In addition, the model takes into account the piezoelectric effect and the anisotropy (transversal isotropy) of the bone. A model for internal anisotropic piezoelectric bone remodelling of a human vertebra is discussed in detail. The model consists of the implementation of an algorithm which includes the elastic and electric variables in a single equation using boundary element method. The presented results show a good agreement with biological data and the model does not include any electric additional charge.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Performances of multi-gap timing RPCs for relativistic ions in the range Z=1-6

We present the performance of Multi-gap timing RPCs under irradiation by fully stripped relativistic ions (gamma*beta=2.7, Z=1-6). A time resolution of 80 ps at high efficiency has been obtained by just using standard `off the shelf' 4-gap timing RPCs from the new HADES ToF wall. The resolution worsened to 100 ps for ~ 1 kHz/cm2 proton flux and for ~ 100 Hz/cm2 Carbon flux. The chambers were operated at a standard field of E=100 kV/cm and showed a high stability during the experiment, supporting the fact that RPCs are a convenient choice when accommodating a very broad range of ionizing particles is needed. The data provides insight in the region of very highly ionizing particles (up to x 36 mips) and can be used to constrain the existing avalanche and Space-Charge models far from the usual `mip valley'. The implications of these results for the general case of detection based on secondary processes (n, gamma) resulting in highly ionizing particles with characteristic energy distributions will be discussed, together with the nature of the time-charge correlation curve.Comment: 31 pages, 19 figures, submitted to JINS

Regarding “Histopathology and Clinical Outcomes of 151 Women with Postmenopausal Bleeding Treated with Resectoscopic Surgery”

No abstract availabl