Including Limited Partners in the Diversity Jurisdiction Analysis

This paper presents the results of the Dynamic Pricing Challenge, held on the occasion of the 17th INFORMS Revenue Management and Pricing Section Conference on June 29–30, 2017 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. For this challenge, participants submitted algorithms for pricing and demand learning of which the numerical performance was analyzed in simulated market environments. This allows consideration of market dynamics that are not analytically tractable or can not be empirically analyzed due to practical complications. Our findings implicate that the relative performance of algorithms varies substantially across different market dynamics, which confirms the intrinsic complexity of pricing and learning in the presence of competition

Mutual Interaction of Phenolic Compounds and Microbiota : Metabolism of Complex Phenolic Apigenin-C- and Kaempferol-O-Derivatives by Human Fecal Samples

PL, FMF, and SHD receive financial support from the Scottish Government Rural and 701 Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS)Peer reviewedPostprin

Chlorogenic acid versus amaranth's caffeoylisocitric acid – Gut microbial degradation of caffeic acid derivatives

PL, FF, and SHD receive financial support from the ScottisMoh Government Rural and Environmental Sciences and Analytical Services (RESAS). Parts of this work were financially supported by the project “Horticultural Innovation and Learning for Improved Nutrition and Livelihood in East Africa” (FZK 031A248J and FKZ 031A248K), funded within the global food security (GlobE) initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development.Peer reviewedPostprin

Vertical concentrations gradients and transport of airborne microplastics in wind tunnel experiments

Microplastics are an ubiquitous anthropogenic material in the environment, including the atmosphere. Little work has focused on the atmospheric transport mechanisms of microplastic nor its dispersion, despite it being a potential pollutant. We study the vertical transport of airborne microplastics in a wind tunnel, a controllable environment with neutral stability, to identify the necessary conditions for the long-range atmospheric transport of microplastics. An ultrasonic disperser generated airborne water droplets from a suspension of polystyrene microsphere microplastics (MPs) with a diameter of 0.51 µm. The water droplets were injected into the airflow, evaporating and releasing single airborne MPs. The disperser allowed for time-invariant and user-controlled concentrations of MPs in the wind tunnel. MPs were injected at 27, 57, and 255 mm above the ground. A single GRIMM R11 optical particle counter (OPC) and three Alphasense OPCs measured time-averaged MP concentration profiles (27, 57, and 157 mm above the ground). These were combined with turbulent airflow characteristics measured by a hotwire probe to estimate vertical particle fluxes using the flux-gradient similarity theory. The GRIMM R11 OPC measured vertical concentration profiles by moving its sampling tube vertically. The three Alphasense OPCs measured particle concentrations simultaneously at three distinct heights. Results show that maximum concentrations are not measured at the injection height but are rather shifted to the surface by gravitational settling. The MPs experience higher gravitational settling while they are part of the larger water droplets. For the lowest injection at 27 mm, the settling leads to smaller MP concentrations in the wind tunnel, as MPs are lost to deposition. Increasing the wind speed decreases the loss of MPs by settling, but settling is present until our maximum friction velocity of 0.14 m s−1. For the highest injection at 255 mm and laminar flow, the settling resulted in a net MP emission, challenging the expectation of a net MP deposition for high injection. Turbulent flows reverse the MP concentration profile giving a net MP deposition with deposition velocities of 3.7 ± 1.9 cm s−1. Recognizing that microplastics share deposition velocities with mineral particles bridges the gap in understanding their environmental behavior. The result supports the use of existing models to evaluate the transport of microplastics in the accumulation mode. The similar deposition velocities suggest that microplastics transported in the atmosphere can be found in the same places as mineral particles.</p

Possible association between ABCC8 C49620T polymorphism and type 2 diabetes in a Nigerian population

The association between ABCC8 gene C49620T polymorphism and type 2 diabetes (T2D) in populations of diverse ethnic backgrounds has been reported. However, such occurrence in an African population is yet to be established. This case-control study involving 73 T2D and 75 non-diabetic (ND) patients investigated the occurrence of this polymorphism among T2D patients in Nigeria and assessed its relationship with body lipids of patients. Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients were collected and lipid profile indices including total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein (LDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) were assayed. Restriction fragment length polymorphism-PCR (RFLP-PCR) was employed to genotype the ABCC8-C49620T polymorphism using PstI restriction enzyme. This study revealed significantly (p 0.05) of T2D for the unadjusted codominant, dominant and recessive models. Following age adjustment, the mutant genotypes (CT and TT) showed significant (p<0.05) risk of T2D for all the models with the recessive model presenting the greatest risk of T2D (OR: 2.39, 95% CI: 1.16-4.91, p<0.018). The TT genotype significantly (p<0.05) associated with high level of HDL and reduced levels of TC, TG and LDL in non-diabetic patients but was not associated with any of the demographic and clinical characteristics among T2D patients. ABCC8 C49620T polymorphism showed possible association with T2D marked by predominance of the mutant TT genotype in T2D patients. However, the relationship between TT genotype and lipid abnormalities for possible beneficial effect on people suffering from T2D is unclear

Evaluating Initial Building Designs Considering Possible Future Changes: The Example of the New Pet Centre of the University Hospital of Zurich

Building managers aim to ensure that their buildings function as required over a specified period of time. The ability of a building to provide an adequate level of service might change over time due to changes in the level of service required (e.g. demand). The common practice in building management is to plan maintenance and changes without taking into consideration future uncertainty. To overcome the limitation of this approach, recent research has resulted in a process that enables the evaluation of multiple possible initial building designs taking into consideration uncertain future demand. This process has recently been used by (Esders, 2017) to determine the best initial design for the new PET centre of the university hospital of Zurich, considering possible variations in the number of patients and decision flexibility. This has shown that a flexible building is the best initial design, when coupled with a decision flexibility, to maximize the net benefits. As decision flexibility is not always a privilege that building managers are given, in this paper the expected net benefit is estimated for the flexible initial design of the new PET centre of the university hospital of Zurich, using the traditional method, i.e. assuming that the building manager decides at present when and how to plan changes in future. The results are then compared to those obtained with the real option method, and conclusions are drawn on the potentials and limitations of considering decision flexibility when managing this building. Finally, suggestions are made for further research directions