5,089 research outputs found
Industrial competitiveness of the auto parts industries in four large Asian countries : the role of government policy in a challenging international environment
Rationalization and stabilization following the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s combined with the expansion and liberalization of regional and global trade to create significant parts industries in China, Indonesia, and the Republic of Korea. Conventional policies of stabilization and liberalization, however, cannot fully explain growth patterns. Japan and Korea grewinto major players before liberalizing trade and investment, while even after extensive liberalization Indonesia has yet to move from extensive to intensive growth. These anomalies suggest that to explain success in the auto parts industry we need to move beyond liberalization to look at policies and institutions promoting economies of scale, skill formation, quality upgrading, supplier-linkage cooperation, and innovation. In Japan, the regional and global leader, innovative assemblers led industrial development and supported key suppliers, but the government also supported diffusion of quality control techniques and new technology to small and medium enterprises, and encouraged stable employment among core employees. Korea remains weaker on both small and medium enterprise and employment fronts, but government-encouraged consolidation around a small number of business groups, an extended period of protection, and support for export promotion led to economies of scale. Liberalization of foreign investment after the financial crisis helped ameliorate the excessive statism of earlier policies and strengthened the parts industry. In China, liberalization for WTO entry, rapid expansion in demand, and strong support by local governments encouraged a wave of foreign investment in both assembly and parts. In contrast, institutional weaknesses continue to constrain development opportunities in Indonesia.Technology Industry,Economic Theory&Research,Water and Industry,Markets and Market Access,Non Bank Financial Institutions
Intensifying agricultural sustainability: an analysis of impacts and drivers in the development of ‘bright spots’
Food security / Farming systems / Sustainable agriculture / Productivity / Investment / Thailand / Palestine / Latin America / Africa
Aparato registrador de la retracción por secado
Not availableEl aparato descrito permite registrar la retracción por secado de un ladrillo normal o de cualquier otra pieza cerámica; lo mismo se puede colocar en una vagoneta de un secadero túnel, en un secadero de cámaras, etc
Stimulation of shrimp (Penaeus monodon) hemocytes by lipopolysaccharide-like molecules derived from Novacq™
Immune stimulation through feed additives is a promising strategy that can help to combat disease in shrimp farming and reduce the use of antibiotics and other chemotherapeutics. The present study investigated the in vitro immunostimulatory effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-like molecules isolated from the microbial based feed additive Novacq™ (N-LPS). The presence of LPS-like molecules was confirmed and quantified Novacq™ using a HEK-TLR4 reporter cell line. Primary hemocytes isolated from adult Penaeus monodon were used to measure the immunostimulatory of N-LPS compared with the control group that were treated with E. coli derived LPS (E-LPS). The N-LPS stimulated a rapid and significant induction of the phenoloxidase (PO) response in the hemocytes. The PO response increased with exposure time and LPS concentration and was significantly higher compared with an E. coli LPS (E-LPS) control. In addition, using gene expression data, we quantified the transcriptome response of the hemocytes at 15, 30 and 60 mins post stimulation. Compared with the controls, the N-LPS treated hemocytes had a significant up-regulation of genes involved in the immune system modulation and control at all time-points. Most noteworthy was the significant induction of transcripts that function as serine protease inhibitors (namely SERPINs), that regulate the overexpression of the PO system. Transcription factors from the Notch family which directly regulate the expression of many immune genes were also induced within the hemocytes. Additionally, we also saw a strong up-regulation of crustacean hyperglycemic hormone (CHH) transcripts, an important neuropeptide involved in immune function. Overall, the transcriptome profile of the hemocytes suggests that the LPS component of Novacq™ is highly immunostimulatory and generates a strong PO response in vitro. The subsequent transcriptional response appears to be directed towards preventing further activation of the PO system most likely in an attempt to limit cytoxicity to the host. Our study highlights the immunostimulatory ability of Novacq™ and provides further evidence of the positive health benefits this microbial based feed additive can have in shrimp.</p
High transonic speed transport aircraft study
An initial design study of high-transonic-speed transport aircraft has been completed. Five different design concepts were developed. These included fixed swept wing, variable-sweep wing, delta wing, double-fuselage yawed-wing, and single-fuselage yawed-wing aircraft. The boomless supersonic design objectives of range=5560 Km (3000 nmi), payload-18 143 kg (40 000lb), Mach=1.2, and FAR Part 36 aircraft noise levels were achieved by the single-fuselage yawed-wing configuration with a gross weight of 211 828 Kg (467 000 lb). A noise level of 15 EPNdB below FAR Part 36 requirements was obtained with a gross weight increase to 226 796 Kg (500 000 lb). Although wing aeroelastic divergence was a primary design consideration for the yawed-wing concepts, the graphite-epoxy wings of this study were designed by critical gust and maneuver loads rather than by divergence requirements. The transonic nacelle drag is shown to be very sensitive to the nacelle installation. A six-degree-of-freedom dynamic stability analysis indicated that the control coordination and stability augmentation system would require more development than for a symmetrical airplane but is entirely feasible. A three-phase development plan is recommended to establish the full potential of the yawed-wing concept
Type II critical phenomena of neutron star collapse
We investigate spherically-symmetric, general relativistic systems of
collapsing perfect fluid distributions. We consider neutron star models that
are driven to collapse by the addition of an initially "in-going" velocity
profile to the nominally static star solution. The neutron star models we use
are Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff solutions with an initially isentropic,
gamma-law equation of state. The initial values of 1) the amplitude of the
velocity profile, and 2) the central density of the star, span a parameter
space, and we focus only on that region that gives rise to Type II critical
behavior, wherein black holes of arbitrarily small mass can be formed. In
contrast to previously published work, we find that--for a specific value of
the adiabatic index (Gamma = 2)--the observed Type II critical solution has
approximately the same scaling exponent as that calculated for an
ultrarelativistic fluid of the same index. Further, we find that the critical
solution computed using the ideal-gas equations of state asymptotes to the
ultrarelativistic critical solution.Comment: 24 pages, 22 figures, RevTeX 4, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Isotope Shift Measurements of Stable and Short-Lived Lithium Isotopes for Nuclear Charge Radii Determination
Changes in the mean-square nuclear charge radii along the lithium isotopic
chain were determined using a combination of precise isotope shift measurements
and theoretical atomic structure calculations. Nuclear charge radii of light
elements are of high interest due to the appearance of the nuclear halo
phenomenon in this region of the nuclear chart. During the past years we have
developed a new laser spectroscopic approach to determine the charge radii of
lithium isotopes which combines high sensitivity, speed, and accuracy to
measure the extremely small field shift of an 8 ms lifetime isotope with
production rates on the order of only 10,000 atoms/s. The method was applied to
all bound isotopes of lithium including the two-neutron halo isotope Li-11 at
the on-line isotope separators at GSI, Darmstadt, Germany and at TRIUMF,
Vancouver, Canada. We describe the laser spectroscopic method in detail,
present updated and improved values from theory and experiment, and discuss the
results.Comment: 34 pages, 24 figures, 14 table
Results on Plasma Focusing of High Energy Density Electron and Positron Beams
We present results from the SLAC E-150 experiment on plasma focusing of high
energy density electron and, for the first time, positron beams. We also
discuss measurements on plasma lens-induced synchrotron radiation, longitudinal
dynamics of plasma focusing, and laser- and beam-plasma interactions.Comment: LINAC 2000 paper No. THC13, Monterey, CA. Aug.21-25,2000, 3 pages, 2
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Towards microbiome transplant as a therapy for periodontitis: an exploratory study of periodontitis microbial signature contrasted by oral health, caries and edentulism
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