Managerial incentives, CEO characteristics and corporate innovation in China's private sector

We use a unique World Bank survey of 1088 private manufacturing firms from 18 Chinese cities over the period 2000-2002 to empirically examine the roles of managerial incentives and CEO characteristics in a firm's innovation activities. We look at both innovation effort (R&D intensity) and innovation performance measures such as new product sales. We obtain the following main results: (1) the presence of CEO incentive schemes increases both corporate innovation effort and innovation performance; (2) sales-based performance measures in the incentive scheme, as compared with profit-based performance measure, are more conducive to firm innovation; and (3) CEO education level, professional background and political connection are positively associated with firm's innovation efforts. The main results are robust to endogeneity tests with instrumental variables. We also discuss some important policy implications. © 2010 Association for Comparative Economic Studies.postprin

Direct anti-metastatic efficacy by the DNA enzyme Dz13 and downregulated MMP-2, MMP-9 and MT1-MMP in tumours

The DNA enzyme Dz13, targeted against the oncogene c-Jun, is capable of inhibiting various model tumours in mice albeit in ectopic models of neoplasia. In previous studies using orthotopic models of disease, the inhibitory effects of Dz13 on secondary growth was a direct result of growth inhibition at the primary lesion site. Thus, the direct and genuine effects on metastasis were not gauged. In this study, Dz13 was able to inhibit both locoregional and distal metastasis of tumour cells in mice, in studies where the primary tumours were unaffected due to the late and clinically-mimicking nature of treatment commencement. In addition, the effect of Dz13 against tumours has now been extended to encompass breast and prostate cancer. Dz13 upregulated the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9, and decreased expression of MT1-MMP (MMP-14) in cultured tumour cells. However, in sections of ectopic tumours treated with Dz13, both MMP-2 and MMP-9 were downregulated. Thus, not only is Dz13 able to inhibit tumour growth at the primary site, but also able to decrease the ability of neoplastic cells to metastasise. These findings further highlight the growing potential of Dz13 as an antineoplastic agent

Thermodynamical Consistent Modeling and Analysis of Nematic Liquid Crystal Flows

The general Ericksen-Leslie system for the flow of nematic liquid crystals is reconsidered in the non-isothermal case aiming for thermodynamically consistent models. The non-isothermal model is then investigated analytically. A fairly complete dynamic theory is developed by analyzing these systems as quasilinear parabolic evolution equations in an $L^p-L^q$-setting. First, the existence of a unique, local strong solution is proved. It is then shown that this solution extends to a global strong solution provided the initial data are close to an equilibrium or the solution is eventually bounded in the natural norm of the underlying state space. In these cases, the solution converges exponentially to an equilibrium in the natural state manifold

Impact of soft handover and pilot pollution on video telephony in a commercial network

Soft handover (SHO) provides better support for user mobility. The quality of service (QoS) to the mobile wireless subscribers can also grant benefits from SHO. To analyze the impact of SHO on the circuit switched (CS) video telephony (VT); real-time measurements have been conducted on a commercial WCDMA mobile network in the CBD of Sydney, Australia. Live measurement provides a practical approach to evaluate performance of commercial network. The obtained SHO gain implies that better QoS can be achieved. Furthermore, the negative impact of pilot pollution on radio link quality has been demonstrated in this paper. ©2010 IEEE

E-QED: Electrical Bug Localization During Post-Silicon Validation Enabled by Quick Error Detection and Formal Methods

During post-silicon validation, manufactured integrated circuits are extensively tested in actual system environments to detect design bugs. Bug localization involves identification of a bug trace (a sequence of inputs that activates and detects the bug) and a hardware design block where the bug is located. Existing bug localization practices during post-silicon validation are mostly manual and ad hoc, and, hence, extremely expensive and time consuming. This is particularly true for subtle electrical bugs caused by unexpected interactions between a design and its electrical state. We present E-QED, a new approach that automatically localizes electrical bugs during post-silicon validation. Our results on the OpenSPARC T2, an open-source 500-million-transistor multicore chip design, demonstrate the effectiveness and practicality of E-QED: starting with a failed post-silicon test, in a few hours (9 hours on average) we can automatically narrow the location of the bug to (the fan-in logic cone of) a handful of candidate flip-flops (18 flip-flops on average for a design with ~ 1 Million flip-flops) and also obtain the corresponding bug trace. The area impact of E-QED is ~2.5%. In contrast, deter-mining this same information might take weeks (or even months) of mostly manual work using traditional approaches

A study on nitrogen removal efficiency of Pseudomonas stutzeri strains isolated from an anaerobic/anoxic/oxic wastewater treatment process

In order to improve the nitrogen removal efficiency in an anaerobic/anoxic/oxic treatment plant, a strain with high nitrification and denitrification capability was isolated from a specific anaerobic/anoxic/oxic treatment process. The characteristics of isolate were experimentally analyzed. By using the nitrogen balance method, the total nitrogen loss was calculated to be 40.1% (w/w) when the carbon source was citric acid with a C/N ratio of 5. Meanwhile, the isolated strain was identified by 16S rDNA to be a Pseudomonas stutzeri with a similarity of 99%. Varying the initial TN, the C/N, the pH value and the ambient temperature in the reaction system, the efficiency of nitrogen removal was studied. The results showed that the highest efficiency occurred when the C/N was 12, the pH value was 7 and the temperature was 32°C. The results were also compared to the practically monitoring data coming with a good agreement. Consequently, it is viable to improve the nitrogen removal efficiency by varying the reaction conditions

Frequent utilization of the emergency department for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Background: Little is known about patients who frequently visit the emergency department (ED) for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). We aimed to quantify the proportion and characteristics of patients with frequent ED visits for AECOPD and associated healthcare utilization. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of adults aged ≥40 years with at least one ED visit for AECOPD between 2010 and 2011, derived from population-based all-payer data of State ED and Inpatient Databases for two large and diverse states: California and Florida. Outcome measures were frequency of ED visits for AECOPD, 30-day ED revisits, subsequent hospitalizations, near-fatal events (AECOPD involving mechanical ventilation), and charges for both ED and inpatient services (available only for Florida) during the year after the first ED visit. Results: The analytic cohort comprised 98,280 unique patients with 154,736 ED visits for AECOPD. During the 1-year period, 29.4% (95% CI, 29.1%-29.7%) of the patients had two or more (frequent) visits, accounting for 55.2% (95% CI, 54.9%-55.4%) of all ED visits for AECOPD. In the multivariable model, significant predictors of frequent ED visits were age 55–74 years (vs. 40–54 years), male sex, non-Hispanic white or black race, Medicaid insurance (vs. private), and lower median household income (all P < 0.001). At the visit-level, 12.3% of ED visits for AECOPD were 30-day revisit events (95% CI, 12.1%-12.4%). Additionally, 62.8% of ED visits for AECOPD (95% CI, 62.6%-63.0%) resulted in a hospitalization; patients with frequent ED visits comprised 55.5% (95% CI, 55.2%-55.8%) of all hospitalizations. Furthermore, 7.3% (95% CI, 7.3%-7.5%) of ED visits for AECOPD led to a near-fatal event; patients with frequent ED visits accounted for 64.4% (95% CI, 63.5%-65.3%) of all near-fatal events. Total charges for AECOPD were $1.94 billion (95$1.90-1.97 billion) in Florida; patients with frequent ED visits accounted for $1.07 billion (95$1.04-1.09 billion). Conclusions: In this large cohort study, we found that 29% had frequent ED visits for AECOPD and that lower socioeconomic status was significantly associated with a higher frequency of ED visits. Individuals with frequent ED visits for AECOPD accounted for a substantial amount of healthcare utilization and financial burden

Study protocol of cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of a biopsychosocial multidisciplinary intervention in the evolution of non-specific sub-acute low back pain in the working population: cluster randomised trial.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background: Low back pain (LBP), with high incidence and prevalence rate, is one of the most common reasons to consult the health system and is responsible for a significant amount of sick leave, leading to high health and social costs. The objective of the study is to assess the cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analysis of a multidisciplinary biopsychosocial educational group intervention (MBEGI) of non-specific sub-acute LBP in comparison with the usual care in the working population recruited in primary healthcare centres. Methods/design: The study design is a cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analysis of a MBEGI in comparison with the usual care of non-specific sub-acute LBP.Measures on effectiveness and costs of both interventions will be obtained from a cluster randomised controlled clinical trial carried out in 38 Catalan primary health care centres, enrolling 932 patients between 18 and 65 years old with a diagnosis of non-specific sub-acute LBP. Effectiveness measures are: pharmaceutical treatments, work sick leave (% and duration in days), Roland Morris disability, McGill pain intensity, Fear Avoidance Beliefs (FAB) and Golberg Questionnaires. Utility measures will be calculated from the SF-12. The analysis will be performed from a social perspective. The temporal horizon is at 3 months (change to chronic LBP) and 12 months (evaluate the outcomes at long term. Assessment of outcomes will be blinded and will follow the intention-to-treat principle. Discussion: We hope to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of MBEGI, see an improvement in the patients' quality of life, achieve a reduction in the duration of episodes and the chronicity of non-specific low back pain, and be able to report a decrease in the social costs. If the intervention is cost-effectiveness and cost-utility, it could be applied to Primary Health Care Centres. Trial registration: ISRCTN: ISRCTN5871969

Paclitaxel and CYC3, an aurora kinase A inhibitor, synergise in pancreatic cancer cells but not bone marrow precursor cells.

BACKGROUND: Amplification of aurora kinase A (AK-A) overrides the mitotic spindle assembly checkpoint, inducing resistance to taxanes. RNA interference targeting AK-A in human pancreatic cancer cell lines enhanced taxane chemosensitivity. In this study, a novel AK-A inhibitor, CYC3, was investigated in pancreatic cancer cell lines, in combination with paclitaxel. METHODS: Western blot, flow cytometry and immunostaining were used to investigate the specificity of CYC3. Sulforhodamine B staining, time-lapse microscopy and colony-formation assays were employed to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of CYC3 and paclitaxel. Human colony-forming unit of granulocyte and macrophage (CFU-GM) cells were used to compare the effect in tumour and normal tissue. RESULTS: CYC3 was shown to be a specific AK-A inhibitor. Three nanomolar paclitaxel (growth inhibition 50% (GI(50)) 3 nM in PANC-1, 5.1 nM in MIA PaCa-2) in combination with 1 μM CYC3 (GI(50) 1.1 μM in MIA PaCa2 and 2 μM in PANC-1) was synergistic in inhibiting pancreatic cell growth and causing mitotic arrest, achieving similar effects to 10-fold higher concentrations of paclitaxel (30 nM). In CFU-GM cells, the effect of the combination was simply additive, displaying significantly less myelotoxicity compared with high concentrations of paclitaxel (30 nM; 60-70% vs 100% inhibition). CONCLUSION: The combination of lower doses of paclitaxel and CYC3 merits further investigation with the potential for an improved therapeutic index in vivo

Imaging corticospinal tract connectivity in injured rat spinal cord using manganese-enhanced MRI

BACKGROUND: Manganese-enhanced MRI (MEI) offers a novel neuroimaging modality to trace corticospinal tract (CST) in live animals. This paper expands this capability further and tests the utility of MEI to image axonal fiber connectivity in CST of injured spinal cord (SC). METHODS: A rat was injured at the thoracic T4 level of the SC. The CST was labeled with manganese (Mn) injected intracortically at two weeks post injury. Next day, the injured SC was imaged using MEI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) modalities. RESULTS: In vivo MEI data obtained from cervical SC confirmed that CST was successfully labeled with Mn. Ex vivo MEI data obtained from excised SC depicted Mn labeling of the CST in SC sections caudal to the lesion, which meant that Mn was transported through the injury, possibly mediated by viable CST fibers present at the injury site. Examining the ex vivo data from the injury epicenter closely revealed a thin strip of signal enhancement located ventrally between the dorsal horns. This enhancement was presumably associated with the Mn accumulation in these intact fibers projecting caudally as part of the CST. Additional measurements with DTI supported this view. CONCLUSION: Combining these preliminary results collectively demonstrated the feasibility of imaging fiber connectivity in experimentally injured SC using MEI. This approach may play important role in future investigations aimed at understanding the neuroplasticity in experimental SCI research