The development of service provider's BPO-IT framework

Purpose The decision to operate BPO-IT organisational model by a business process outsourcing (BPO) service provider has far reaching benefits. The purpose of this paper is to develop a service provider’s BPO-IT framework that provides in-house IT function (software) required to process client services. Design/methodology/approach The multi-case study adopted an exploratory sequential mixed method research approach. In the first instance, seven BPO service provider organisations were investigated in the qualitative phase and 156 in the quantitative phase, respectively. Findings The adoption of the developed framework indicates that it could reduce failures in BPO relationships through reduced turnaround time in processing client services, improved quality of service, reduced cost, improved client and provider’s competitiveness, and confidentiality of client operations. Outsourcing clients could lay the foundation for a successful relationship by adopting a selection process that could choose the right provider. Originality/value The paper reveals BPO-IT organisation’s operation towards in-house provision of software required to process client services. A research exploring BPO service providers from a top outsourcing destination like India could provide offshore outsourcing clients the information to move towards onshore outsourcing. </jats:sec

Growth responses of selected plant species on serpentine soil of the western Sierra Nevada foothills

This study was undertaken to examine the growth responses of various annual plant species on serpentine and non-serpentine soils from the Sierra Nevada foothills and the adjacent area. Various measurements were taken at intervals during the life cycle to determine the comparative growth patterns on different types of soil. These measurements indicate the degree of serpentine tolerance and intolerance

45-DAY PUBLIC NOTICE AND COMMENT PERIOD Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (Schools)

DTSC will hold a public hearing on the proposed regulations at 10:00 a.m. on November 4, 2002 in the Central Valley Auditorium, 2 nd Floor, 1001 “I ” Street, Sacramento, California, at which time any person may present statements or arguments orally or in writing, relevant to this proposal. Please submit written comments to the contact person listed at the end of this notice. Written comments on the rulemaking submitted no later than 5:00 p.m. on November 4, 2002 will be considered. Representatives of DTSC will preside at the hearing. Persons who wish to speak are requested to register before the hearing. Pre-hearing registration will be conducted at the location of the hearing from 9:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Registered persons will be heard in the order of their registration. Any other person wishing to speak at the hearing will be afforded an opportunity after the registered persons have been heard. AUTHORITY AND REFERENCE These regulations are being proposed under the following authorities: Health and Safety Code section 58012. This section provides DTSC with the authority to adopt and enforce rules and regulations needed for the execution of its duties. The energy challenge facing California is real. Every Californian needs to take immediate action to reduce energy consumption. For a list of simple ways you can reduce demand and cut your energy costs, see our Web-site at www.dtsc.ca.gov

Field and Forage Crop Fertilization in the Rio Grande Plains.

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Degenerate optical parametric amplification in CMOS silicon

Silicon is a common material for photonics due to its favorable optical properties in the telecom and mid-wave IR bands, as well as compatibility with a wide range of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) foundry processes. Crystalline inversion symmetry precludes silicon from natively exhibiting second-order nonlinear optical processes. In this work, we build on recent work in silicon photonics that break this material symmetry using large bias fields, thereby enabling $\chi^{(2)}$ interactions. Using this approach, we demonstrate both second-harmonic generation (with a normalized efficiency of $0.2\,\%\,\mathrm{W^{-1} cm^{-2}}$) and, to our knowledge, the first degenerate $\chi^{(2)}$ optical parametric amplifier (with relative gain of $0.02\,\mathrm{dB}$ using $3\,\mathrm{mW}$ of pump power on-chip at a pump wavelength of $1196\,\mathrm{nm}$) using silicon-on-insulator waveguides fabricated in a CMOS-compatible commercial foundry. We expect this technology to enable the integration of novel nonlinear optical devices such as optical parametric amplifiers, oscillators, and frequency converters into large-scale, hybrid photonic-electronic systems by leveraging the extensive ecosystem of CMOS fabrication.Comment: The first three authors contributed equally to this work; 9 pages, 5 figure

A-770041 reverses paclitaxel and doxorubicin resistance in osteosarcoma cells

Background: Reversing multidrug resistance (MDR) has been an important goal for clinical and investigational oncologists. In the last few decades, significant effort has been made to search for inhibitors to reverse MDR by targeting ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters (Pgp, MRP) directly, but these efforts have achieved little clinical success. Protein kinases play important roles in many aspects of tumor cell growth and survival. Combinations of kinase inhibitors and chemotherapeutics have been observed to overcome cancer drug resistance in certain circumstances. Methods: We screened a kinase specific inhibitor compound library in human osteosarcoma MDR cell lines to identify inhibitors that were capable of reversing chemoresistance to doxorubicin and paclitaxel. Results: We identified 18 small molecules that significantly increase chemotherapy drug-induced cell death in human osteosarcoma MDR cell lines U-2OSMR and KHOSR2. We identified A-770041 as one of the most effective MDR reversing agents when combined with doxorubicin or paclitaxel. A-770041 is a potent Src family kinase (Lck and Src) inhibitor. Western blot analysis revealed A-770041 inhibits both Src and Lck activation and expression. Inhibition of Src expression in U-2OSMR and KHOSR2 cell lines using lentiviral shRNA also resulted in increased doxorubicin and paclitaxel drug sensitivity. A-770041 increases the intracellular drug accumulation as demonstrated by calcein AM assay. Conclusions: These results indicate that small molecule inhibitor A-770041 may function to reverse ABCB1/Pgp-mediated chemotherapy drug resistance. Combination of Src family kinase inhibitor with regular chemotherapy drug could be clinically effective in MDR osteosarcoma. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2407-14-681) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users