The impact of Covid-19 on struggling ethnic minority entrepreneurs’ business strategy: the case of Bangladeshi curry houses in the United Kingdom

Purpose – This paper outlines ways in which struggling ethnic minority entrepreneurial service ventures and their owners might respond to unforeseen economic and social shocks. Interviews with owners of Bangladeshi Curry Houses in the United Kingdom — whom historically have lower performance rates compared to other ethnic minority businesses in the country — reveal that the entrepreneurs’ response strategies undertaken to survive and remain in the business despite the challenges faced from operating in a turbulence environment. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted depth phone interviews with owners of Bangladeshi Curry Houses in London during January and February of 2021. The Gioia methodology was applied to the interview scripts to identify which crisis themes exist. Findings – Despite no advanced educational training, Bangladeshi owners have applied all of the different crisis management techniques present in larger companies: retrenchment, persevering, innovation, and exit. Although the results show that government schemes aimed at helping small businesses have contributed significantly to their survival, concerns regarding the post-health crisis situation remain challenging and threatening for their growth and survivability. Originality/value – The results indicates that the ethnic minority owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are less likely to plan for the future operations; furthermore, they tend not to have formulated a strategy for dealing with an external shock hence affecting and threatening their performance and competitiveness in the marketplace

Lower rates of hypoglycaemia in older individuals with type 2 diabetes using insulin degludec versus insulin glargine U100 : results from SWITCH 2

Aim This study aimed to investigate the safety of insulin degludec (degludec) in relation to age and risk of hypoglycaemia post hoc in individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) (SWITCH 2 trial). Methods In this crossover study, individuals with T2D who were at risk of hypoglycaemia were randomized to double‐blind treatment with degludec or insulin glargine 100 units/mL (glargine U100) ± oral antidiabetic drugs. After 32 weeks, patients crossed over to the other treatment. Primary endpoint was number of overall severe (positively adjudicated) or glucose‐confirmed (plasma glucose <56 mg/dL; 3.1 mmol/L) symptomatic hypoglycaemia events during the two 16‐week maintenance periods. Results For individuals ≤65 (n = 450) and >65 (n = 270) years, baseline median (range) duration of diabetes was 12 (1–40) vs 15 (1–54) years, mean HbA1c was 7.7% vs 7.4% and mean estimated glomerular filtration rate was 87.0 vs 63.7 mL/min/1.73 m2, respectively. No significant differences in HbA1c reduction were seen in individuals ≤65 or >65 years. During both maintenance periods, treatment with degludec lowered rates of hypoglycaemia (overall/nocturnal symptomatic) vs those with glargine U100 in individuals ≤65 (31% vs 43%) and >65 (30% vs 41%) years. With degludec and glargine U100, respectively, six vs nine severe hypoglycaemic events occurred in individuals ≤65 years and four vs eight events occurred in those >65 years. Adverse event rates were 3.2 and 3.3 events/patient‐year for individuals ≤65 years and were 3.5 and 4.1 events/patient‐year for individuals >65 years with degludec and glargine U100, respectively. Conclusion Treatment with degludec was safe and effective, with a frequency of hypoglycaemia lower than that with glargine U100 in both younger and older individuals (>65 years) with T2D

Generation of defects and disorder from deeply quenching a liquid to form a solid

We show how deeply quenching a liquid to temperatures where it is linearly unstable and the crystal is the equilibrium phase often produces crystalline structures with defects and disorder. As the solid phase advances into the liquid phase, the modulations in the density distribution created behind the advancing solidification front do not necessarily have a wavelength that is the same as the equilibrium crystal lattice spacing. This is because in a deep enough quench the front propagation is governed by linear processes, but the crystal lattice spacing is determined by nonlinear terms. The wavelength mismatch can result in significant disorder behind the front that may or may not persist in the latter stage dynamics. We support these observations by presenting results from dynamical density functional theory calculations for simple one- and two-component two-dimensional systems of soft core particles.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figure

Percolation in random environment

We consider bond percolation on the square lattice with perfectly correlated random probabilities. According to scaling considerations, mapping to a random walk problem and the results of Monte Carlo simulations the critical behavior of the system with varying degree of disorder is governed by new, random fixed points with anisotropic scaling properties. For weaker disorder both the magnetization and the anisotropy exponents are non-universal, whereas for strong enough disorder the system scales into an {\it infinite randomness fixed point} in which the critical exponents are exactly known.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Breakup Reactions of 11Li within a Three-Body Model

We use a three-body model to investigate breakup reactions of 11Li (n+n+9Li) on a light target. The interaction parameters are constrained by known properties of the two-body subsystems, the 11Li binding energy and fragmentation data. The remaining degrees of freedom are discussed. The projectile-target interactions are described by phenomenological optical potentials. The model predicts dependence on beam energy and target, differences between longitudinal and transverse momentum distributions and provides absolute values for all computed differential cross sections. We give an almost complete series of observables and compare with corresponding measurements. Remarkably good agreement is obtained. The relative neutron-9Li p-wave content is about 40%. A p-resonance, consistent with measurements at about 0.5 MeV of width about 0.4 MeV, seems to be necessary. The widths of the momentum distributions are insensitive to target and beam energy with a tendency to increase towards lower energies. The transverse momentum distributions are broader than the longitudinal due to the diffraction process. The absolute values of the cross sections follow the neutron-target cross sections and increase strongly for beam energies decreasing below 100 MeV/u.Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures, RevTeX, psfig.st

Seminal plasma proteins and their relationship with percentage of morphologically normal sperm in 2-year-old Brahman (Bos indicus) bulls

The objective was to determine the relationship between seminal plasma proteins and sperm morphology in Bos indicus bulls of the Brahman breed. Fifty-six 24-month-old Australian Brahman bulls were electroejaculated and samples were examined to determine the percentage of morphologically normal sperm (PNS24) and the seminal plasma protein composition was identified and quantified by 2-D gel electrophoresis. The total integrated optical density of 152 seminal plasma protein spots (SPPs) across all gels was determined using the PDQuest software version 8.0 (Bio Rad, USA). Using a single regression mixed model with the density of individual spots as a covariate for PNS24, 17 SPPs were significantly associated with PNS24 (

Characterising the impact of heatwaves on work-related injuries and illnesses in three Australian cities using a standard heatwave definition- Excess Heat Factor (EHF)

BACKGROUND AND AIMS:Heatwaves have potential health and safety implications for many workers, and heatwaves are predicted to increase in frequency and intensity with climate change. There is currently a lack of comparative evidence for the effects of heatwaves on workers' health and safety in different climates (sub-tropical and temperate). This study examined the relationship between heatwave severity (as defined by the Excess Heat Factor) and workers' compensation claims, to define impacts and identify workers at higher risk. METHODS:Workers' compensation claims data from Australian cities with temperate (Melbourne and Perth) and subtropical (Brisbane) climates for the years 2006-2016 were analysed in relation to heatwave severity categories (low and moderate/high severity) using time-stratified case-crossover models. RESULTS:Consistent impacts of heatwaves were observed in each city with either a protective or null effect during heatwaves of low-intensity while claims increased during moderate/high-severity heatwaves compared with non-heatwave days. The highest effect during moderate/high-severity heatwaves was in Brisbane (RR 1.45, 95% CI: 1.42-1.48). Vulnerable worker subgroups identified across the three cities included: males, workers aged under 34 years, apprentice/trainee workers, labour hire workers, those employed in medium and heavy strength occupations, and workers from outdoor and indoor industrial sectors. CONCLUSION:These findings show that work-related injuries and illnesses increase during moderate/high-severity heatwaves in both sub-tropical and temperate climates. Heatwave forecasts should signal the need for heightened heat awareness and preventive measures to minimise the risks to workers.Blesson M. Varghese, Adrian G. Barnett, Alana L. Hansen, Peng Bi, John Nairn, Shelley Rowett, Monika Nitschke, Scott Hanson-Easey, Jane S. Heyworth, Malcolm R. Sim, Dino L. Pisaniell

Extrapolating SMBH correlations down the mass scale: the case for IMBHs in globular clusters

Empirical evidence for both stellar mass black holes M_bh<10^2 M_sun) and supermassive black holes (SMBHs, M_bh>10^5 M_sun) is well established. Moreover, every galaxy with a bulge appears to host a SMBH, whose mass is correlated with the bulge mass, and even more strongly with the central stellar velocity dispersion sigma_c, the `M-sigma' relation. On the other hand, evidence for "intermediate-mass" black holes (IMBHs, with masses in the range 1^2 - 10^5 M_sun) is relatively sparse, with only a few mass measurements reported in globular clusters (GCs), dwarf galaxies and low-mass AGNs. We explore the question of whether globular clusters extend the M-sigma relationship for galaxies to lower black hole masses and find that available data for globular clusters are consistent with the extrapolation of this relationship. We use this extrapolated M-sigma relationship to predict the putative black hole masses of those globular clusters where existence of central IMBH was proposed. We discuss how globular clusters can be used as a constraint on theories making specific predictions for the low-mass end of the M-sigma relation.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Science; fixed typos and a quote in Sec.

Multimessenger astronomy with the Einstein Telescope

Gravitational waves (GWs) are expected to play a crucial role in the development of multimessenger astrophysics. The combination of GW observations with other astrophysical triggers, such as from gamma-ray and X-ray satellites, optical/radio telescopes, and neutrino detectors allows us to decipher science that would otherwise be inaccessible. In this paper, we provide a broad review from the multimessenger perspective of the science reach offered by the third generation interferometric GW detectors and by the Einstein Telescope (ET) in particular. We focus on cosmic transients, and base our estimates on the results obtained by ET's predecessors GEO, LIGO, and Virgo.Comment: 26 pages. 3 figures. Special issue of GRG on the Einstein Telescope. Minor corrections include

Adsorption of mono- and multivalent cat- and anions on DNA molecules

Adsorption of monovalent and multivalent cat- and anions on a deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) molecule from a salt solution is investigated by computer simulation. The ions are modelled as charged hard spheres, the DNA molecule as a point charge pattern following the double-helical phosphate strands. The geometrical shape of the DNA molecules is modelled on different levels ranging from a simple cylindrical shape to structured models which include the major and minor grooves between the phosphate strands. The densities of the ions adsorbed on the phosphate strands, in the major and in the minor grooves are calculated. First, we find that the adsorption pattern on the DNA surface depends strongly on its geometrical shape: counterions adsorb preferentially along the phosphate strands for a cylindrical model shape, but in the minor groove for a geometrically structured model. Second, we find that an addition of monovalent salt ions results in an increase of the charge density in the minor groove while the total charge density of ions adsorbed in the major groove stays unchanged. The adsorbed ion densities are highly structured along the minor groove while they are almost smeared along the major groove. Furthermore, for a fixed amount of added salt, the major groove cationic charge is independent on the counterion valency. For increasing salt concentration the major groove is neutralized while the total charge adsorbed in the minor groove is constant. DNA overcharging is detected for multivalent salt. Simulations for a larger ion radii, which mimic the effect of the ion hydration, indicate an increased adsorbtion of cations in the major groove.Comment: 34 pages with 14 figure