19,012 research outputs found
A Note on Corporate Overseas Investment Decision Priorities of Taiwanese Direct Real Estate Investors
Data generated from a situationally adapted analytical hierarchical process (AHP) questionnaire focusing on two politically confrontational countries (the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China on Taiwan), provides a revealing assessment of the decisionmaking priorities for three types of direct foreign investment, namely wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries (WFSs), equity joint ventures (EJVs) and contractual joint ventures (CJVs). Cross-case comparison shows distinctly different priorities among the three types for the two countries, and that country selection entails more caution than does the subsequent selection of city. Whereas political environment factors are of only marginal importance for domestic decisions, they are of primary consideration in overseas investment decisions.
Deficient Cholesterol Esterification in Plasma of apoc2 Knockout Zebrafish and Familial Chylomicronemia Patients.
Hypertriglyceridemia is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Apolipoprotein C-II (APOC2) is an obligatory cofactor for lipoprotein lipase (LPL), the major enzyme catalyzing plasma triglyceride hydrolysis. We have created an apoc2 knockout zebrafish model, which mimics the familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) in human patients with a defect in the APOC2 or LPL gene. In this study, we measured plasma levels of free cholesterol (FC) and cholesterol esters (CE) and found that apoc2 mutant zebrafish have a significantly higher FC to CE ratio (FC/CE), when compared to the wild type. Feeding apoc2 mutant zebrafish a low-fat diet reduced triglyceride levels but not the FC/CE ratio. In situ hybridization and qPCR results demonstrated that the hepatic expression of lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (lcat), the enzyme responsible for esterifying plasma FC to CE, and of apolipoprotein A-I, a major protein component of HDL, were dramatically decreased in apoc2 mutants. Furthermore, the FC/CE ratio was significantly increased in the whole plasma and in a chylomicron-depleted fraction of human FCS patients. The FCS plasma LCAT activity was significantly lower than that of healthy controls. In summary, this study, using a zebrafish model and human patient samples, reports for the first time the defect in plasma cholesterol esterification associated with LPL deficiency
High-quality Image Restoration from Partial Mixed Adaptive-Random Measurements
A novel framework to construct an efficient sensing (measurement) matrix,
called mixed adaptive-random (MAR) matrix, is introduced for directly acquiring
a compressed image representation. The mixed sampling (sensing) procedure
hybridizes adaptive edge measurements extracted from a low-resolution image
with uniform random measurements predefined for the high-resolution image to be
recovered. The mixed sensing matrix seamlessly captures important information
of an image, and meanwhile approximately satisfies the restricted isometry
property. To recover the high-resolution image from MAR measurements, the total
variation algorithm based on the compressive sensing theory is employed for
solving the Lagrangian regularization problem. Both peak signal-to-noise ratio
and structural similarity results demonstrate the MAR sensing framework shows
much better recovery performance than the completely random sensing one. The
work is particularly helpful for high-performance and lost-cost data
acquisition.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure
Non-equilibrium Transport in the Anderson model of a biased Quantum Dot: Scattering Bethe Ansatz Phenomenology
We derive the transport properties of a quantum dot subject to a source-drain
bias voltage at zero temperature and magnetic field. Using the Scattering Bethe
Anstaz, a generalization of the traditional Thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz to open
systems out of equilibrium, we derive exact results for the quantum dot
occupation out of equilibrium and, by introducing phenomenological spin- and
charge-fluctuation distribution functions in the computation of the current,
obtain the differential conductance for large U/\Gamma. The Hamiltonian to
describe the quantum dot system is the Anderson impurity Hamiltonian and the
current and dot occupation as a function of voltage are obtained numerically.
We also vary the gate voltage and study the transition from the mixed valence
to the Kondo regime in the presence of a non-equilibrium current. We conclude
with the difficulty we encounter in this model and possible way to solve them
without resorting to a phenomenological method.Comment: 20 pages, 20 figures, published versio
Negative reflections of electromagnetic waves in chiral media
We investigate the reflection properties of electromagnetic/optical waves in
isotropic chiral media. When the chiral parameter is strong enough, we show
that an unusual \emph{negative reflection} occurs at the interface of the
chiral medium and a perfectly conducting plane, where the incident wave and one
of reflected eigenwaves lie in the same side of the boundary normal. Using such
a property, we further demonstrate that such a conducting plane can be used for
focusing in the strong chiral medium. The related equations under paraxial
optics approximation are deduced. In a special case of chiral medium, the
chiral nihility, one of the bi-reflections disappears and only single reflected
eigenwave exists, which goes exactly opposite to the incident wave. Hence the
incident and reflected electric fields will cancel each other to yield a zero
total electric field. In another word, any electromagnetic waves entering the
chiral nihility with perfectly conducting plane will disappear.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Subtropical middle atmosphere dynamics observed by the Chung Li radar
The Chung Li Radar (24.91 N; 121.24 E) has been operating since 1986. A five beam observational configuration was used on a regular basis to study the various dynamics processes in the atmosphere-lower stratosphere height region. Due to its geographical location, the annual Typhoon and Mei-Yu seasons provide good opportunities to study the various interesting dynamic processes such as instabilities, generation of gravity waves, wave mean field interaction, etc. Three dimensional air motions due to these fronts are presented. Special cases of gravity wave generation, propagation and their effects on the turbulent layers are discussed
Charge Density Wave Instability and Soft Phonon in PtP (=Ca, Sr, and La)
The electronic and phonon properties of the platinum pnictide superconductors
PtP (=Ca, Sr, and La) were studied using first-principles
calculations. The spin-orbit coupling effect is significant in LaPtP but
negligible in CaPtP and SrPtP, although they all share the same
anti-pevroskite structure. Moreover, SrPtP has been demonstrated to exhibit
an unexpected weak charge-density-wave(CDW) instability which is neither simply
related to the Fermi-surface nesting nor to the momentum-dependent
electron-phonon coupling alone. The instability is absent in CaPtP and can
be quickly suppressed by the external pressure, accompanied with gradual
decreases in the phonon softening and BCS . Our results suggest SrPtP
as a rare example where superconductivity is enhanced by the CDW fluctuations
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