1,336 research outputs found
Vertical Integration and Economic Growth: An Empirical Study
The paper is devoted to an empirical study of determinants of vertical integration and their influence on economic growth. We verified the following hypotheses: higher quality of institutions reduces probability of vertical integration; productivity levels of participants in vertical integration influence on its probability in different ways; higher import quota of an economy helps reducing the degree of vertical integration; the degree of vertical integration in an economy influence on economic growth in different ways depending on the stage of economic development.Vertical integration, economic growth, institutional development
Giant magnetoimpedance in crystalline Mumetal
We studied giant magnetoimpedance (GMI) effect in commercial crystalline
Mumetal, with the emphasis to sample thickness dependence and annealing
effects. By using appropriate heat treatment one can achieve GMI ratios as high
as 310%, and field sensitivity of about 20%/Oe, which is comparable to the best
GMI characteristics obtained for amorphous and nanocrystalline soft magnetic
materials.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
Domestic dog demographic structure and dynamics relevant to rabies control planning in urban areas in Africa: the case of Iringa, Tanzania
<p>Background
Mass vaccinations of domestic dogs have been shown to effectively control canine rabies and hence human exposure to rabies. Knowledge of dog population demography is essential for planning effective rabies vaccination programmes; however, such information is still rare for African domestic dog populations, particularly so in urban areas. This study describes the demographic structure and population dynamics of a domestic dog population in an urban sub-Saharan African setting. In July to November 2005, we conducted a full household-level census and a cross-sectional dog demography survey in four urban wards of Iringa Municipality, Tanzania. The achievable vaccination coverage was assessed by a two-stage vaccination campaign, and the proportion of feral dogs was estimated by a mark-recapture transect study.</p>
<p>Results
The estimated size of the domestic dog population in Iringa was six times larger than official town records assumed, however, the proportion of feral dogs was estimated to account for less than 1% of the whole population. An average of 13% of all households owned dogs which equalled a dog:human ratio of 1:14, or 0.31 dogs per household or 334 dogs km-2. Dog female:male ratio was 1:1.4. The average age of the population was 2.2 years, 52% of all individuals were less than one year old. But mortality within the first year was high (72%). Females became fertile at the age of 10 months and reportedly remained fertile up to the age of 11 years. The average number of litters whelped per fertile female per year was 0.6 with an average of 5.5 pups born per litter. The population growth was estimated at 10% y-1.</p>
<p>Conclusions
Such high birth and death rates result in a rapid replacement of anti-rabies immunised individuals with susceptible ones. This loss in herd immunity needs to be taken into account in the design of rabies control programmes. The very small proportion of truly feral dogs in the population implies that vaccination campaigns aimed at the owned dog population are sufficient to control rabies in urban Iringa, and the same may be valid in other, comparable urban settings.</p>
Translesion DNA synthesis in the context of cancer research
During cell division, replication of the genomic DNA is performed by high-fidelity DNA polymerases but these error-free enzymes can not synthesize across damaged DNA. Specialized DNA polymerases, so called DNA translesion synthesis polymerases (TLS polymerases), can replicate damaged DNA thereby avoiding replication fork breakdown and subsequent chromosomal instability
Spin canted magnetism, decoupling of charge and spin ordering in NdNiO
We report detailed magnetization measurements on the perovskite oxide
NdNiO. This system has a first order metal-insulator (M-I) transition at
about 200 K which is associated with charge ordering. There is also a
concurrent paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic spin ordering transition in the
system. We show that the antiferromagnetic state of the nickel sublattice is
spin canted. We also show that the concurrency of the charge ordering and spin
ordering transitions is seen only while warming up the system from low
temperature. The transitions are not concurrent while cooling the system
through the M-I transition temperature. This is explained based on the fact
that the charge ordering transition is first order while the spin ordering
transition is continuous. In the magnetically ordered state the system exhibits
ZFC-FC irreversibilities, as well as history-dependent magnetization and aging.
Our analysis rules out the possibility of spin-glass or superparamagnetism and
suggests that the irreversibilities originate from magnetocrystalline
anisotropy and domain wall pinning.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
Validity of the N\'{e}el-Arrhenius model for highly anisotropic Co_xFe_{3-x}O_4 nanoparticles
We report a systematic study on the structural and magnetic properties of
Co_{x}Fe_{3-x}O_{4} magnetic nanoparticles with sizes between to nm,
prepared by thermal decomposition of Fe(acac)_{3} and Co(acac)_{2}. The large
magneto-crystalline anisotropy of the synthesized particles resulted in high
blocking temperatures ( K \leqq K for d nm ) and large coercive fields ( kA/m for K).
The smallest particles ( nm) revealed the existence of a magnetically
hard, spin-disordered surface. The thermal dependence of static and dynamic
magnetic properties of the whole series of samples could be explained within
the N\'{e}el-Arrhenius relaxation framework without the need of ad-hoc
corrections, by including the thermal dependence of the magnetocrystalline
anisotropy constant through the empirical Br\"{u}khatov-Kirensky
relation. This approach provided values very similar to the bulk
material from either static or dynamic magnetic measurements, as well as
realistic values for the response times ( s).
Deviations from the bulk anisotropy values found for the smallest particles
could be qualitatively explained based on Zener\'{}s relation between
and M(T)
Women with acute myocardial infarction are more likely than men to have a delayed door-to-electrocardiogram time
Relationship between B-type natriuretic peptide plasma levels and echocardiography parameters in compensated chronic heart failure patients treated with levosimendan
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