4,950 research outputs found
Malmquist Indices of Pre and Post-Deregulation Productivity, Efficiency and Technological Change in the Singaporean Banking Sector
By the end of the 1990s, the Singaporean government had recognised the need to open up its banking sector so as to remain competitive in the global economy. The Monetary Authority of Singapore thus began deregulation of the banking sector in 1999 to strengthening the competitiveness of local banks relative to their foreign competition through mergers. This paper employs a nonparametric Malmquist productivity index to provide measure of productivity, technological change and efficiency gains over the period 1995-2005. The findings reveal some total factor productivity growth associated with deregulation and scale efficiency improvement largely from mergers amongst the local banks.Efficiency, productivity; deregulation; Malmquist indices; banking
Haze in the Klang Valley of Malaysia
Continuous measurements of dry aerosol light scattering (Bsp) were made at two sites in the Klang Valley of Malaysia between December 1998 and December 2000. In addition 24-h PM2.5 samples were collected on a one-day-in-six cycle and the chemical composition of the aerosol was determined. Periods of excessive haze were defined as 24-h average Bsp values greater than 150 Mm-1 and these occurred on a number of occasions, between May and September 1999, during May 2000, and between July and September 2000. The evidence for smoke being a significant contributor to aerosol during periods of excessive haze is discussed and includes features of the aerosol chemistry, the diurnal cycle of Bsp, and the coincidence of forest fires on Sumatra during the southwest (SW) monsoon period, as well as transport modelling for one week of the southwest Monsoon of 2000. The study highlights that whilst transboundary smoke is a major contributor to poor visibility in the Klang Valley, smoke from fires on Peninsular Malaysia is also a contributor, and at all times, the domestic source of secondary particle production is present
Modulation of Natural Killer Cell Cytotoxicity in Human Cytomegalovirus Infection: The Role of Endogenous Class I Major Histocompatibility Complex and a Viral Class I Homolog
Natural killer (NK) cells have been implicated in early immune responses against certain viruses, including cytomegalovirus (CMV). CMV causes downregulation of class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) expression in infected cells; however, it has been proposed that a class I MHC homolog encoded by CMV, UL18, may act as a surrogate ligand to prevent NK cell lysis of CMV-infected cells. In this study, we examined the role of UL18 in NK cell recognition and lysis using fibroblasts infected with either wild-type or UL18 knockout CMV virus, and by using cell lines transfected with the UL18 gene. In both systems, the expression of UL18 resulted in the enhanced killing of target cells. We also show that the enhanced killing is due to both UL18-dependent and -independent mechanisms, and that the killer cell inhibitory receptors (KIRs) and CD94/NKG2A inhibitory receptors for MHC class I do not play a role in affecting susceptibility of CMV-infected fibroblasts to NK cell–mediated cytotoxicity
Sub-Nyquist Field Trial Using Time Frequency Packed DP-QPSK Super-Channel Within Fixed ITU-T Grid
Sub-Nyquist time frequency packing technique was demonstrated for the first
time in a super channel field trial transmission over long-haul distances. The
technique allows a limited spectral occupancy even with low order modulation
formats. The transmission was successfully performed on a deployed Australian
link between Sydney and Melbourne which included 995 km of uncompensated SMF
with coexistent traffic. 40 and 100 Gb/s co-propagating channels were
transmitted together with the super-channel in a 50 GHz ITU-T grid without
additional penalty. The super-channel consisted of eight sub-channels with
low-level modulation format, i.e. DP-QPSK, guaranteeing better OSNR robustness
and reduced complexity with respect to higher order formats. At the receiver
side, coherent detection was used together with iterative maximum-a-posteriori
(MAP) detection and decoding. A 975 Gb/s DP-QPSK super-channel was successfully
transmitted between Sydney and Melbourne within four 50GHz WSS channels (200
GHz). A maximum potential SE of 5.58 bit/s/Hz was achieved with an OSNR=15.8
dB, comparable to the OSNR of the installed 100 Gb/s channels. The system
reliability was proven through long term measurements. In addition, by closing
the link in a loop back configuration, a potential SE*d product of 9254
bit/s/Hz*km was achieved
Repeat-Until-Success quantum computing using stationary and flying qubits
We introduce an architecture for robust and scalable quantum computation
using both stationary qubits (e.g. single photon sources made out of trapped
atoms, molecules, ions, quantum dots, or defect centers in solids) and flying
qubits (e.g. photons). Our scheme solves some of the most pressing problems in
existing non-hybrid proposals, which include the difficulty of scaling
conventional stationary qubit approaches, and the lack of practical means for
storing single photons in linear optics setups. We combine elements of two
previous proposals for distributed quantum computing, namely the efficient
photon-loss tolerant build up of cluster states by Barrett and Kok [Phys. Rev.
A 71, 060310(R) (2005)] with the idea of Repeat-Until-Success (RUS) quantum
computing by Lim et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 030505 (2005)]. This idea can be
used to perform eventually deterministic two-qubit logic gates on spatially
separated stationary qubits via photon pair measurements. Under non-ideal
conditions, where photon loss is a possibility, the resulting gates can still
be used to build graph states for one-way quantum computing. In this paper, we
describe the RUS method, present possible experimental realizations, and
analyse the generation of graph states.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, minor changes, references and a discussion on
the effect of photon dark counts adde
Don't be so BOLD: Potential limitations in the use of BOLD MRI for studies of renal oxygenation
Multimodal hyperscanning reveals that synchrony of body and mind are distinct in mother-child dyads
Hyperscanning studies have begun to unravel the brain mechanisms underlying social interaction, indicating a functional role for interpersonal neural synchronization (INS), yet the mechanisms that drive INS are poorly understood. The current study, thus, addresses whether INS is functionally-distinct from synchrony in other systems – specifically the autonomic nervous system and motor behavior. To test this, we used concurrent functional near-infrared spectroscopy - electrocardiography recordings, while N = 34 mother-child and stranger-child dyads engaged in cooperative and competitive tasks. Only in the neural domain was a higher synchrony for mother-child compared to stranger-child dyads observed. Further, autonomic nervous system and neural synchrony were positively related during competition but not during cooperation. These results suggest that synchrony in different behavioral and biological systems may reflect distinct processes. Furthermore, they show that increased mother-child INS is unlikely to be explained solely by shared arousal and behavioral similarities, supporting recent theories that postulate that INS is higher in close relationships
Anisotropy in high-frequency broadband acoustic backscattering in the presence of turbulent microstructure and zooplankton
Author Posting. © Acoustical Society of America, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of Acoustical Society of America for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 132 (2012): 670-679, doi:10.1121/1.4730904.High-frequency broadband (120–600 kHz) acoustic backscattering measurements have been made in the vicinity of energetic internal waves. The transducers on the backscattering system could be adjusted so as to insonify the water-column either vertically or horizontally. The broadband capabilities of the system allowed spectral classification of the backscattering. The distribution of spectral shapes is significantly different for scattering measurements made with the transducers oriented horizontally versus vertically, indicating that scattering anisotropy is present. However, the scattering anisotropy could not be unequivocally explained by either turbulent microstructure or zooplankton, the two primary sources of scattering expected in internal waves. Daytime net samples indicate a predominance of short-aspect-ratio zooplankton. Using zooplankton acoustic scattering models, a preferential orientation of the observed zooplankton cannot explain the measured anisotropy. Yet model predictions of scattering from anisotropic turbulent microstructure, with inputs from coincident microstructure measurements, were not consistent with the observations. Possible explanations include bandwidth limitations that result in many spectra that cannot be unambiguously attributed to turbulence or zooplankton based on spectral shape. Extending the acoustic bandwidth to cover the range from 50 kHz to 2 MHz could help improve identification of the dominant sources of backscattering anisotropy
A compact and reconfigurable silicon nitride time-bin entanglement circuit
Photonic chip based time-bin entanglement has attracted significant attention
because of its potential for quantum communication and computation. Useful
time-bin entanglement systems must be able to generate, manipulate and analyze
entangled photons on a photonic chip for stable, scalable and reconfigurable
operation. Here we report the first time-bin entanglement photonic chip that
integrates time-bin generation, wavelength demultiplexing and entanglement
analysis. A two-photon interference fringe with an 88.4% visibility is measured
(without subtracting any noise), indicating the high performance of the chip.
Our approach, based on a silicon nitride photonic circuit, which combines the
low-loss characteristic of silica and tight integration features of silicon,
paves the way for scalable real-world quantum information processors.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
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