Scalar Nonets in Pole-Dominated QCD Sum Rules

The light scalar nonets are studied using the QCD sum rules for the tetraquark operators. The operator product expansion for the correlators is calculated up to dimension 12 and this enables us to perform analyses retaining sufficient pole-dominance. To classify the light scalar nonets, we investigate the dependence on current quark mass and flavor dynamics. Especially, to examine the latter, we study separately SU(3) singlet and octet states, and show that the number of annihilation diagrams is largely responsible for their differences, which is also the case even after the inclusion of the finite quark mass. Our results support the tetraquark picture for isosinglets, while that for octets is not conclusive yet.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure, Talk given at Chiral Symmetry in Hadron and Nuclear Physics (Chiral07), November 13-16, 2007, Osaka Univ., Japa

Empirical Investigation of Flexible Pricing and Payment Alternatives on Canadian Wheat Board Pooling for Wheat

Crop Production/Industries, Marketing,

Rate Control State-of-the-art Survey

The majority of Internet traffic use Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) as the transport level protocol. It provides a reliable ordered byte stream for the applications. However, applications such as live video streaming place an emphasis on timeliness over reliability. Also a smooth sending rate can be desirable over sharp changes in the sending rate. For these applications TCP is not necessarily suitable. Rate control attempts to address the demands of these applications. An important design feature in all rate control mechanisms is TCP friendliness. We should not negatively impact TCP performance since it is still the dominant protocol. Rate Control mechanisms are classified into two different mechanisms: window-based mechanisms and rate-based mechanisms. Window-based mechanisms increase their sending rate after a successful transfer of a window of packets similar to TCP. They typically decrease their sending rate sharply after a packet loss. Rate-based solutions control their sending rate in some other way. A large subset of rate-based solutions are called equation-based solutions. Equation-based solutions have a control equation which provides an allowed sending rate. Typically these rate-based solutions react slower to both packet losses and increases in available bandwidth making their sending rate smoother than that of window-based solutions. This report contains a survey of rate control mechanisms and a discussion of their relative strengths and weaknesses. A section is dedicated to a discussion on the enhancements in wireless environments. Another topic in the report is bandwidth estimation. Bandwidth estimation is divided into capacity estimation and available bandwidth estimation. We describe techniques that enable the calculation of a fair sending rate that can be used to create novel rate control mechanisms.Peer reviewe

The Advocacy Coalition Framework: Lessons from Applications in African Countries

Although the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) emerged in Western democratic contexts, scholars increasingly apply it in other parts of the world to analyze diverse policy topics. These cross-country comparisons have provided a means for advancing comparative research, drawing lessons about policy processes, and offering opportunities to refine the framework. In this paper, we provide an overview of the ACF and its use as an analytical tool for comparative research. Through a systematic literature review, we identified 27 applications in 15 African countries, including democracies, authoritarian governments, and hybrid systems. Based on these applications published in peer-reviewed journals, we explore this illustrated collection of case studies to see how the ACF has been applied outside of Western democracies and to identify strengths and weaknesses of the ACF as a portable framework. These applications confirm the basic postulations of the ACF, but we also identify a few nuances and expectations. Based on these insights, we finally lay out a research agenda and a new generation of questions for applying the ACF in the African context as well as globally.Während das Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) in westlich-demokratischen Kontexten entstanden ist, wird es von Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftlern zunehmend in anderen Teilen der Welt angewandt. Diese länderübergreifenden Analysen haben es ermöglicht, die vergleichende Forschung voranzutreiben, Erkenntnisse über diverse politische Prozesse und Themen zu gewinnen und den analytischen Rahmen des ACF zu verfeinern. In diesem Papier geben wir einen Überblick über das ACF und seine Verwendung als Analyseinstrument für die vergleichende Forschung. Durch eine systematische Literaturrecherche haben wir 27 Anwendungen in 15 afrikanischen Ländern identifiziert, darunter Demokratien, autoritäre und hybride Systeme. Auf der Grundlage dieser in Fachzeitschriften veröffentlichten Anwendungen untersuchen wir – in Form einer illustrierten Sammlung von Fallstudien – wie das ACF außerhalb westlicher Demokratien angewandt wurde, und ermitteln dabei Stärken und Schwächen des ACF. Die 27 untersuchten Fallstudien bestätigen die grundlegenden Postulate des ACF, aber wir zeigen auch einige Nuancen auf. Auf der Grundlage dieser Erkenntnisse entwerfen wir schließlich eine Forschungsagenda und eine neue Generation von Fragen für die Anwendung des ACF im afrikanischen und weltweiten Kontext

Lapatinib-binding protein kinases in the African trypanosome: identification of cellular targets for kinase-directed chemical scaffolds.

Human African trypanosomiasis is caused by the eukaryotic microbe Trypanosoma brucei. To discover new drugs against the disease, one may use drugs in the clinic for other indications whose chemical scaffolds can be optimized via a medicinal chemistry campaign to achieve greater potency against the trypanosome. Towards this goal, we tested inhibitors of human EGFR and/or VEGFR as possible anti-trypanosome compounds. The 4-anilinoquinazolines canertinib and lapatinib, and the pyrrolopyrimidine AEE788 killed bloodstream T. brucei in vitro with GI(50) in the low micromolar range. Curiously, the genome of T. brucei does not encode EGFR or VEGFR, indicating that the drugs recognize alternate proteins. To discover these novel targets, a trypanosome lysate was adsorbed to an ATP-sepharose matrix and washed with a high salt solution followed by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(+)). Proteins that remained bound to the column were eluted with drugs, and identified by mass spectrometry/bioinformatics. Lapatinib bound to Tb927.4.5180 (termed T. brucei lapatinib-binding protein kinase-1 (TbLBPK1)) while AEE788 bound Tb927.5.800 (TbLBPK2). When the NAD(+) wash was omitted from the protocol, AEE788, canertinib and lapatinib eluted TbLBPK1, TbLBPK2, and Tb927.3.1570 (TbLBPK3). In addition, both canertinib and lapatinib eluted Tb10.60.3140 (TbLBPK4), whereas only canertinib desorbed Tb10.61.1880 (TbCBPK1). Lapatinib binds to a unique conformation of protein kinases. To gain insight into the structural basis for lapatinib interaction with TbLBPKs, we constructed three-dimensional models of lapatinib•TbLBPK complexes, which confirmed that TbLBPKs can adopt lapatinib-compatible conformations. Further, lapatinib, AEE788, and canertinib were docked to TbLBPKs with favorable scores. Our studies (a) present novel targets of kinase-directed drugs in the trypanosome, and (b) offer the 4-anilinoquinazoline and pyrrolopyrimidines as scaffolds worthy of medicinal chemistry and structural biology campaigns to develop them into anti-trypanosome drugs

Kualitas Produk dan Kualitas Pelayanan Pengaruhnya terhadap Kepuasan Pelanggan Kartu Prabayar Telkomsel

Bisnis operator seluler dari tahun ke tahun terus meningkat seiring perkembangan zaman. Sebagai usaha untuk menciptakan kepuasan pelanggan, maka provider seluler harus menyusun strategi yang akurat, diantaranya adalah dengan meningkatkan kualitas produk dan kualitas pelayanan. Tujuan penelitian adalah untuk mengetahui pengaruh kualitas produk dan kualitas pelayanan terhadap kepuasan pelanggan kartu prabayar Telkomsel pada masyarakat Kelurahan Bahu. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian asosiatif. Sampel yang digunakan sebanyak 100 responden dari populasi sebanyak 1993 orang di Kelurahan Bahu, dengan menggunakan metode accidental sampling. Teknik analisis data menggunakan analisis regresi linier berdanda, uji asumsi klasik dan uji goodness of fit. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan secara simultan kualitas produk dan kualitas pelayanan berpengaruh positif dan signifikan terhadap kepuasan pelanggan. Secara parsial kualitas produk dan kualitas pelayanan berpengaruh terhadap kepuasan pelanggan. Manajemen PT. Telkomsel sebaiknya lebih meningkatkan kualitas produk, yang menciptakan inovasi-inovasi baru dan memperhatikan peran dari kualitas pelayanan agar dapat meningkatkan jumlah pelanggan yang akan berdampak positif bagi peningkatan pendapatan. Kata kunci: kualitas produk, kualitas pelayanan, kepuasan pelanggan