Singapore Information Sector: A Study Using Input-Output Table

The paper measures the impact of information technology on the output growth of Singapore economy. A vibrant information sector will play an important catalytic role in developing Singapore into a knowledge-based economy. The analysis provided in the paper support the assertion that information economy will be a precursor to a knowledge-based economy. The information sector grew in tandem with the expansion of export in the first half of the 1990s. By the second half of the 1990s, it developed sufficient momentum and capability to expand domestically as a cluster. The use of ICT as intermediate input is found to be generally pervasive in the economy. The paper also investigated the impact of falling prices of information input on sectoral GDP. It is found that for a 10% decrease in information input prices, the sector GDPs had to increase by 0.05% to 2.2%. The overall impact for the economy is a positive 0.84% increase in national income (GDP) for a 10% decline in information input prices.

Information Technology Externalities: Empirical Evidence from 42 U.S. Industries

Using interindustry transaction in input-output tables, we examine Information Technology (IT) externalities in U.S. private industries over the period 1984-2000. Our empirical results show that computerization of an industry's customer and supplier industries reduces both labor and material costs of the industry. Moreover, cost savings driven by supplier industries are larger than those driven by customer industries. We also find that industries in the services sector enjoy more benefits from IT spillovers than industries in other sectors because of their high IT capital intensity and composition of interindustry transaction. Decomposition of total factor productivity (TFP) suggests that IT externalities can explain considerable parts of TFP growth, although possible mismeasurement of output in services industries leads to exacerbated technical changes of services industries.

Coupling of Josephson current qubits using a connecting loop

We propose a coupling scheme for the three-Josephson junction qubits which uses a connecting loop, but not mutual inductance. Present scheme offers the advantages of a large and tunable level splitting in implementing the controlled-NOT (CNOT) operation. We calculate the switching probabilities of the coupled qubits in the CNOT operations and demonstrate that present CNOT gate can meet the criteria for the fault-tolerant quantum computing. We obtain the coupling strength as a function of the coupling energy of the Josephson junction and the length of the connecting loop which varies with selecting two qubits from the scalable design.Comment: 5 pages with updates, version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Surfactant protein D contributes to ocular defense against Pseudomonas aeruginosa in a murine model of dry eye disease.

Dry eye disease can cause ocular surface inflammation that disrupts the corneal epithelial barrier. While dry eye patients are known to have an increased risk of corneal infection, it is not known whether there is a direct causal relationship between these two conditions. Here, we tested the hypothesis that experimentally-induced dry eye (EDE) increases susceptibility to corneal infection using a mouse model. In doing so, we also examined the role of surfactant protein D (SP-D), which we have previously shown is involved in corneal defense against infection. Scopolamine injections and fan-driven air were used to cause EDE in C57BL/6 or Black Swiss mice (wild-type and SP-D gene-knockout). Controls received PBS injections and were housed normally. After 5 or 10 days, otherwise uninjured corneas were inoculated with 10(9) cfu of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain PAO1. Anesthesia was maintained for 3 h post-inoculation. Viable bacteria were quantified in ocular surface washes and corneal homogenates 6 h post-inoculation. SP-D was measured by Western immunoblot, and corneal pathology assessed from 6 h to 4 days. EDE mice showed reduced tear volumes after 5 and 10 days (each by ∼75%, p<0.001) and showed fluorescein staining (i.e. epithelial disruption). Surprisingly, there was no significant difference in corneal pathology between EDE mice and controls (∼10-14% incidence). Before bacterial inoculation, EDE mice showed elevated SP-D in ocular washes. After inoculation, fewer bacteria were recovered from ocular washes of EDE mice (<2% of controls, p = 0.0004). Furthermore, SP-D knockout mice showed a significant increase in P. aeruginosa corneal colonization under EDE conditions. Taken together, these data suggest that SP-D contributes to corneal defense against P. aeruginosa colonization and infection in EDE despite the loss of barrier function to fluorescein

MicroRNA-762 is upregulated in human corneal epithelial cells in response to tear fluid and Pseudomonas aeruginosa antigens and negatively regulates the expression of host defense genes encoding RNase7 and ST2.

Mucosal surfaces regulate defenses against infection and excessive inflammation. We previously showed that human tears upregulated epithelial expression of genes encoding RNase7 and ST2, which inhibited Pseudomonas aeruginosa invasion of human corneal epithelial cells. Here, microRNA microarrays were used to show that a combination of tear fluid exposure (16 h) then P. aeruginosa antigens (3 h) upregulated miR-762 and miR-1207, and down-regulated miR-92 and let-7b (all > 2-fold) in human corneal epithelial cells compared to P. aeruginosa antigens alone. RT-PCR confirmed miR-762 upregulation ∼ 3-fold in tear-antigen exposed cells. Without tears or antigens, an antagomir reduced miR-762 expression relative to scrambled controls by ∼50%, increased expression of genes encoding RNase7 (∼80 %), ST2 (∼58%) and Rab5a (∼75%), without affecting P. aeruginosa internalization. However, P. aeruginosa invasion was increased > 3-fold by a miR-762 mimic which reduced RNase7 and ST2 gene expression. Tear fluid alone also induced miR-762 expression ∼ 4-fold, which was reduced by the miR-762 antagomir. Combination of tear fluid and miR-762 antagomir increased RNase7 and ST2 gene expression. These data show that mucosal fluids, such as tears, can modulate epithelial microRNA expression to regulate innate defense genes, and that miR-762 negatively regulates RNase7, ST2 and Rab5a genes. Since RNase7 and ST2 inhibit P. aeruginosa internalization, and are upregulated by tear fluid, other tear-induced mechanisms must counteract inhibitory effects of miR-762 to regulate resistance to bacteria. These data also suggest a complex relationship between tear induction of miR-762, its modulation of innate defense genes, and P. aeruginosa internalization

Faktor-faktor yang Mempengaruhi Kebutuhan Informasi Pertanian Bagi Petani Sayuran di Provinsi Jawa Barat

The agribusiness development of horticulture products is one of national economical growth sources of agricultural sector. Free market made part of domestically which cause more rigid competitiveness. In addition, the increase of farmer\u27s family member demands was faced to the need of demand of information of modern farming to increase the management capability in yielding competitive products from the efficient farmers. Yet, the empowerment hasn\u27t significantly empowered the farmers. The fact showed that farmers still lives in \u27darkness\u27 and lack of information. One of empowerment strategy is to make independent farmer in maintaining their lives in the meaning of: knowed, motivated, and able to develop their farm by looking and using the available agricultural information. The government task is to service agricultural information for farmers as stated in law No.16 year 2006 about Agricultural Extension System. This study was aimed to analyze: (1) kinds of agricultural information which needed by vegetables\u27 farmers, and (2) factors influenced the need of agricultural information. The research was conducted in three districts (Bogor, Cianjur, and Bandung), West Java Province since July 2006 to February 2007 by using survey technique, interview, and indepth interview. The sampling technique used in the study was quota sampling with 240 respondents of head families. Statistical analysis were using Cronbach Alpha, t-test, Rank Spearman correlation, and Structural Equation Modeling. The analysis showed that the need of agricultural information from vegetables\u27 farmers\u27 influenced significantly by economic and social status of vegetables\u27 farmers, farmers\u27s awareness level of the importance of agricultural information, accessibility level of vegetables\u27farmers in obtaining the agricultural information, motivation of vegetables\u27 farmers ,and innovative of vegetables\u27 farmers

Two-Dimensional Nature of Four-Layer Superconductors by Inequivalent Hole Distribution

The magnetization of the four-layer superconductor CuBa_{2}Ca_{3}Cu_4O_{12-\delta} with T_c\simeq117 K is presented. The high-field magnetization around T_c(H) follows the exact two-dimensional scaling function given by Te\v{s}anovi\'{c} and Andreev. This feature is contrary to the inference that the interlayer coupling becomes strong if the number of CuO_2 planes in a unit cell increases. Also, the fluctuation-induced susceptibility in the low-field region was analyzed by using the modified Lawrence-Doniach model. The effective number of independently fluctuating CuO_2 layers per unit cell, g_{\rm eff}, turned out to be \simeq 2 rather than 4, which indicated that two among the four CuO_2 layers were in states far from their optimal doping levels. This result could explain why CuBa_{2}Ca_{3}Cu_4O_{12-\delta} shows two-dimensional behavior.Comment: 5 pages and 4 figure

Anisotropic Hc2 of K0.8Fe1.76Se2 determined up to 60 T

The anisotropic upper critical field, Hc2(T), curves for K0.8Fe1.76Se2 are determined over a wide range of temperatures down to 1.5 K and magnetic fields up to 60 T. Anisotropic initial slopes of Hc2 ~ -1.4 T/K and -4.6 T/K for magnetic field applied along c-axis and ab-plane, respectively, were observed. Whereas the c-axis Hc2|c(T) increases quasi-linearly with decreasing temperature, the ab-plane Hc2|ab(T) shows a flattening, starting near 25 K above 30 T. This leads to a non-monotonic temperature dependence of the anisotropy parameter \gamma= Hc2|ab/Hc2|c. The anisotropy parameter is ~ 2 near Tc ~ 32 K and rises to a maximum \gamma ~ 3.6 around 27 K. For lower temperatures, \gamma decreases with T in a linear fashion, dropping to \gamma ~ 2.5 by T ~ 18 K. Despite the apparent differences between the K0.8Fe1.76Se2 and (Ba0.55K0.45)Fe2As2 or Ba(Fe0.926Co0.074)2As2, in terms of the magnetic state and proximity to an insulating state, the Hc2(T) curves are remarkably similar.Comment: slightly modified version, accepted to PRB, Rapid Communication

Comments on "Vortex Glass and Lattice Melting Transitions in a YNi_2B_2C Single Crystal"

Recently, Mun et.al. (Phys. Rev. Lett., 76, 2790 (1996)) have published their results on single crystal YNi_2B_2C, claiming that their experimental observations can be explained in terms of formation of Vortex Glass and Lattice melting. Our experiments, carried out on samples obtained from the SAME source, reveal a much richer phase diagram and span wider regions of experimental parameter space than Mun et. al. that encompasses most of their observations. We speculate that this material has anomalous intrinsic properties and the results cannot be explained by simple models about the flux lattice.Comment: 1 page, LaTeX type, 1 PostScript figure, Uses PRABIB.STY file, 600 dpi PS file available at http://sagar.physics.neu.edu/preprints.html To appear in Physical Review Letter

Thermoelectric power of Ba(Fe1-xRux)2As2 and Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2: possible changes of Fermi surface with and without changes in electron count

Temperature-dependent, in-plane, thermoelectric power (TEP) data are presented for Ba(Fe1-xRux)2As2 (0 < x < 0.36) single crystals. The previously outlined x - T phase diagram for this system is confirmed. The analysis of TEP evolution with Ru-doping suggests significant changes in the electronic structure, correlations and/or scattering occurring near ~7% and ~30% of Ru-doping levels. These results are compared with an extended set of TEP data for the electron-doped Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 series