Selective Calixarene Directed Synthesis of MXene Plates, Crumpled Sheets, Spheres and Scrolls

Fully exploiting the electronic and mechanical properties of 2D laminar materials not only requires efficient and effective means of their exfoliation into low dimensional layers, but also necessitates a means of changing their morphology so as to explore any enhancement that this may offer. MXenes are a rapidly emerging new class of such laminar materials with unique properties. However, access to other morphologies of MXenes has not yet been fully realised. To this end we have developed the synthesis of MXenes (Ti2C) as plates, crumpled sheets, spheres and scrolls, which involves selective intercalation of p-phosphonic calix[n]arenes, with control in morphology arising from the choice of the size of the macrocycle, n = 4, 5, 6 or 8. This opens up wider avenues of discovery/design for new morphologies from the wider family of MXenes beyond Ti2C, along with opportunities to exploit any new physico-chemical properties proffered

Price Discrimination in Practice: The Market for Drugs in Egypt and the U.S.

This paper attempts to analyze the medical and economical reasons that cause a difference in the price elasticity of patients' demand to drugs between Egypt and the United States of America. The study was based on two medicines produced by Pfizer (Lipitor and Viagra), with both of them available in Egypt as well as the United States. The result of this study reflected that Egyptians are more sensitive to the changes in price relative to Americans for both Lipitor and Viagra because of different economical and medical factors.Price Discrimination, Pharmaceutical Industry

Localization Transition in Incommensurate non-Hermitian Systems

A class of one-dimensional lattice models with incommensurate complex potential $V(\theta)=2[\lambda_r cos(\theta)+i \lambda_i sin(\theta)]$ is found to exhibit localization transition at $|\lambda_r|+|\lambda_i|=1$. This transition from extended to localized states manifests in the behavior of the complex eigenspectum. In the extended phase, states with real eigenenergies have finite measure and this measure goes to zero in the localized phase. Furthermore, all extended states exhibit real spectrum provided $|\lambda_r| \ge |\lambda_i|$. Another novel feature of the system is the fact that the imaginary part of the spectrum is sensitive to the boundary conditions {\it only at the onset to localization}

Portal vein thrombosis and arterioportal shunts : effects on tumor response after chemoembolization of hepatocellular carcinoma

AIM: To evaluate the effect of portal vein thrombosis and arterioportal shunts on local tumor response in advanced cases of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma treated by transarterial chemoembolization. METHODS: A retrospective study included 39 patients (mean age: 66.4 years, range: 45-79 years, SD: 7) with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who were treated with repetitive transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in the period between March 2006 and October 2009. The effect of portal vein thrombosis (PVT) (in 19 out of 39 patients), the presence of arterioportal shunt (APS) (in 7 out of 39), the underlying liver pathology, Child-Pugh score, initial tumor volume, number of tumors and tumor margin definition on imaging were correlated with the local tumor response after TACE. The initial and end therapy local tumor responses were evaluated according to the response evaluation criteria in solid tumors (RECIST) and magnetic resonance imaging volumetric measurements. RESULTS: The treatment protocols were well tolerated by all patients with no major complications. Local tumor response for all patients according to RECIST criteria were partial response in one patient (2.6%), stable disease in 34 patients (87.1%), and progressive disease in 4 patients (10.2%). The MR volumetric measurements showed that the PVT, APS, underlying liver pathology and tumor margin definition were statistically significant prognostic factors for the local tumor response (P = 0.018, P = 0.008, P = 0.034 and P = 0.001, respectively). The overall 6-, 12- and 18-mo survival rates from the initial TACE were 79.5%, 37.5% and 21%, respectively. CONCLUSION: TACE may be exploited safely for palliative tumor control in patients with advanced unresectable HCC; however, tumor response is significantly affected by the presence or absence of PVT and APS

The relationship between inequality and GDP growth: An empirical approach

The aim of this work is to analyze the relationship between inequality and economic growth. The results obtained by previous empirical papers were mixed. Authors such as Persson and Tabellini (1991) or Alesina and Rodrik (1994), in fact, find evidence of a negative relationship between the two variables of interest; on the contrary, Li and Zou (1998) and Forbes (2000) find that greater inequality is associated with faster economic growth. Barro (2000 and 2008) claims that inequality has a positive effect on GDP growth in advanced economies, but has a negative impact in developing ones. The present work considers two samples of OCSE countries; in the full sample 33 countries are analyzed for the 1971-2010 period and inequality data are taken from the UNU-WIDER dataset. In the restricted sample 27 countries are considered for the 1981-2010 period and inequality data from the Luxembourg Income Study are used. The estimation technique employed are fixed effects, random effects and GMM Arellano-Bond. The Gini coefficient has been used as inequality measure and ten-years averages of the data have been computed in order to reduce the problem linked to the limited variability of the Gini coefficient across time. In the case of the fixed effects and the GMM estimates on the full sample, positive and statistically significant estimated coefficients for the inequality measure are obtained. The value ranges from 1.2 to 1.5; this means that a 1% increase in inequality within a country would be followed by a more than proportional increase in the rate of economic growth in the following ten years. All the other estimated coefficients, when statistically significant, take the expected sign and the Sargan test confirms that the over-identifying restriction used for the GMM estimation are valid. However, there is room for further research, in particular by considering that: the relationship between the two variables of interest may be quadratic and not linear, the time horizon considered may significatively influence the estimation results and finally it would be necessary to extend the sample by also including developing countries (non-OCSE members)

p-adic number theory and its applications in a cryptographic form

Imperial Users onl

SUPPORTING PRODUCT INNOVATION THROUGH KNOWLEDGE AUDIT

Knowledge audit is considered as one of the first steps towards designing a knowledge management strategy for an organization. Knowledge audit opens up the eye of an organization in terms of understanding its current knowledge capabilities, future knowledge requirements and critical knowledge gaps.. This paper focuses on how various knowledge audit tools can be used as an effective mechanism for organizational innovation process, specially understanding market needs, assessing knowledge capability and partnerships with external knowledge networks thus contributing to the development of new products or services

The Leader as Groom, the Nation as Bride. Patriarchal Nationalism under Nasser and Sisi

This article surveys and analyzes the gendered symbols and imageries in the hegemonic nationalist discourse in Egypt, under Nasser and under Sisi. It advances that gender binaries are projected onto the relation between ruler and ruled, state and nation, military and civilian, as a means to demobilize and subordinate “the people” following coups d’état. The article also analyzes the negative feminization of the Egyptian populace under Sisi, which serves to discredit demands for political participation and social justice and to legitimate their suppression, especially following the mass mobilizations of January 25, 2011