Management of Patients with Atopic Dermatitis: The Role of Emollient Therapy

Atopic dermatitis is a common inflammatory skin disorder that afflicts a growing number of young children. Genetic, immune, and environmental factors interact in a complex fashion to contribute to disease expression. The compromised stratum corneum found in atopic dermatitis leads to skin barrier dysfunction, which results in aggravation of symptoms by aeroallergens, microbes, and other insults. Infants—whose immune system and epidermal barrier are still developing—display a higher frequency of atopic dermatitis. Management of patients with atopic dermatitis includes maintaining optimal skin care, avoiding allergic triggers, and routinely using emollients to maintain a hydrated stratum corneum and to improve barrier function. Flares of atopic dermatitis are often managed with courses of topical corticosteroids or calcineurin inhibitors. This paper discusses the role of emollients in the management of atopic dermatitis, with particular emphasis on infants and young children

Pulsed gate bias control of GaN HEMTs to improve pulse-to-pulse stability in radar applications

International audienceA significant improvement is demonstrated in the measured pulse-to-pulse stability of an S-band 6 W GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) power amplifier by generating an appropriate pulse of the gate bias and thus a warm-up drain current just before each radio-frequency (RF) pulse of a periodic and coherent radar burst. The amplitude and the width of this gate bias pulse preceding each periodic RF pulse of the burst are experimentally varied to investigate the trade-off between the improvement of pulse-to-pulse stability and the total power-added efficiency. Finally, this technique of synchronised warm-up gate bias pulse demonstrated a 10 dB improvement of measured amplitude pulse-to-pulse stabilities to meet the critical stability requirement below −55 dB for the RF power amplifier

Regulatory institutional distance and MNCs' subsidiary performance: climbing up Vs. climbing down the institutional ladder

We investigate the possibility of regulatory institutional distance exerting an asymmetric effect on multinational corporations' (MNCs') subsidiary performance depending on the direction of institutional distance. We use the term ‘institutional ladder’ to differentiate between upward distance, referred to as when the subsidiary is operating in a relatively stronger institutional environment than its parent-firm's home country, and downward distance for vice versa. Combining institutional theory with organisational imprinting and learning perspectives, we argue that the implications of regulatory institutional distance on subsidiary performance are relatively more positive (or less negative) when MNCs are climbing down the institutional ladder as compared to when MNCs are climbing up the institutional ladder. We also argue that subsidiary ownership strategy – i.e. the choice of a wholly owned subsidiary (WOS) versus joint venture (JV) – moderates the above-mentioned implications of institutional distance on subsidiary performance. We test these hypotheses based on a panel data-set of 1936 foreign subsidiaries representing 70 host countries and 66 home countries and spanning the 12-year period: 2002–2013

Business under adverse home country institutions: The case of international sanctions against Myanmar

We expand the institutional perspective of international business by exploring the range of institutions outside the host country that influence international business. We use a critical case, Myanmar, to explore the dynamics of institutional constraints and the reaction of business to such constraints. Our in-depth case analysis focuses on four industries for the period 1996–2011. On this basis, we develop the concept of ‘low profile strategy’ and propose a conceptual framework of home country pressures influencing multinational enterprises’ international operation, and the variation of their impact across industries and firms. This framework provides a foundation for future work on the extra-territorial effects of institutions in international business

A novel measurement method for the extraction of dynamic Volterra Kernels of microwave power amplifiers

A novel measurement method for the behavioral modeling of power amplifiers is presented.The proposed method is based on the use of a specific configuration of a vector network analyzer.The principle consists in measuring under two excitation,a parametric and a conversion gain of an amplifiers versus the magnitude of the large input signal carrier

Theoretical and Experimental Investigations on Nonlinear Capacitance and Loading Effects on Power PHEMT's Linearity

This paper presents a theoretical and experimental analysis of the phase conversion phenomena in a power PHEMT transistor. Relationships between the linearity of the device and the intrinsic gate-source capacitance CGS, gate-drain capacitance CGD ,transconductance GM as well as the load impedance ZL ,are explained. A judicious choice of the transistor’s operating conditions allows to reduce thephaseconversion AM/PM. In the case of PHEMT devices, the behaviors of CGS,CGD,GM elements and ZL value induce internal compensation phenomena between the intrinsic non-linearities