Vietnam Inbound M&A Activity: the Role of Government Policy and Regulatory Environment

With a robust recent history of reform and opening, joining of the World Trade Organization, and negotiating a myriad of regional and global trade agreements, Vietnam has emerged as a promising destination for foreign direct investment(FDI) and cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A). In this paper, we providean overview of Vietnam’s inbound mergers and acquisitions and review the twomain driving forces of inbound M&A, which are the legal framework reformprocess and the equitization of State-owned enterprises. We close by providingdirections for future research in the area of cross-border M&As

Induction of Apoptosis by PQ1, a Gap Junction Enhancer that Upregulates Connexin 43 and Activates the MAPK Signaling Pathway in Mammary Carcinoma Cells

Citation: Shishido, S. N., & Nguyen, T. A. (2016). Induction of Apoptosis by PQ1, a Gap Junction Enhancer that Upregulates Connexin 43 and Activates the MAPK Signaling Pathway in Mammary Carcinoma Cells. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 17(2), 19. doi:10.3390/ijms17020178The mechanism of gap junction enhancer (PQ1) induced cytotoxicity is thought to be attributed to the change in connexin 43 (Cx43) expression; therefore, the effects of Cx43 modulation in cell survival were investigated in mammary carcinoma cells (FMC2u) derived from a malignant neoplasm of a female FVB/N-Tg(MMTV-PyVT)634Mul/J (PyVT) transgenic mouse. PQ1 was determined to have an IC50 of 6.5 mu M in FMC2u cells, while inducing an upregulation in Cx43 expression. The effects of Cx43 modulation in FMC2u cell survival was determined through transfection experiments with Cx43 cDNA, which induced an elevated level of protein expression similar to that seen with PQ1 exposure, or siRNA to silence Cx43 protein expression. Overexpression or silencing of Cx43 led to a reduction or an increase in cell viability, respectively. The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family has been implicated in the regulation of cell survival and cell death; therefore, the gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC)-independent function of PQ1 and Cx43 in the Raf/Mitogen-activated protein kinase/ERK kinase/extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (Raf-MEK-ERK) cascade of cellular survival and p38 MAPK-dependent pathway of apoptosis were explored. PQ1 treatment activated p44/42 MAPK, while the overexpression of Cx43 resulted in a reduced expression. This suggests that PQ1 affects the Raf-MEK-ERK cascade independent of Cx43 upregulation. Both overexpression of Cx43 and PQ1 treatment stimulated an increase in the phosphorylated form of p38-MAPK, reduced levels of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2, and increased the cleavage of pro-caspase-3. Silencing of Cx43 protein expression led to a reduction in the phosphorylation of p38-MAPK and an increase in Bcl-2 expression. The mechanism behind PQ1-induced cytotoxicity in FMC2u mammary carcinoma cells is thought to be attributed to the change in Cx43 expression. Furthermore, PQ1-induced apoptosis through the upregulation of Cx43 may depend on p38 MAPK, highlighting that the effect of PQ1 on gap junctions as well as cellular survival via a MAPK-dependent pathway

Deterministic Sensing Matrices in Compressive Sensing: A Survey

Compressive sensing is a sampling method which provides a new approach to efficient signal compression and recovery by exploiting the fact that a sparse signal can be suitably reconstructed from very few measurements. One of the most concerns in compressive sensing is the construction of the sensing matrices. While random sensing matrices have been widely studied, only a few deterministic sensing matrices have been considered. These matrices are highly desirable on structure which allows fast implementation with reduced storage requirements. In this paper, a survey of deterministic sensing matrices for compressive sensing is presented. We introduce a basic problem in compressive sensing and some disadvantage of the random sensing matrices. Some recent results on construction of the deterministic sensing matrices are discussed

DoubleEcho: Mitigating Context-Manipulation Attacks in Copresence Verification

Copresence verification based on context can improve usability and strengthen security of many authentication and access control systems. By sensing and comparing their surroundings, two or more devices can tell whether they are copresent and use this information to make access control decisions. To the best of our knowledge, all context-based copresence verification mechanisms to date are susceptible to context-manipulation attacks. In such attacks, a distributed adversary replicates the same context at the (different) locations of the victim devices, and induces them to believe that they are copresent. In this paper we propose DoubleEcho, a context-based copresence verification technique that leverages acoustic Room Impulse Response (RIR) to mitigate context-manipulation attacks. In DoubleEcho, one device emits a wide-band audible chirp and all participating devices record reflections of the chirp from the surrounding environment. Since RIR is, by its very nature, dependent on the physical surroundings, it constitutes a unique location signature that is hard for an adversary to replicate. We evaluate DoubleEcho by collecting RIR data with various mobile devices and in a range of different locations. We show that DoubleEcho mitigates context-manipulation attacks whereas all other approaches to date are entirely vulnerable to such attacks. DoubleEcho detects copresence (or lack thereof) in roughly 2 seconds and works on commodity devices

The effect of antineoplastic drugs in a male spontaneous mammary tumor model

Male breast cancer is a rare disease. The limited number of clinical cases has led to the primary treatments for men being derived from female breast cancer studies. Here the transgenic strain FVB/N-Tg(MMTV-PyVT)634Mul/J (also known as PyVT) was used as a model system for measuring tumor burden and drug sensitivity of the antineoplastic drugs tamoxifen, cisplatin, and paclitaxel on tumorigenesis at an early stage of mammary carcinoma development in a male mouse model. Cisplatin treatment significantly reduced tumor volume, while paclitaxel and tamoxifen did not attenuate tumor growth. Cisplatin treatment was shown to induce apoptosis, grossly observed by reduced tumor formation, through reduced Bcl-2 and survivin protein expression levels with an increase in caspase 3 expression compared to control tumors. Tamoxifen treatment significantly altered the hormone receptor expression levels of the tumor, while additionally upregulating Bcl-2 and Cyclin D1. This suggests an importance in hormonal signaling in male breast cancer pathogenesis. The results of this study provide valuable information toward the better understanding of male breast cancer and may help guide treatment decisions

Multivalvular involvement associated with Libman-Sacks endocarditis detected by multimodality imaging: A case report

Libman-Sacks endocarditis accounts for 6–11 percent of systemic lupus erythematosus patients and is associated with varying degrees of valvular dysfunction, increased risk for stroke and transient ischemic attacks, and increased mortality. In previous studies, left-sided valvular Libman-Sacks vegetations were more frequently detected than right sided vegetations; reported cases of bilateral involvement is very rare. A comprehensive clinical assessment and the multimodality imaging is of utmost importance in the management of systemic lupus erythematosus. In this case report, we describe a 31-year-old female patient with uncontrolled systemic lupus erythematosus initially presented with gastrointestinal symptoms but eventually had a vegetation-like structure on the posterior leaflet of the mitral valve which was revealed during routine echocardiography. Two-dimensional/three-dimensional transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance, and cardiac computed tomography further characterized the mitral valve vegetation and revealed an additional vegetation of the pulmonary valve. Echocardiography remains the cornerstone for the detection of Libman-Sacks vegetations. Cardiac MRI and cardiac CT are useful in characterizing lesion size and effects and may prove particularly helpful in the assessment of right-sided or multivalvular endocarditis. The presence of focal brain lesions on brain MRI prompted antithrombotic therapy

Concomitant intramyocardial and hepatic hydatid cysts diagnosed by multi-modality imaging: a rare case report

Cardiac echinococcosis is a potentially fatal form of hydatid disease; yet, its diagnosis and treatment are challenging due to the variability in its clinical manifestations and due to its various unpredictable preoperative complications. Multi-modality imaging is shown to provide important guidance for the treatment and decision-making. We report a rare case of a 50-year-old woman who had concomitant cardiac and hepatic hydatid cysts. She presented with abdominal pain and elevated eosinophilic white blood cells. The initial abdominal ultrasound and computerized tomography revealed a large cyst in the liver. An intramyocardial cyst was detected by two-dimensional echocardiography. Three-dimensional echocardiography increased the confidence level of two-dimensional echocardiography by displaying the three-dimensional volume of the cyst and allowing visualization of its spatial characteristics and the relationships with adjacent cardiac structures, which was subsequently confirmed at surgery. Multi-detector computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging helped localize and define the typical morphological features of the cyst. Serology and antigen detection were used for diagnosis. This rare case underlines the integration of clinical, multi-modality imaging, and pathological data in the diagnosis of concomitant intramyocardial and hepatic hydatid cysts. Surgical resection of cysts and anthelmintic medication were successful in the management of this patient

Моделирование пропускной способности пунктов сбора электронных бытовых отходов в городах

This paper presents guidelines for modeling the capacity of electronic household waste collection points. These points are used as infrastructure elements with a multi-stage logistic support scheme for the electronic waste disposal process. This paper includes theoretical and methodological information on the procedure for placing points of waste collection in cities using the processes of determining the parameters of waste accumulation, calculating the design capacity of warehouses at these points, and developing routes for the transportation of waste to the places of their disposal. We represent the dependence of the logistic support costs, including the costs of maintaining waste collection points, and waste disposal to utilization facilities, on the duration of the waste accumulation period. A mathematical model for optimizing the logistic support costs is developed, which takes into account the most important parameters of the waste disposal system, namely, the topology of the collection points, the intensity of waste accumulation, the configuration of the routes, and the vehicle carrying capacity. Using the example of the Vietnamese capital, the city of Hanoi, the required number of waste collection points is calculated, the volume of waste accumulation at each point is determined, the optimal period of waste accumulation, in which the total costs for logistic support for the disposal process will be minimal, is determined. Recommendations on the organization of waste transportation, depending on the actual level of filling the capacity of collection and accumulation points, are given.Рассматриваются методические рекомендации по проектированию вместительной способности электронных пунктов по сбору коммунально-бытовых отходов. Данные пункты используются как элементы инфраструктуры с многоступенчатой схемой материально-технического обеспечения процесса вывоза мусора. Работа содержит теоретическую и методическую информацию о процедуре размещения пунктов сбора отходов в городах с помощью установления параметров процесса накопления мусора, расчета проектной емкости мусорохранилищ в установленных пунктах, а также разработки маршрутов транспортировки отходов к месту их захоронения. Представлена зависимость затрат на материально-техническое обеспечение, которое включает затраты на содержание пунктов по сбору коммунально-бытовых отходов и их вывоз на полигоны, от длительности периода накопления отходов. Разработана математическая модель по оптимизации затрат на логистическую поддержку, принимающая во внимание наиболее важные параметры системы вывоза и захоронения мусора, такие как топология пунктов сбора, интенсивность накопления отходов, конфигурация маршрутов, грузовместимость транспорта. На примере столицы Вьетнама – г. Ханой – подсчитано необходимое количество пунктов сбора мусора и рассмотрен объем накопления отходов на каждом из них, установлен оптимальный период накопления мусора, при котором совокупные расходы на логистическую поддержку вывоза и захоронения бытовых отходов минимальны. Выработаны рекомендации по организации транспортировки бытового мусора в зависимости от непосредственного уровня наполняемости емкостей пунктов сбора коммунально-бытовых отходов

Security-reliability analysis in CR-NOMA IoT network under I/Q imbalance

This paper presents a controllable analysis framework for evaluating the reliability and security of underlay cognitive radio networks (CRs) relying on non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA). In such systems, a secondary base station (BS) transmits confidential information to multiple secondary users uniformly distributed in the presence of a nearby located external eavesdropper. Moreover, transmit power constraints are introduced to limit the interference to the primary imposed by cognitive base stations. As an effective approach of multiple input single output (MISO) systems, the transmit antenna selection (TAS) is selected in the BS to improve the secrecy performance of the primary networks. Furthermore, we first consider the impact of quadrature-phase imbalance (IQI) to characterize the secure performance of the considered network in practice. Then, the degraded performance is evaluated in terms of outage probability (OP), intercept probability (IP), and effective secrecy throughput (EST) of two NOMA users. The optimal EST can be achieved through simulations while the results of OP and IP provide guidelines in the design of IQI-aware CR-NOMA systems. Finally, the trade-off between OP and IP with transmit signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the BS is investigated for reflecting the security characteristic. Finally, the trade-off between OP and IP with transmit signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the BS is studied for displaying the security characteristic. Numerical results show that increasing the number of transmit antennas at the BS and other main parameters improves performance. Moreover, when the system parameters are reasonably set, the secondary NOMA user in CR-NOMA can be reached secure requirements regardless of the controlled IQI.Web of Science1111905611904