An assessment and forecast highlighting the importance of restructuring and integration in cross-border acquisitions in Poland: An analysis of M&A experts' opinions

This study analyses the importance of restructuring activities and integration in cross-border acquisitions of Polish firms. We find that in comparison to acquisitions in developed economies analogous transactions in Poland are characterized by the particularly high role of retrenchment, positive impact of changes among incumbent managers and the relatively lower role of integration depth. Evidence concerning possible changes of these factors in the future is not unambiguous. Nonetheless, our findings indicate the possibility of their transition as well as its direction. Potential changes are expected to go in the direction of reducing the role of restructuring and increasing the role of integration.Die Studie analysiert die Wichtigkeit von Umstrukturierungsmaßnahmen und der Integration in grenzüberschreitenden Akquisitionen von polnischen Firmen. Wir finden heraus, dass im Vergleich zu Akquisitionen in entwickelten Ländern analoge Transaktionen in Polen Faktoren wie die Einsparung, der positiven Effekt des Auswechselns von amtierenden Managern und die relative schwache Rolle der Integrationstiefe eine große Rolle spielen. Nachweise über mögliche Veränderungen dieser Faktoren in der Zukunft sind nicht mehrdeutig. Nichtsdestotrotz zeigen unsere Ergebnise die Möglichkeit dieser Transition und auch die einzuschlagende Richtung. Potenzielle Änderungen werden in Richtung von der Reduzierung der Rolle der Umstrukturierung und des Verstärkens der Rolle der Integration abzielen

Microwave digestion methods for preparation of platinum ore samples for Icp analysis

The technique of microwave digestion was evaluated as a possible alternative to conventional sample preparation methods for the platinum ores prior to spectroscopic analysis. Microwave energy used with aqua regia in closed vessel provides elevated pressure and rapid heating which significantly reduce digestion time. All analyses were carried out by inductively coupled plasma atomic-emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). To reduce matrix interferences during analysis, a predigestion step with 50 mL of 1:1 nitric acid was introduced. Both ICP-AES and inductively plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) were used for analysis of sample extracts. ICP-AES analyses showed improved recoveries of Pd (60-80%) and Pt (30-60%) in only two reference materials SARM7 and NBM-6b. ICP-MS analyses of the reference materials indicate that most PGE recoveries were 85-102%. Os and Au were less efficiently recovered. Relative percent difference in the determination of the more efficiently recovered elements ranged between 1-12%. Additionally PGE extraction with 10% KCN solution was investigated. Sample extracts were analyzed by ICP-MS. Analyses of the cyanide extracts showed similar PGE recoveries to aqua regia digestion for Ir, Pd, Ru, and Rh. Platinum, osmium and gold recoveries were less efficient. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Lightcurve Study Of V-Type Asteroids

A massive impact event on (4) Vesta is believed to have created the Vesta family of asteroids (Asphaug, 1997). The rotational characteristics of the Vesta family provide important clues about this event, including its timing, the make-up of the resulting debris, the subsequent migration of members of the family into Earth-crossing orbits, and the deposition of the Howardite-Eucrite-Diogenite meteorites on the Earth’s surface. This study conducted lightcurve measurements of ten Vp-type asteroids, drawn from an asteroid taxonomy defined by Carvano et al. (2010) and based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Moving Object Catalogue (MOC4). These measurements identified a range of asteroid rotation periods from approximately 2.5 to 9.5 hours, as well as a potential synchronous binary system, (15121) 2000 EN14. The lightcurve results were combined with those of other V/Vp-type asteroids available in LightCurve Database (LCDB; Warner et al., 2009), and matched with both WISE diameter/albedo (J. Masiero et al., 2011) and near-infrared spectroscopic (Hardersen et al., 2014-2018) data. This integrated approach identified a set of Vesta family asteroids with relatively fast spin rates, nearly spherical shapes, and loose aggregate compositions. These findings, combined with the non-Maxwellian shape of this population’s spin rate distribution, highlighted the importance of thermal Yarkovsky-YORP effects on the evolution of the Vesta family

Cognitive and emotional effects of one season of head impact exposure in high school contact sport athletes

Short-term and long-term neurological damage as a result of sports-related brain trauma is a major concern for athletes today. In the last decade, studies of subconcussive repetitive head impacts (RHI) in contact sports have found associations with functional and structural brain changes, even in the absence of diagnosed concussion. Risk and thresholds for brain dysfunction in the setting of sports-related RHI remain poorly understood. This prospective study enrolled 119 athletes (72 contact, 47 noncontact) of both sexes (79 male, 40 female), to explore the effect of one season of subconcussive RHI on brain function in high school football, boys lacrosse, and boys and girls soccer versus a comparison group of noncontact athletes. This study is the first to assess the effects of one season of RHI exposure on traditional and novel cognitive measures as well as self-reported emotion, sleep and headache in high school athletes. Contact sport athletes wore a commercial accelerometer to investigate if there is a dose-response relationship between RHI exposure and brain function. Paired t-test comparisons of all measures revealed contact sport athletes were not different than noncontact athletes in experiencing negative changes over the course of one season on the assessment battery. Given the number of subjects evaluated and the resultant power to detect change, this study had an 82.5% power to detect a Cohenʼs d of 0.66. Regression analysis of multiple measures of RHI among contact sport athletes did not identify a significant relationship between exposure and changes in cognition, emotion, sleep or headache over one season. Secondary analyses found significant relationships between a greater number of total head impacts at postseason assessment and higher scores on NIH Emotion Battery elements Perceived Stress (p=0.0002) and Perceived Hostility (p=0.0004), but it was unrelated to total years of football exposure. Overall, this study showed that there does not appear to be an association between one season of RHI exposure and short-term changes in cognition or self-reported aspects of emotion, sleep, or headache. Results from this study may help in the design of future investigations that will increase our understanding of the short-term consequences of RHI. Future studies should concentrate on the question of a clinically significant threshold at which RHI above a certain magnitude is more likely to cause brain dysfunction

Mitochondrial uncoupling links lipid catabolism to Akt inhibition and blockade of skin tumorigenesis

textIn order to support rampant cell growth, tumor cells must reprogram metabolism to simultaneously drive macromolecular biosynthesis and energy production. Mitochondrial uncoupling proteins (UCPs) oppose this phenotype by inducing futile mitochondrial respiration that is disengaged from ATP synthesis. We found that uncoupling protein 3 (UCP3) was normally expressed in follicular and epidermal keratinocytes and that its levels were augmented by calcium-induced differentiation in vitro. Over-expression of a UCP3 transgene targeted to the basal epidermis by the keratin-5 promoter (K5-UCP3) led to increased differentiation of both epidermal and bulge stem cells, the progenitors of most squamous carcinomas. Consistent with this phenotype, K5-UCP3 mice were completely protected from chemically induced skin carcinogenesis. To define the mechanisms by which UCP3 conferred such strong tumor resistance, we interbred K5-UCP3 mice with a “pre-initiated” mouse model, and found that UCP3 over-expression blocked tumor promotion. Uncoupled epidermis displayed reduced proliferation after treatment with tumor promoter, along with diminished activation of Akt signaling. This effect corresponded to decreased Akt activation by epidermal growth factor (EGF) in K5-UCP3 cells, along with UCP3 overexpressing primary human keratinocytes. Mechanistic studies revealed that uncoupling drove global lipid catabolism, along with impaired recruitment of Akt to the plasma membrane. Over-expression of wild type Akt rescued tumor promoter-induced proliferation and two-stage chemical carcinogenesis in bi-transgenic mice. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that mitochondrial uncoupling is an effective strategy to limit cell proliferation and tumorigenesis through inhibition of Akt, and suggest a novel mechanism of crosstalk between mitochondrial metabolism and growth signaling.Pharmaceutical Science

Alpha Silver Iodide Stabilization in Mechanosynthesized AgI-Ag2O-MxOy Systems

AbstractThe work presents materials formed by means of mechanosynthesis in AgI-Ag2O-MxOy systems supportive to α-AgI stabilization to lower temperatures. Employed ball-milling technique allowed to easily control the synthesis process by variation of milling parameters. Stabilization of α-AgI was investigated in respect to preparation method and origin of AgI grain. As demonstrated, the stable temperature range of superionic phase depends on: silver iodide content, metal oxide chemical composition and synthesis method. We found the largest α-AgI → β-AgI transition temperature decrease for AgI-Ag2O-TiO2 systems. The results demonstrate, that the temperature shift is in a correlation with Ag2O amount; for small amounts of Ag2O the α-AgI was stable to nearly room temperatures