564 research outputs found
Internationalization of firms: revitalizing the board of directors after a cross-border acquisition
This paper aims to show the importance of introducing an integration manager (i.e. an executive position used to channel the acquiring firm’s course of action and strengthen the success of a post-acquisition integration process) within the acquiring firm’s board of directors. Design/methodology/approach: This is a theoretical paper that introduces the integration manager within the board of privately held firms going internationally via acquisitions and serving as an “out-insider” director able to balance the conflicting demands of the previously separated entities during their integration process. The authors present an explanatory case study that empirically contributes to the board of directors’ design for internationalization. Findings: The authors posit that the integration manager serves as an “out-insider” director of the board for privately held firms, possessed by large-block shareholders, going internationally via acquisitions, providing the necessary expertise and knowledge of the target firm’s products and industry. Originality/value: The provided study aims to show that international acquisitions, even though apparently less risky than greenfield investments, may require additional neutral information flow – both within the due-diligence process and the post-acquisition integration – that only outsiders possess. Such an outsider has been individuated in the integration manager whose crucial role focuses on smoothing the pre- and post-acquisition integration processes
STUDY OF MICROCIRCULATION IN ORAL LICHEN PLANUS BY VIDEOCAPILLAROSCOPY
Objective. The aim of this study was to evaluate “in vivo” the oral microcirculatory characteristics in patients with
oral lichen planus (OLP) and to discover any differences in microcirculation in comparison with healthy patients.
Study design. Twenty patients with established diagnosis of OLP and 20 healthy patients were examined in our
laboratory by means of contact optical probe videocapillaroscopy. The examined areas for each patient were the right
and the left buccal mucosae. Capillary density and total capillary diameter, as well as afferent and efferent loop
diameter were studied; the discovery of characteristic (tortuous, branched) loops was also investigated.
Results. The results were observed by 2 different researchers using the capillaroscope’s software. Capillary density
and the diameter of the afferent and efferent ansa were found to be significantly increased in OLP patients compared
with controls. There was also a significant difference between the study of capillary tortuousity and the discovery of
characteristic branched loops, indicating angiogenesis.
Conclusions. Our methodology allowed an in vivo observation of the angiogenesis. Angiogenesis was interpreted as
an increase in capillary density, total vascular caliber, and afferent and efferent loop caliber; the discovery of tortuous,
branched loops, indicating the angiogenic phenomenon in vivo, was particularly significant. The capillaroscopy in
correspondence with the lesion can be a very important method in the evaluation of the microcirculation of the
patients suffering from OLP
Ageing in the critical contact process: a Monte Carlo study
The long-time dynamics of the critical contact process which is brought
suddenly out of an uncorrelated initial state undergoes ageing in close analogy
with quenched magnetic systems. In particular, we show through Monte Carlo
simulations in one and two dimensions and through mean-field theory that
time-translation invariance is broken and that dynamical scaling holds. We find
that the autocorrelation and autoresponse exponents lambda_{Gamma} and lambda_R
are equal but, in contrast to systems relaxing to equilibrium, the ageing
exponents a and b are distinct. A recent proposal to define a non-equilibrium
temperature through the short-time limit of the fluctuation-dissipation ratio
is therefore not applicable.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, Latex2e with IOP macros; final for
Nano-structured myelin: new nanovesicles for targeted delivery to white matter and microglia, from brain-to-brain
Neurodegenerative diseases affect millions of people worldwide and the presence of various physiological barriers limits the accessibility to the brain and reduces the efficacy of various therapies. Moreover, new carriers having targeting properties to specific brain regions and cells are needed in order to improve therapies for the brain disorder treatment. In this study, for the first time, Myelin nanoVesicles (hereafter defined MyVes) from brainextracted myelin were produced. The MyVes have an average diameter of 100-150 nm, negative zeta potential, spheroidal morphology, and contain lipids and the key proteins of the myelin sheath. Furthermore, they exhibit good cytocompatibility. The MyVes were able to target the white matter and interact mainly with the microglia cells. The preliminary results here presented allow us to suppose the employment of MyVes as potential carrier to target the white matter and microglia in order to counteract white matter microglia-related diseases
Trimethylamine-N-oxide postprandial response in plasma and urine is lower after fermented compared to non-fermented dairy consumption in healthy adults
Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) can be produced by the gut microbiota from dietary substrates and is associated with cardiovascular disease. While dairy products contain TMAO precursors, the effect of fermented dairy on TMAO metabolism remains unclear. We used plasma and urine samples collected for two randomised cross-over studies to evaluate the effects of fermented dairy consumption on TMAO metabolism. In Study 1, thirteen healthy young men tested a yogurt and an acidified milk during postprandial tests and a two-week daily intervention. In Study 2, ten healthy adults tested milk and cheese during postprandial tests. TMAO and five related metabolites were measured in plasma and urine by LC-MS/MS and NMR. Faecal microbiota composition was assessed in Study 1 (16S rRNA metagenomics sequencing). Fermented milk products were associated with lower postprandial TMAO responses than non-fermented milks in urine (Study 1, p = 0.01; Study 2, p = 0.02) and in plasma, comparing yogurt and acidified milk (Study 1, p = 0.04). Daily consumption of dairy products did not differentially affect fasting TMAO metabolites. Significant correlations were observed between microbiota taxa and circulating or urinary TMAO concentrations. Fermentation of dairy products appear, at least transiently, to affect associations between dairy products and circulating TMAO levels
Trimethylamine-N-Oxide Postprandial Response in Plasma and Urine Is Lower After Fermented Compared to Non-Fermented Dairy Consumption in Healthy Adults.
Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) can be produced by the gut microbiota from dietary substrates and is associated with cardiovascular disease. While dairy products contain TMAO precursors, the effect of fermented dairy on TMAO metabolism remains unclear. We used plasma and urine samples collected for two randomised cross-over studies to evaluate the effects of fermented dairy consumption on TMAO metabolism. In Study 1, thirteen healthy young men tested a yogurt and an acidified milk during postprandial tests and a two-week daily intervention. In Study 2, ten healthy adults tested milk and cheese during postprandial tests. TMAO and five related metabolites were measured in plasma and urine by LC-MS/MS and NMR. Faecal microbiota composition was assessed in Study 1 (16S rRNA metagenomics sequencing). Fermented milk products were associated with lower postprandial TMAO responses than non-fermented milks in urine (Study 1, p = 0.01; Study 2, p = 0.02) and in plasma, comparing yogurt and acidified milk (Study 1, p = 0.04). Daily consumption of dairy products did not differentially affect fasting TMAO metabolites. Significant correlations were observed between microbiota taxa and circulating or urinary TMAO concentrations. Fermentation of dairy products appear, at least transiently, to affect associations between dairy products and circulating TMAO levels
On the definition of a unique effective temperature for non-equilibrium critical systems
We consider the problem of the definition of an effective temperature via the
long-time limit of the fluctuation-dissipation ratio (FDR) after a quench from
the disordered state to the critical point of an O(N) model with dissipative
dynamics. The scaling forms of the response and correlation functions of a
generic observable are derived from the solutions of the corresponding
Renormalization Group equations. We show that within the Gaussian approximation
all the local observables have the same FDR, allowing for a definition of a
unique effective temperature. This is no longer the case when fluctuations are
taken into account beyond that approximation, as shown by a computation up to
the first order in the epsilon-expansion for two quadratic observables. This
implies that, contrarily to what often conjectured, a unique effective
temperature can not be defined for this class of models.Comment: 32 pages, 5 figures. Minor changes, published versio
Response of non-equilibrium systems with long-range initial correlations
The long-time dynamics of the -dimensional spherical model with a
non-conserved order parameter and quenched from an initial state with
long-range correlations is studied through the exact calculation of the
two-time autocorrelation and autoresponse functions. In the aging regime, these
are given in terms of non-trivial universal scaling functions of both time
variables. At criticality, five distinct types of aging are found, depending on
the form of the initial correlations, while at low temperatures only a single
type of aging exists. The autocorrelation and autoreponse exponents are shown
to be generically different and to depend on the initial conditions. The
scaling form of the two-time response functions agrees with a recent prediction
coming from local scale invariance.Comment: Latex, 18pp, 2 figures (final version
On the universality of the fluctuation-dissipation ratio in non-equilibrium critical dynamics
The two-time nonequilibrium correlation and response functions in 1D kinetic
classical spin systems with non-conserved dynamics and quenched to their
zero-temperature critical point are studied. The exact solution of the kinetic
Ising model with Glauber dynamics for a wide class of initial states allows for
an explicit test of the universality of the non-equilibrium limit
fluctuation-dissipation ratio X_{\infty}. It is shown that the value of
X_{\infty} depends on whether the initial state has finitely many domain walls
or not and thus two distinct dynamic universality classes can be identified in
this model. Generic 1D kinetic spin systems with non-conserved dynamics fall
into the same universality classes as the kinetic Glauber-Ising model provided
the dynamics is invariant under the C-symmetry of simultaneous spin and
magnetic-field reversal. While C-symmetry is satisfied for magnetic systems, it
need not be for lattice gases which may therefore display hitherto unexplored
types of non-universal kinetics
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