Chinese business negotiations: South African firm experiences and perspectives

South African business joint ventures in China are increasing. Successful negotiations are a key component when establishing a gateway into the Chinese market. This research is undertaken to establish South African business negotiators’ understanding of Chinese business negotiation styles and behaviours and determinants of cross-cultural negotiation. Primary data was obtained through quantitative ranking style questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with selected South African business people who have had business negotiations with Chinese firms. The research revealed that perceptions held by South African business negotiators do not differ substantially from that of Westerners with regards to aspects such as trust relationships, hierarchical decision making, long-term decision making, networks and the concept of ‘face’

Bis(4-amino­benzoic acid-κN)dichloridozinc(II)

Mol­ecules of the title compound [ZnCl2(C7H7NO2)2], are located on a twofold rotation axis. Two 4-amino­benzoic acid moieties, and two chloride ligands are coordinated to a Zn atom in a tetra­hedral fashion, forming an isolated mol­ecule. Neighbouring mol­ecules are linked through hydrogen-bonded carboxyl groups, as well as N—H⋯Cl hydrogen-bonding inter­actions between amine groups and the chloride ligands of neighbouring mol­ecules, forming a three-dimensional network

3-Methyl­anilinium nitrate

In the title compound, C7H10N+·NO3 −, the 3-methyl­anilinium cations inter­act with the nitrate anions through strong bifurcated N+—H⋯(O,O) hydrogen bonds, forming a two-dimensional hydrogen-bonded network

Factors that influence the geometric detection pattern of vehicle-based licence plate recognition camera systems

CITATION: Rademeyer, M. C., Booysen, M. J. & Barnard, A. 2018. Factors that influence the geometric detection pattern of vehicle-based licence plate recognition camera systems. In Southern African Transport Conference, 9-12 July 2018, Pretoria, South Africa.The original publication is available at http://www.satc.org.zaLicence plate recognition (LPR) systems are used to automatically extract the characters from licence plates positioned in front of a camera. The geometric detection pattern is the region within which the system can accurately recognise licence plates and is of special interest when the system is mounted in a moving vehicle. In this research, the theory surrounding camera optics was investigated and used as the basis of a software simulation model. Inspired by the simulation measurements, a real-world experimental test was conducted to further explore the influence various factors have on the geometric detection pattern. Analysis of these measurements provided greater insight how multiple factors individually contribute to the shape and size of the geometric detection pattern and serves as a guide in the design of vehicle-based LPR systems.Post-prin

Satellite ligand effects on magnetic exchange in dimers. A structural, magnetic and theoretical investigation of Cu2L2X4 (L = methylisothiazolinone and X = Cl−, Br−)

Halide-bridged polymers have gained significant interest due to their diverse properties and potential applications. Stacked Cu2L2X4 dimers, where L is an organic ligand and X can be Cl− or Br−, are of interest because a chloride analogue where L = 2-pyridone, had previously been reported to exhibit bulk ferromagnetism, which augured great potentiality for this class of compounds. The synthesis, structural characterization, magnetic susceptibility measurements, and computational studies of two isostructural CuClMI (MI = methylisothiazolinone) and CuBrMI polymers of Cu(ii), along with a related CuClPYR (PYR = 2-pyridone) is reported. CuClMI and CuBrMI were found to exhibit AFM bulk properties, due to FM/AFM alternating chains along the halide-bridged polymer axis, while FM bulk properties were confirmed for CuClPYR exhibiting a FM spin ladder. In combination with a benzamide analogue, CuClBA, three O-donor amides, CuClMI, CuClBA and CuClPYR were analyzed and revealed that the kinetic exchange is affected by the identity, but more importantly, the orientation of the satellite ligands. The torsional angle of the ligand with the dimer plane is shown to significantly affect the magnetic exchange in the dimer, and between dimers, explaining the reported FM bulk properties of CuClPYR. This finding is exceedingly important, as it suggests that a spin device can be constructed to flip between singlet/triplet states by manipulating the orientation of the satellite/terminal ligand. © 2023 The Royal Society of Chemistry. This article includes supplementary data, also available for download

Gold Nanoparticle-Quantum Dot Fluorescent Nanohybrid:Application for Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance-induced Molecular Beacon Ultrasensitive DNA Detection

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Heterologous Epitope-Scaffold Prime∶Boosting Immuno-Focuses B Cell Responses to the HIV-1 gp41 2F5 Neutralization Determinant

The HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins (Env) gp120 and gp41 mediate entry and are the targets for neutralizing antibodies. Within gp41, a continuous epitope defined by the broadly neutralizing antibody 2F5, is one of the few conserved sites accessible to antibodies on the functional HIV Env spike. Recently, as an initial attempt at structure-guided design, we transplanted the 2F5 epitope onto several non-HIV acceptor scaffold proteins that we termed epitope scaffolds (ES). As immunogens, these ES proteins elicited antibodies with exquisite binding specificity matching that of the 2F5 antibody. These novel 2F5 epitope scaffolds presented us with the opportunity to test heterologous prime∶boost immunization strategies to selectively boost antibody responses against the engrafted gp41 2F5 epitope. Such strategies might be employed to target conserved but poorly immunogenic sites on the HIV-1 Env, and, more generally, other structurally defined pathogen targets. Here, we assessed ES prime∶boosting by measuring epitope specific serum antibody titers by ELISA and B cell responses by ELISpot analysis using both free 2F5 peptide and an unrelated ES protein as probes. We found that the heterologous ES prime∶boosting immunization regimen elicits cross-reactive humoral responses to the structurally constrained 2F5 epitope target, and that incorporating a promiscuous T cell helper epitope in the immunogens resulted in higher antibody titers against the 2F5 graft, but did not result in virus neutralization. Interestingly, two epitope scaffolds (ES1 and ES2), which did not elicit a detectable 2F5 epitope-specific response on their own, boosted such responses when primed with the ES5. Together, these results indicate that heterologous ES prime∶boost immunization regimens effectively focus the humoral immune response on the structurally defined and immunogen-conserved HIV-1 2F5 epitope

Considerations for management strategy evaluation for small pelagic fishes

Management strategy evaluation (MSE) is the state-of-the-art approach for testing and comparing management strategies in a way that accounts for multiple sources of uncertainty (e.g. monitoring, estimation, and implementation). Management strategy evaluation can help identify management strategies that are robust to uncertainty about the life history of the target species and its relationship to other species in the food web. Small pelagic fish (e.g. anchovy, herring and sardine) fulfil an important ecological role in marine food webs and present challenges to the use of MSE and other simulation-based evaluation approaches. This is due to considerable stochastic variation in their ecology and life history, which leads to substantial observation and process uncertainty. Here, we summarize the current state of MSE for small pelagic fishes worldwide. We leverage expert input from ecologists and modellers to draw attention to sources of process and observation uncertainty for small pelagic species, providing examples from geographical regions where these species are ecologically, economically and culturally important. Temporal variation in recruitment and other life-history rates, spatial structure and movement, and species interactions are key considerations for small pelagic fishes. We discuss tools for building these into the MSE process, with examples from existing fisheries. We argue that model complexity should be informed by management priorities and whether ecosystem information will be used to generate dynamics or to inform reference points. We recommend that our list of considerations be used in the initial phases of the MSE process for small pelagic fishes or to build complexity on existing single-species models.publishedVersio

Optimal combinations of broadly neutralizing antibodies for prevention and treatment of HIV-1 clade C infection.

CAPRISA, 2016.Abstract available in PDF file