Private equity industry: Southwest firms draw on regional expertise

Neiman Marcus, Harrah’s, Petco, J. Crew—these well-known names are among the holdings of companies owned or co-owned by private equity (PE) firms in the Federal Reserve’s Eleventh District. The region is home to more than 175 PE firms, including the world’s third-largest, Fort Worth-based TPG Capital.[1] Together, these entities have raised more than $109 billion over the past 10 years and sit on$31 billion pending investment. ; While the PE business model goes back to the times of early seafaring enterprises funded by limited private partners, its modern U.S. iteration dates back to the 1950s and the first venture capital funds. More recently, the industry and its sometimes opaque operations have come under increased regulatory scrutiny amid concern about their riskiness and systemic importance to the financial system. Although detailed data are hard to come by, regionally based PE firms are distinguished from their counterparts nationwide by the sectors they favor.Investments ; Venture capital

Linking child care to infant attachment : what lies in-between?

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between maternal separation anxiety, hours in non-maternal child care and security of motherinfant attachment in early infancy. Design: Prospective. Methods: The participants for this study were 67 mothers and their infants enrolled in a large scale prospective study. The first 100 women were sent a letter outlining the current study and requested to 'opt in'. Those mothers who agreed to participate completed the Maternal Separation Anxiety Scale (MSAS) when the infant was ten and seventeen months. The mother-infant attachment relationship was assessed according to the standardised Strange Situation Procedure when the infant was aged seventeen months (+/- two weeks). All other data were collected in the main study. Results: Maternal Separation Anxiety was not predictive (alone or in combination with other variables) of attachment status. Significant differences in levels of separation anxiety were found between mothers who were and mothers who were not employed outside the home. Separation anxiety was also related to a number of variables, including the age of the infant when the mother planned to use non-maternal child care, the total hours of non-maternal child care, infant temperament and maternal sensitivity. Conclusions: The non-significant results in the main analysis mean that no firm conclusions regarding a relationship between levels of maternal separation anxiety, hours in non-maternal child care and security of mother-infant attachment in infancy can be drawn. Future research (with a larger and more diverse sample) should continue to explore the concept of maternal separation anxiety in relation to a number of other variables, including maternal role preference and quality of child care, as it may hold important implications for social policy and preventative clinical work

Are cocaine-seeking “habits” necessary for the development of addiction-like behavior in rats?

Drug self-administration models of addiction typically require animals to make the same response (e.g., a lever-press or nose-poke) over and over to procure and take drugs. By their design, such procedures often produce behavior controlled by stimulus-response (S-R) habits. This has supported the notion of addiction as a “drug habit”, and has led to considerable advances in our understanding of the neurobiological basis of such behavior. However, for addicts to procure drugs, like cocaine, often requires considerable ingenuity and flexibility in seeking behavior, which, by definition, precludes the development of habits. To better model drug-seeking behavior in addicts we first developed a novel cocaine self-administration procedure (the Puzzle Self-Administration Procedure; PSAP) that required rats to solve a new puzzle every day to gain access to cocaine, which they then self-administered on an Intermittent Access (IntA) schedule. Such daily problem-solving precluded the development of S-R seeking habits. We then asked whether prolonged PSAP/IntA experience would nevertheless produce ‘symptoms of addiction’. It did, including escalation of intake, sensitized motivation for drug, continued drug use in the face of adverse consequences and very robust cue-induced reinstatement of drug-seeking, especially in a subset of ‘addiction-prone’ rats. Furthermore, drug-seeking behavior continued to require dopamine neurotransmission in the core of the nucleus accumbens (but not the dorsolateral striatum). We conclude that the development of S-R seeking habits is not necessary for the development of cocaine addiction-like behavior in rats

Keep it Simple? Effects of Color and Age on Product Packaging

Packaging has always played a pivotal role in consumer decision-making. Specifically, the color of the visual elements placed on product packaging have garnered significant attention for their potential to influence consumer perceptions and behaviors. Color is believed to have emotional/psychological associations across cultural and societal contexts. On the one hand, research has noted that the use of grayscale does not elicit an emotional response (Clarke and Costall, 2008) and this may be because they’re considered passive colors (Bottomley and Doyle, 2006). Conversely, Jacobs et. al (1991), found that black is associated with being expensive and powerful. Based on the conflicting evidence, we contend that attitudes toward a product, including perceptions of quality, are enhanced when a wider range of colors are employed. As such, we posit that: H1: Color (versus lack of color, i.e., black and white or grayscale) package labeling influences perceptions of product quality. Empirical investigations have demonstrated younger people\u27s tendency to prefer black and white and older people\u27s tendency to dislike black and gray (Lee, Gong, and Leung, 2009). While the research in this domain remains limited, we posit the following: H2: The use of black and white in package labeling induces a higher (lower) perception of the product\u27s quality among younger (older) people. POPAI (1978), reported approximately two-thirds of American shoppers make decisions at the point of purchase, relying on the packaging to support their purchase decision(s). Product packaging and consumer perceptions of brands/products have been reported to be directly correlated (Burke, Garber, and Jones, 2000), and our study aims to observe any similar effects of color on consumer perception of a different dimension: qualityhttps://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/uresposters/1466/thumbnail.jp

Comparison of Palm Oil and Rice Business Feasibilities: Study of Land Function Conversion Lubuk Pinang District, Mukomuko Regency

This study aims to (1) analyze the level of financial and non-financial feasibility of oil palm and rice farming, (2) analyze the sensitivity level of oil palm and rice farming, (3) determine the comparability of the feasibility of oil palm and rice farming and to know what is the most profitable in Lubuk Pinang District, Mukomuko Regency, Bengkulu Province. The data used in this study are primary data and secondary data. The sampling of oil palm farmers in this study used a stratified random sampling technique, while the rice farmers used accidental sampling techniques. The data analysis technique used in this study is the analysis of the Present Net Value (NPV) and Net B / C Ratio. The results showed that from a financial perspective, oil palm and rice farming in Lubuk Pinang District, Mukomuko Regency, Bengkulu Province, were declared feasible to continue; this can be seen from the NPV and B / C Ratio values. The NPV value in oil palm farming is IDR 44,682,270.66, while the NPV in rice farming is IDR 168,218,082.21. The Net B / C Ratio in oil palm farming was 2.31, while the Net B / C Ratio value in rice farming was 6.94. From a non-financial perspective, oil palm and rice farming are considered feasible due to the availability of production factors for both farms, such as seeds, labor, and other production inputs.  

Component optimisation in the multi-trigger resist

Single exposure EUV patterning for lower pitches (below 32 nm L/S) proves to be challenging and dependent on a series of factors including exposure tool related parameters such as illumination conditions but also material related parameters such as sensitivity to EUV photons and resist chemistry. While the industry is focused on developing a set of universal exposure conditions that can be applied to all resist systems, material suppliers must constantly enhance the exposure mechanism of the resists in order to support further advance in technology. The multi-trigger concept involves a reaction that will only occur when multiple elements of the resist are initiated concurrently and in close spatial proximity in order to enable the catalytic reactions. In high dose areas the resist behaves like a traditional CAR, whilst in low dose areas, such as line edges, the reaction is second-order increasing the chemical gradient. Effectively there is a dose dependent quenching-like behaviour built into the resist, enhancing chemical contrast and thus resolution, whilst eliminating the materials stochastics impact of a separate quencher reducing roughness. The multi-trigger resist (MTR) presented consists of a novel multi-trigger control molecule and a crosslinker, which represent the resist matrix, together with a photoacid generator (PAG). Here we present results from work focused on the enhancement of the high-opacity MTR resist. The absorptivity of the resist can be increased by replacing the standard crosslinker with a high-opacity crosslinker. The absorptivity of the crosslinking molecule can itself be changed by varying both the number of attached photo-absorption groups and by varying the specific choice of the high opacity group. Other modifications to the crosslinking molecule, which are presented, include reducing the steric hindrance of the molecule by changing the structure. The high-opacity crosslinker molecules have been synthesized and then formulated into the MTR resist. We report results obtained using the new MTR system containing this high-opacity cross-linker with a variation of process conditions, and with formulation variations. The lithographic performance of a formulation containing this crosslinker, at pitch 32nm patterned on an NXE3400 is presented. The sensitivity of the resist can be increased by 25% by varying the length of the crosslinker arm whilst keeping other factors such as the number of high opacity groups constant. Furthermore, we have also investigated increasing the activation energy of the self-quenching aspect of the MTR system. In the case presented, MTR8 has a higher activation energy than MTR2 and MTR4. Having a higher activation energy is predicted to allow the introduction of a post exposed bake (PEB) to increase crosslinking and reduce pattern collapse, whilst simultaneously preserving the self-quenching behaviour. We will present results which show using a higher activation energy molecule (MTR8) results in a minimisation of Z-factor and LWR, when increasing the PEB temperature by 10 degrees compared to MTR4. Pitch 32nm dense line spaces can be patterned at a dose of 49.5mJ/cm2, a line width of 15.5nm and an biased LWR of 3.69nm. Pitch 28nm dense patterns can be patterned at a dose of 59mJ/cm2, a line width of 12.5nm, and a biased LWR of 3.91nm. These resist formulations have also been used to pattern 25nm diameter pillars on a 40nm pitch with a dose of 50mJ/cm2, and a CDU of 2.98nm. High photospeed approaches, which have patterned p24 and p28 lines and p34 hex pillars at sub-30 mJ/cm2 doses are also introduced<br/