TRADE AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR U.S. PROCESSED FOOD FIRMS IN CHINA

This research examines the relationship between U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI) and exports of processed foods to China and identifies management strategies to enhance U.S. competitiveness. Two-stage least-squares empirical econometric results from a simultaneous equation system indicate that there exists a strong complementary relationship between U.S exports and FDI into China. Therefore, the appropriate managerial strategy to access Chinese processed foods markets is to increase overall business activity, both FDI and exports into China.Agribusiness, International Relations/Trade,

Topological superconductivity of spin-3/2 carriers in a three-dimensional doped Luttinger semimetal

We investigate topological Cooper pairing, including gapless Weyl and fully gapped class DIII superconductivity, in a three-dimensional doped Luttinger semimetal. The latter describes effective spin-3/2 carriers near a quadratic band touching and captures the normal-state properties of the 227 pyrochlore iridates and half-Heusler alloys. Electron-electron interactions may favor non-$s$-wave pairing in such systems, including even-parity $d$-wave pairing. We argue that the lowest energy $d$-wave pairings are always of complex (e.g., $d + i d$) type, with nodal Weyl quasiparticles. This implies $\varrho(E) \sim |E|^2$ scaling of the density of states (DoS) at low energies in the clean limit, or $\varrho(E) \sim |E|$ over a wide critical region in the presence of disorder. The latter is consistent with the $T$-dependence of the penetration depth in the half-Heusler compound YPtBi. We enumerate routes for experimental verification, including specific heat, thermal conductivity, NMR relaxation time, and topological Fermi arcs. Nucleation of any $d$-wave pairing also causes a small lattice distortion and induces an $s$-wave component; this gives a route to strain-engineer exotic $s+d$ pairings. We also consider odd-parity, fully gapped $p$-wave superconductivity. For hole doping, a gapless Majorana fluid with cubic dispersion appears at the surface. We invent a generalized surface model with $\nu$-fold dispersion to simulate a bulk with winding number $\nu$. Using exact diagonalization, we show that disorder drives the surface into a critically delocalized phase, with universal DoS and multifractal scaling consistent with the conformal field theory (CFT) SO($n$)${}_\nu$, where $n \rightarrow 0$ counts replicas. This is contrary to the naive expectation of a surface thermal metal, and implies that the topology tunes the surface renormalization group to the CFT in the presence of disorder.Comment: Published Version in PRB (Editors' Suggestion): 49 Pages, 17 Figures, 3 Table

Management of Noncatastrophic Internal Carotid Artery Injury in Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery.

Arterial injuries are the most feared complication of endoscopic skull base surgery. During resection of the middle fossa component of a large ventral skull base chondrosarcoma, arterial bleeding was encountered near the right internal carotid artery (ICA). Durable hemostasis could not be achieved with packing and the patient was taken for an emergent angiogram that revealed a pseudoaneurysm of the proximal intradural ICA. Given the presence of good collateral flow through the anterior and posterior communicating arteries, the right ICA was sacrificed by coil embolization. The patient was taken back to the operating room for closure then transferred to the intensive care unit and maintained on vasopressors for five days to ensure adequate perfusion. The right ICA was coil embolized and the patient was taken back to the operating room for closure. The patient recovered without complication. Arterial injuries, although serious, are not always catastrophic. Critical steps are immediate recognition of bleeding, vascular imaging, and vessel sacrifice if necessary

Effect of high-fat diet-induced obesity on thyroid gland structure in female rats and the possible ameliorating effect of metformin therapy

Background: Obesity is known to induce a state of lipotoxicity that affects the different organs of the body. Metformin is an antidiabetic drug commonly used in obesity treatment. It was known to improve thyroid function and its regulating hormones. Structural changes in the thyroid gland associated with obesity have not been well investigated. So, the aim of the present study is to detect structural changes in thyroid gland induced by obesity and to investigate the possible protective role of metformin therapy. Materials and methods: Thirty adult female albino rats were divided into three groups (10 rats each). Group I (control group), group II (rats fed with a high-fat diet), and group III (rats fed with a high-fat diet and treated with metformin therapy). After 12 weeks, rats from all groups were sacrificed. Blood samples were taken for measurement of lipid profile, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free T3 and free T4. Thyroid glands were extracted and processed for histological and ultrastructural study. Morphometric measurements for the colloid area of thyroid follicles and height of the follicular cells were done. Results: Group I displayed normal biochemical parameters and architecture of the thyroid gland. Group II revealed disordered lipid profile, high TSH, free T3 and T4. Microscopically, large thyroid follicles with excessive colloid accumulation and decreased follicular cells height were seen. Some follicular cells showed pyknotic nuclei, vacuolated cytoplasm and disrupted basement membrane with mast cell infiltration of the thyroid tissue. Ultrastructurally, group II follicular cells showed loss of apical microvilli, dense shrunken nuclei, dilated endoplasmic reticulum, swollen damaged mitochondria with large intracellular vacuoles and colloid droplets. In group III, the biochemical parameters and structure of thyroid follicles were improved, and they had a near-normal appearance. Conclusions: Obesity induced by high-fat diet in female rats structurally and functionally changed the thyroid gland in a way that may explain hypothyroidism associated with obesity. These changes were improved by metformin therapy

System Identification and Seismic Performance Evaluation of Earth Dams

A system identification technique is developed to provide dynamic properties of earth dams from their seismic records. The technique is utilized to assess the capabilities and limitation of analytical models in terms of dynamic nonlinear constitutive relationships as well as damping. The technique is based on the least square method using Gaussian hypothesis. Earth dams are modeled as a three-dimensional nonhomogeneous visco-elasto-plastic soil structure. The forward problem is solved using a Galerkin-Ritz formulation in which the solution is expanded using basis function, which is selected to be the eigenmodes. The spatial variation of the excitation is considered by using global shape functions defined on the boundary domain to interpolate the input motion on the dam boundaries using recorded motion at discrete locations. The constitutive model is used to accommodate the nonlinear path dependent behavior of the dam material as well as coupling between different constituent of the soil mixture. The model is implemented using Druker-Prager multi-yield surface model and linear Kelvin-Voigt model. Application to instrumented dams, in recent earthquake, showed significant match between the recorded response and the optimal estimated response

Effect of subchronic intake of green tea extract on liver of albino rat histomorphometric, ultrastructural and biochemical study

Background: There are conflicting reports on the effect of green tea extract (GTE) on the liver of animals. Some studies failed to show any adverse hepatic effects following administration of GTE to mice, rats, and dogs. Others reported severe hepatic necrosis, resulting in death in female Swiss-Webster mice following its administration. The aim of the study was to examine the subchronic toxicity of GTE on the liver of the adult male albino rats. Materials and methods: Forty male adult Wistar albino rats were used in the study. The rats were divided into four groups; group I (control), group II (low-dose green tea), group III (medium-dose green tea) and group IV (high-dose green tea). Histological, biochemical and histomorphometric analyses were done. Results: Mild hepatic affections were observed in group II. The affections were severe in groups III and IV. The central veins and hepatic sinusoids were congested. The hepatocytes were degenerated. Hypertrophy of the hepatic arteries, dilation of the bile ducts and cellular infiltration were clearly observed in the last two groups. Mild degenerative changes were observed in the hepatocytes in rat’s group II; the cytoplasm was rarefied and vacuolated. Some mitochondria were ruptured. The blood sinusoids were congested. The rough endoplasmic retinaculum was fragmented in group III. More degenerative changes were observed in group IV; the hepatic architectures were lost with disruption of cell membranes. Most of the cell organelles were degenerated and most of mitochondria were ballooned. As compared to that of the control groups: the total serum protein values in groups II, III and IV showed a statistically significant decrease (12%, 20% and 21%, respectively), the mean area per cent of collagen fibres in groups III and IV increased 5 and 7 folds. Conclusions: Subchronic administration of GTE resulted in structural and functional affection of the rats’ liver. The dose of 250 mg/kg/day seemed to be safe, while the doses of 500 mg/kg/day and 1000 mg/kg/day had deleterious effect being more evident in the latter dose

Radiological evaluation of postoperative complications after non-sleeve gastrectomy bariatric procedures

Background: Obesity is a medical condition, which may lead to serious related diseases, ultimately, resulting in many morbidities and early mortality. Its management involves many approaches of which bariatric surgery is considered nowadays as one of the most effective treatment for it. However, follow up of postoperative complications of this surgery by effective radiological method as computed tomography (CT) is important for assessment of its success.Objective: The aim of this study was to illuminate the radiological signs and features of postoperative complications after non sleeve bariatric procedures and stressing the importance of using multi-slice CT (MSCT), and fluoroscopic study for detection of these complications. Patients and methods: An observational cohort study for 275 patients with suspected complications after non sleeve gastrectomy bariatric procedures, including 195 patients after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), 76 patients after laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) and 4 patients after intragastric balloon placement was done. These patients were subjected to either multi-slice CT and or fluoroscopy. Results: We detected complications in 21 patients out of the 195 patients who underwent RYGB: leakage, abscess, intestinal obstruction, internal hernia, port site ventral hernia, intussusception, fistula between the gastric pouch and the excluded stomach and hiatus hernia. On the other hand, 8 out of 76 patients operated by LAGB developed complications: band slippage, band erosion, pouch dilatation and tubal disconnection. Lastly two out of the 4 patients who placed intra-gastric balloon encountered other complications: gastric outlet obstruction, spontaneous balloon deflation and distal migration with intestinal obstruction.Conclusion: It could be concluded that bariatric procedures may be followed by many complications and accurate diagnosis of these problems by proper radiological procedures as MSCT is imperative

Development of chitosan-glucose and chitosan-citric complexes edible coating to improve tomatoes post-harvest quality

 The effect of different shrimp chitosan molecular weights as well as shrimp chitosan complexes (chitosan-glucose and chitosan-citric) on the quality characteristics of the stored (at 7°C±2°C and 90% RH) tomato fruits (Lycopersicum esculentum) was investigated.  Coating tomatoes with high molecular weight chitosan (H.M.C.G) significantly improved firmness and weight loss.  The lowest weight loss was found in high molecular weight chitosan-glucose (H.M.C.G) treatment followed by the fruits coated with high molecular weight chitosan (HMC) and then uncoated tomato fruits.  Both molecular weights was clear on retarding the total acidity loss especially for stored tomato fruit coated with low molecular weight chitosan, while control tomatoes exhibited a larger reduction (p ≤ 0.05) in total acidity over storage.  Meanwhile, the increasing of cold storage time significantly (p ≥ 0.05) increased the pH in all uncoated and coated tomatoes.  Generally, no significant (P > 0.05) difference was observed in pH, titratable acidity and total soluble solids (T.S.S.) as well as sensory attributes among the tomato fruits coated with chitosan, chitosan citric and chitosan glucose.  Meanwhile, the fruits coated with low molecular weight chitosan had a higher (p ≥ 0.05) T.S.S. compared with that coated by the high molecular weight chitosan.   Keywords: chitosan, edible coating, tomatoes, firmness and weight loss

Resistance of Alkali Activated Water-Cooled Slag Geopolymer to Sulphate Attack

Ground granulated blast furnace slag is a finely ground, rapidly chilled aluminosilicate melt material that is separated from molten iron in the blast furnace as a by-product. Rapid cooling results in an amorphous or a glassy phase known as GGBFS or water cooled slag (WCS). Alkaline activation of latent hydraulic WCS by sodium hydroxide and/or sodium silicate in different ratios was studied. Curing was performed under 100 % relative humidity and at a temperature of 38°C. The results showed that mixing of both sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate in ratio of 3:3 wt.,% is the optimum one giving better mechanical as well as microstructural characteristics as compared with cement mortar that has various cement content (cement : sand were 1:3 and 1:2). Durability of the water cooled slag in 5 % MgSO4 as revealed by better microstructure and high resistivity-clarifying that activation by 3:3 sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate, respectively is better than using 2 and 6 % of sodium hydroxide