Signals for Vector Leptoquarks in Hadronic Collisions

We analyze systematically the signatures of vector leptoquarks in hadronic collisions. We examine their single and pair productions, as well as their effects on the production of lepton pairs. Our results indicate that a machine like the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be able to unravel the existence of vector leptoquarks with masses up to the range of $2$--$3$ TeV.Comment: 15 pages and 5 figures (available upon request or through anonymous ftp), revtex3, IFUSP-P 108

Do we need to distance ourselves from the distance concept? Why home and host country context might matter more than (cultural) distance

We scrutinize the explanatory power of one of the key concepts in International Business: the concept of (cultural) distance. Here we focus on its effect on entry mode choice, one of the most researched fields in international business strategy. Our findings might, however, be equally be relevant for the field of International Business as a whole. Our analysis is based on a review of 92 prior studies on entry mode choice, as well as an empirical investigation in over 800 subsidiaries of MNCs, covering nine host and fifteen home countries across the world. We conclude that the explanatory power of distance is highly limited once home and host country context are accounted for, and that any significant effects of cultural distance on entry mode choice might simply be caused by inadequate sampling. Entry mode studies in particular, and International Business research in general, would do well to reconsider its fascination with distance measures, and instead, focus first and foremost on differences in home and host country context. We argue that serious engagement with deep contextualization is necessary in International Business research to pose new and relevant questions and develop new and innovative theories that explain empirical phenomena

The Reform of Employee Compensation in China’s Industrial Enterprises

Although employee compensation reform in Chinese industrial sector has been discussed in the literature, the real changes in compensation system and pay practices have received insufficient attention and warrant further examination. This paper briefly reviews the pre- and post-reform compensation system, and reports the results of a survey of pay practices in the four major types of industrial enterprises in China. The research findings indicate that the type of enterprise ownership has little influence on general compensation practices, adoption of profit-sharing plans, and subsidy and allowance packages. In general, pay is linked more to individual performance and has become an important incentive to Chinese employees. However, differences are found across the enterprise types with regard to performance-related pay. Current pay practices are positively correlated to overall effectiveness of the enterprise

Identifying Patients With Hypoglycemia Using Natural Language Processing: Systematic Literature Review.

BACKGROUND: Accurately identifying patients with hypoglycemia is key to preventing adverse events and mortality. Natural language processing (NLP), a form of artificial intelligence, uses computational algorithms to extract information from text data. NLP is a scalable, efficient, and quick method to extract hypoglycemia-related information when using electronic health record data sources from a large population. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this systematic review was to synthesize the literature on the application of NLP to extract hypoglycemia from electronic health record clinical notes. METHODS: Literature searches were conducted electronically in PubMed, Web of Science Core Collection, CINAHL (EBSCO), PsycINFO (Ovid), IEEE Xplore, Google Scholar, and ACL Anthology. Keywords included hypoglycemia, low blood glucose, NLP, and machine learning. Inclusion criteria included studies that applied NLP to identify hypoglycemia, reported the outcomes related to hypoglycemia, and were published in English as full papers. RESULTS: This review (n=8 studies) revealed heterogeneity of the reported results related to hypoglycemia. Of the 8 included studies, 4 (50%) reported that the prevalence rate of any level of hypoglycemia was 3.4% to 46.2%. The use of NLP to analyze clinical notes improved the capture of undocumented or missed hypoglycemic events using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9), and International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10), and laboratory testing. The combination of NLP and ICD-9 or ICD-10 codes significantly increased the identification of hypoglycemic events compared with individual methods; for example, the prevalence rates of hypoglycemia were 12.4% for International Classification of Diseases codes, 25.1% for an NLP algorithm, and 32.2% for combined algorithms. All the reviewed studies applied rule-based NLP algorithms to identify hypoglycemia. CONCLUSIONS: The findings provided evidence that the application of NLP to analyze clinical notes improved the capture of hypoglycemic events, particularly when combined with the ICD-9 or ICD-10 codes and laboratory testing

Optical Transmission Characterization of Fused Silica Materials Irradiated at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

The Target Absorbers for Neutrals (TANs) represent one of the most radioactive regions in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Seven 40 cm long fused silica rods with different dopant specifications, manufactured by Heraeus, were irradiated in one of the TANs located around the ATLAS experiment by the Beam RAte of Neutrals (BRAN) detector group. This campaign took place during the Run 2 p+p data taking, which occurred between 2016 and 2018. This paper reports a complete characterization of optical transmission per unit length of irradiated fused silica materials as a function of wavelength (240 nm - 1500 nm), dose (up to 18 MGy), and level of OH and H$_2$ dopants introduced in the manufacturing process. The dose delivered to the rods was estimated using Monte Carlo simulations performed by the CERN FLUKA team.Comment: 29 pages, 15 figures, to be submitted to NIM-

Essential Role of P-Selectin in the Initiation of the Inflammatory Response Induced by Hemorrhage and Reinfusion

Resuscitation from hemorrhage induces profound pathophysiologic alterations and activates inflammatory cascades able to initiate neutrophil accumulation in a variety of tissues. This process is accompanied by acute organ damage (e.g., lungs and liver). We have previously demonstrated that significant leukocyte–endothelium interactions occur very early in other forms of ischemia/reperfusion (i.e., splanchnic ischemia/reperfusion and traumatic shock) which are largely mediated by increased expression of the adhesion molecule, P-selectin, on the vascular endothelium. Here we postulated that increased endothelial expression of P-selectin in the microvasculature would play an essential role in initiating the inflammatory signaling of hemorrhagic shock. Using intravital microscopy, we found that hemorrhagic shock significantly increased the number of rolling and adherent leukocytes in the mouse splanchnic microcirculation. In contrast, mice genetically deficient in P-selectin, or wild-type mice given either an anti–P-selectin monoclonal antibody or a recombinant soluble P-selectin glycoprotein ligand (PSGL)-1 immunoglobulin, exhibited markedly attenuated leukocyte–endothelium interaction after hemorrhagic shock. Thus, activation of P-selectin protein on the microvascular endothelium is essential for the initial upregulation of the inflammatory response occurring in hemorrhagic shock. Moreover, endogenous levels of PSGL-1 mRNA were significantly increased in the lung, liver, and small intestine of wild-type mice subjected to hemorrhagic shock. Since PSGL-1 promotes adhesive interactions largely through P-selectin expressed on the vascular endothelium, this result further supports the crucial role played by P-selectin in the recruitment of leukocytes during hemorrhagic shock

The performance effects of creative imitation on original products: Evidence from lab and field experiments

Research Summary: A market entrant often challenges the incumbent using creative imitation: The entrant creatively combines imitated aspects of the original with its own innovative characteristics to create a distinct offering. Using lab and field experiments to examine creative imitation in China, we find the effects of creative imitations on the originals depend on the creative imitation's quality. We explore the underlying mechanisms, and show that including a low-quality creative imitation in the retail choice set increases satisfaction with and choice of the original, while a moderate-quality creative imitation does the opposite. Moreover, creative imitation affects consumers' satisfaction with the original by influencing whether their experience with the original verifies their expectations. Our paper reveals creative imitation effects to help incumbent firms effectively address them. Managerial Summary: When the incumbent is challenged by an entrant using creative imitation, consumers may react differently to the incumbent, and understanding consumers' reactions allows the incumbent to make better strategic decisions about how to address the challenge. Using lab and field experiments, we investigate creative imitations with two quality levels common in our empirical context, low quality and moderate quality, and examine how and why they differentially affect the originals. We find the presence of a low-quality creative imitation actually increased choice of the original by enhancing consumers' satisfaction with it, while a moderate-quality creative imitation reduced choice of the original by undermining satisfaction with it. Our research suggests the incumbent should address moderate-quality creative imitations' challenges to customer satisfaction, while temporarily tolerating low-quality creative imitations

Activation of adherent vascular neutrophils in the lung during acute endotoxemia

BACKGROUND: Neutrophils constitute the first line of defense against invading microorganisms. Whereas these cells readily undergo apoptosis under homeostatic conditions, their survival is prolonged during inflammatory reactions and they become biochemically and functionally activated. In the present study, we analyzed the effects of acute endotoxemia on the response of a unique subpopulation of neutrophils tightly adhered to the lung vasculature. METHODS: Rats were treated with 5 mg/kg lipopolysaccharide (i.v.) to induce acute endotoxemia. Adherent neutrophils were isolated from the lung vasculature by collagenase digestion and sequential filtering. Agarose gel electrophoresis, RT-PCR, western blotting and electrophoretic mobility shift assays were used to evaluate neutrophil activity. RESULTS: Adherent vascular neutrophils isolated from endotoxemic animals exhibited decreased apoptosis when compared to cells from control animals. This was associated with a marked increase in expression of the anti-apoptotic protein, Mcl-1. Cells isolated 0.5–2 hours after endotoxin administration were more chemotactic than cells from control animals and expressed increased tumor necrosis factor-alpha and cyclooxygenase-2 mRNA and protein, demonstrating that they are functionally activated. Endotoxin treatment of the animals also induced p38 and p44/42 mitogen activated protein kinases in the adherent lung neutrophils, as well as nuclear binding activity of the transcription factors, NF-κB and cAMP response element binding protein. CONCLUSION: These data demonstrate that adherent vascular lung neutrophils are highly responsive to endotoxin and that pathways regulating apoptosis and cellular activation are upregulated in these cells

Global Diversity of Ascidiacea

The class Ascidiacea presents fundamental opportunities for research in the fields of development, evolution, ecology, natural products and more. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge regarding the global biodiversity of the class Ascidiacea, focusing in their taxonomy, main regions of biodiversity, and distribution patterns. Based on analysis of the literature and the species registered in the online World Register of Marine Species, we assembled a list of 2815 described species. The highest number of species and families is found in the order Aplousobranchia. Didemnidae and Styelidae families have the highest number of species with more than 500 within each group. Sixty percent of described species are colonial. Species richness is highest in tropical regions, where colonial species predominate. In higher latitudes solitary species gradually contribute more to the total species richness. We emphasize the strong association between species richness and sampling efforts, and discuss the risks of invasive species. Our inventory is certainly incomplete as the ascidian fauna in many areas around the world is relatively poorly known, and many new species continue to be discovered and described each year