Vietnam Inbound M&A Activity: the Role of Government Policy and Regulatory Environment

With a robust recent history of reform and opening, joining of the World Trade Organization, and negotiating a myriad of regional and global trade agreements, Vietnam has emerged as a promising destination for foreign direct investment(FDI) and cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A). In this paper, we providean overview of Vietnam’s inbound mergers and acquisitions and review the twomain driving forces of inbound M&A, which are the legal framework reformprocess and the equitization of State-owned enterprises. We close by providingdirections for future research in the area of cross-border M&As

Increased expression of two alternative spliced variants of CD1d molecule in human gastric cancer

Background: CD1d presents glycolipid antigens to invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells. The role of CD1d in the development of peptic ulcer and gastric cancer has not been revealed, yet. Objective: To clarify the expression of alternatively spliced variants of CD1d in peptic ulcer and gastric cancer. Methods: Patients with dyspepsia were selected and divided into three groups of non-ulcer dyspepsia (NUD), peptic ulcer disease (PUD), and gastric cancer (GC), according to their endoscopic and histopathological examinations. H. pylori infection was diagnosed by rapid urease test and histopathology. The expression levels of V2, V4, and V5 spliced variants of CD1d molecule were determined by quantitative Reverse Transcriptase PCR. Results: Relative gene expression levels of V4 were higher in GC patients (n=37) than those in NUD (n=49) and PUD (n=51) groups (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively). Moreover, GC patients showed higher expression levels of V5 compared to NUD and PUD groups (p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively). Positive correlation coefficients were attained between V4 and V5 expression in patients with PUD (r=0.734, p<0.0001) and GC (r=0.423, p<0.01), but not in patients with NUD. Among NUD patients, the expression levels of V4, but not V5, were higher in H. pylori-positive patients than in H. pylori-negative ones (p<0.01). Conclusion: Collectively, both membrane-bound (V4) and soluble (V5) isoforms of CD1d were over-expressed in gastric tumor tissues, suggesting that they are involved in anti-tumor immune responses. © 2015, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Carbon Nanotube–Polymer Composites: Device Properties and Photovoltaic Applications

This chapter provides an in-depth coverage of recent advances in the areas of the development and characterization of electro-optically active, device-grade carbon nanotube (CNT)–polymer blends. These new organic–inorganic multifunctional nanocomposites share many advanced characteristics which make them ideally suited for industrial scale, high-throughput manufacturing of lightweight, flexible electronic, light switching and emitting as well as energy harvesting devices of extremely low cost. The fundamental aspects and the physical mechanisms controlling light–matter interaction, photo-conversion, and photo-generated charge-carrier transport in these nanotube–polymer composites as well as the influence of the processing conditions on the electronic properties and device-related performances are further reviewed and discussed

Configurable unitary transformations and linear logic gates using quantum memories

We show that a set of optical memories can act as a configurable linear optical network operating on frequency-multiplexed optical states. Our protocol is applicable to any quantum memories that employ off-resonant Raman transitions to store optical information in atomic spins. In addition to the configurability, the protocol also offers favourable scaling with an increasing number of modes where N memories can be configured to implement an arbitrary N-mode unitary operations during storage and readout. We demonstrate the versatility of this protocol by showing an example where cascaded memories are used to implement a conditional CZ gate.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Storage and Manipulation of Light Using a Raman Gradient Echo Process

The Gradient Echo Memory (GEM) scheme has potential to be a suitable protocol for storage and retrieval of optical quantum information. In this paper, we review the properties of the $\Lambda$-GEM method that stores information in the ground states of three-level atomic ensembles via Raman coupling. The scheme is versatile in that it can store and re-sequence multiple pulses of light. To date, this scheme has been implemented using warm rubidium gas cells. There are different phenomena that can influence the performance of these atomic systems. We investigate the impact of atomic motion and four-wave mixing and present experiments that show how parasitic four-wave mixing can be mitigated. We also use the memory to demonstrate preservation of pulse shape and the backward retrieval of pulses.Comment: 26 pages, 13 figure

Growth pattern and daily growth increment in lanternfish (Benthosema pterotum) of the Oman Sea

Lanternfish (Benthosema pterptum) is one of the most important fish species in the Oman Sea. We randomly sampled 300 myctophids from different depths in spring and winter 2009 in the Oman Sea using mid-water trawls. Male to female sex ratio was 0.36:0.64. The thin sections (60-80µm) of sagitta otoliths of the fish were prepared using polishing method. These sections showed that increment growth rings of lanternfish otolith are formed daily and the age condition is distinguishable on a daily basis. We found the life span of the species to be short (with a maximum of 349 micro-increments counted) and probably less than a year. The relationship between standard length (SL) and daily growth increment (D) was expressed as the linear equation: SL=0.87D+12.37 (R 2=0.97). The relationship between lanternfish weight (W) and daily growth increment (D) was expressed as power equation: W=0.00003D1.754 (R2=0.95). Furthermore, morphometrical characteristics of otolith including otolith weight and length and daily growth increment relationships were expressed as linear equation (R2=0.96 and R 2=0.83). The results showed that lanternfish growth rate were in the range 0.241mm/d-1 to 0.138mm/d-1 and decreased by body size and age in this range