A brief review of motives of mergers and acquisitions for construction industry firms

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A proposed framework for evaluating the international construction performance of AEC enterprises

Internationalization of architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) enterprises has gained significant interests as the global construction market has been integrated into a more competitive and turbulent business environment, whilst there is no consensus on how to measure the international performance of AEC firms as a result of the complicated and multifaceted nature of business performance and internationalization. The aim of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework for evaluating the international construction performance of AEC firms, which is based on a comprehensive literature review and revised from the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) by considering the unique characteristic of the construction industry and international construction markets, e.g., satisfying stakeholders, integrating supply and business chain, and consideration of project management capabilities. Further, a questionnaire survey is conducted to investigate the quantitative importance of proposed performance measures and uncover the cause-and-effect relationship among these measures, which is the premise of the BSC. Additionally, a case study of a large international AEC firm in China is adopted to validate the robustness and usefulness of the proposed framework. It is found that the framework is effective to identify the weak areas of AEC firms by applying a benchmarking approach, indicating the applicability of this framework for AEC enterprises to monitor their performance and adjust related strategies for better internationalization

Analysis of the masses and decay constants of the heavy-light mesons with QCD sum rules

In this article, we calculate the contributions of the vacuum condensates up to dimension-6 including the $${\mathcal {O}}(\alpha _s)$$ corrections to the quark condensates in the operator product expansion, then we study the masses and decay constants of the pseudoscalar, scalar, vector, and axial-vector heavy-light mesons with the QCD sum rules in a systematic way. The masses of the observed mesons $$(D,D^*)$$, $$(D_s,D_s^*)$$, $$(D_0^*(2400),D_1(2430))$$, $$(D_{s0}^*(2317),D_{s1}(2460)),$$ $$(B,B^*)$$, $$(B_s,B_s^*)$$ can be well reproduced, while the predictions for the masses of $$(B^*_{0}, B_{1})$$ and $$(B^*_{s0}, B_{s1})$$ can be confronted with the experimental data in the future. We obtain the decay constants of the pseudoscalar, scalar, vector, and axial-vector heavy-light mesons, which have many phenomenological applications in studying the semi-leptonic and leptonic decays of the heavy-light mesons

Growth of low-density InAs/GaAs quantum dots on a substrate with an intentional temperature gradient by molecular beam epitaxy

InAs was deposited by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on a GaAs substrate with an intentional temperature gradient from centre to edge. Two-dimensional (2D) to three-dimensional (3D) morphology evolution was found along the direction in which the substrate temperature was decreasing. Quantum dots (QDs) with density as low as similar to 8 x 10(6) cm(-2) were formed in some regions. We attribute the morphological evolution to the temperature-dependent desorption of deposited indium and the intermixing between deposited indium and gallium from the buffer

Baicalin inhibits the expression of PGE2 and MMP-3 in human periodontal ligament cells

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Changing planar thin film growth into self-assembled island formation by adjusting experimental conditions

Illustrated in this paper are two examples of altering planar growth into self-assembled island formation by adapting experimental conditions. Partial oxidation, undersaturated solution and high temperature change Frank-Van der Merwe (FM) growth of Al0.3Ga0.7As in liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) into isolated island deposition. Low growth speed, high temperature and in situ annealing in molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) cause the origination of InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) to happen while the film is still below critical thickness in Stranski-Krastanow (SK) mode. Sample morphologies are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) or atomic force microscopy (AFM). It is suggested that such achievements are of value not only to fundamental researches but also to spheres of device applications as well. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Bridging flavour violation and leptogenesis in SU(3) family models

We reconsider basic, in the sense of minimal field content, Pati-Salam x SU(3) family models which make use of the Type I see-saw mechanism to reproduce the observed mixing and mass spectrum in the neutrino sector. The goal of this is to achieve the observed baryon asymmetry through the thermal decay of the lightest right-handed neutrino and at the same time to be consistent with the expected experimental lepton flavour violation sensitivity. This kind of models have been previously considered but it was not possible to achieve a compatibility among all of the ingredients mentioned above. We describe then how different SU(3) messengers, the heavy fields that decouple and produce the right form of the Yukawa couplings together with the scalars breaking the SU(3) symmetry, can lead to different Yukawa couplings. This in turn implies different consequences for flavour violation couplings and conditions for realizing the right amount of baryon asymmetry through the decay of the lightest right-handed neutrino. Also a highlight of the present work is a new fit of the Yukawa textures traditionally embedded in SU(3) family models.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures, Some typos correcte

Loss of LMOD1 impairs smooth muscle cytocontractility and causes megacystis microcolon intestinal hypoperistalsis syndrome in humans and mice

Megacystis microcolon intestinal hypoperistalsis syndrome (MMIHS) is a congenital visceral myopathy characterized by severe dilation of the urinary bladder and defective intestinal motility. The genetic basis of MMIHS has been ascribed to spontaneous and autosomal dominant mutations in actin gamma 2 (ACTG2), a smooth muscle contractile gene. However, evidence suggesting a recessive origin of the disease also exists. Using combined homozygosity mapping and whole exome sequencing, a genetically isolated family was found to carry a premature termination codon in Leiomodin1 (LMOD1), a gene preferentially expressed in vascular and visceral smooth muscle cells. Parents heterozygous for the mutation exhibited no abnormalities, but a child homozygous for the premature termination codon displayed symptoms consistent with MMIHS. We used CRISPR-Cas9 (CRISPR-associated protein) genome editing of Lmod1 to generate a similar premature termination codon. Mice homozygous for the mutation showed loss of LMOD1 protein and pathology consistent with MMIHS, including late gestation expansion of the bladder, hydronephrosis, and rapid demise after parturition. Loss of LMOD1 resulted in a reduction of filamentous actin, elongated cytoskeletal dense bodies, and impaired intestinal smooth muscle contractility. These results define LMOD1 as a disease gene for MMIHS and suggest its role in establishing normal smooth muscle cytoskeletal-contractile coupling

One-step isolation and biochemical characterization of a highlyactive plant PSII monomeric core

We describe a one-step detergent solubilization protocol for isolating a highly active form of Photosystem II (PSII) from Pisum sativum L. Detailed characterization of the preparation showed that the complex was a monomer having no light harvesting proteins attached. This core reaction centre complex had, however, a range of low molecular mass intrinsic proteins as well as the chlorophyll binding proteins CP43 and CP47 and the reaction centre proteins D1 and D2. Of particular note was the presence of a stoichiometric level of PsbW, a low molecular weight protein not present in PSII of cyanobacteria. Despite the high oxygen evolution rate, the core complex did not retain the PsbQ extrinsic protein although there was close to a full complement of PsbO and PsbR and partial level of PsbP. However, reconstitution of PsbP and PsbPQ was possible. The presence of PsbP in absence of LHCII and other chlorophyll a/b binding proteins confirms that LHCII proteins are not a strict requirement for the assembly of this extrinsic polypeptide to the PSII core in contrast with the conclusion of Caffarri et al. (2009)