Multi-project interactive effect on optimal development timing strategy

Master'sMASTER OF SCIENCE (ESTATE MANAGEMENT

An Efficiency Analysis of Banks in Indonesia

Indonesia plays as the largest economy in Southeast Asia so that it is not impossible to be influenced by the international economic environment (World Bank, 2019). The banking industry has a significant impact on the Indonesian economy and has experienced several changes over the past decades. The study will describe the Indonesian banking system and use the concept of cost efficiency to analyze how efficient are banks in Indonesia. Meanwhile, the study will try to find the determinants and explain why they can influence bank efficiency. The dissertation studies the level of cost efficiency in selected banks in Indonesia over the period 2013-2018. The stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) is applied to measure cost efficiency. On average, the cost efficiency score tends to decrease slightly over six years, from 0.9621 to 0.9413. Also, this dissertation analyzes the determinants that influence the level of cost efficiency by employing the Tobit regression model. The study finds that as bank-specific elements, bank size, net loans, and loan loss provisions negatively affect bank efficiency, while non-performing loans are positively related. For macroeconomic factors, GDP growth rate and inflation rate have a positive relationship with Indonesian banks’ efficiency, but the coefficient of the unemployment rate shows negative

Enhancement of nitrate removal at the sediment-water interface by carbon addition plus vertical mixing

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2014. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Chemosphere 136 (2015): 305-310, doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2014.12.010.Wetlands and ponds are frequently used to remove nitrate from effluents or runoffs. However, the efficiency of this approach is limited. Based on the assumption that introducing vertical mixing to water column plus carbon addition would benefit the diffusion across the sediment–water interface, we conducted simulation experiments to identify a method for enhancing nitrate removal. The results suggested that the sediment-water interface has a great potential for nitrate removal, and the potential can be activated after several days of acclimation. Adding additional carbon plus mixing significantly increases the nitrate removal capacity, and the removal of total nitrogen (TN) and nitrate-nitrogen (NO3--N) is well fitted to a first-order reaction model. Adding Hydrilla verticillata debris as a carbon source increased nitrate removal, whereas adding Eichhornia crassipe decreased it. Adding ethanol plus mixing greatly improved the removal performance, with the removal rate of NO3--N and TN reaching 15.0-16.5 g m-2 d-1. The feasibility of this enhancement method was further confirmed with a wetland microcosm, and the NO3--N removal rate maintained at 10.0-12.0 g m-2 d-1 at a hydraulic loading rate of 0.5 m d-1.The present work was supported by the State Oceanic Administration of China (Demonstration project of coastal wetland restoration, north coast of Hangzhou Wan bay), the National Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 51378306 and 41471393, and Science and Technology Planning Project of Zhejiang Province No.2014F50003

Meta-analysis of optical lowcoherence reflectometry versus partial coherence interferometry biometry

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/A meta-analysis to compare ocular biometry measured by optical low-coherence reflectometry (Lenstar LS900; Haag Streit) and partial coherence interferometry (the IOLMaster optical biometer; Carl Zeiss Meditec). A systematic literature search was conducted for articles published up to August 6th 2015 in the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Medline, Embase, China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database and Wanfang Data. A total of 18 studies involving 1921 eyes were included. There were no statistically significant differences in axial length (mean difference [MD] 0 mm; 95% confidence interval (CI) −0.08 to 0.08 mm; p = 0.92), anterior chamber depth (MD 0.02 mm; 95% CI −0.07 to 0.10 mm; p = 0.67), flat keratometry (MD −0.05 D; 95% CI −0.16 to 0.06 D; p = 0.39), steep keratometry (MD −0.09 D; 95% CI −0.20 to 0.03 D; p = 0.13), and mean keratometry (MD −0.15 D; 95% CI −0.30 to 0.00 D; p = 0.05). The white to white distance showed a statistically significant difference (MD −0.14 mm; 95% CI −0.25 to −0.02 mm; p = 0.02). In conclusion, there was no difference in the comparison of AL, ACD and keratometry readings between the Lenstar and IOLMaster. However the WTW distance indicated a statistically significant difference between the two devices. Apart from the WTW distance, measurements for AL, ACD and keratometry readings may be used interchangeability with both devices

SGTA Recognizes a Noncanonical Ubiquitin-like Domain in the Bag6-Ubl4A-Trc35 Complex to Promote Endoplasmic Reticulum-Associated Degradation

SummaryElimination of aberrantly folded polypeptides from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) by the ER-associated degradation (ERAD) system promotes cell survival under stress conditions. This quality control mechanism requires movement of misfolded proteins across the ER membrane for targeting to the cytosolic proteasome, a process facilitated by a “holdase” complex, consisting of Bag6 and the cofactors Ubl4A and Trc35. This multiprotein complex also participates in several other protein quality control processes. Here, we report SGTA as a component of the Bag6 system, which cooperates with Bag6 to channel dislocated ERAD substrates that are prone to aggregation. Using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and biochemical assays, we demonstrate that SGTA contains a noncanonical ubiquitin-like-binding domain that interacts specifically with an unconventional ubiquitin-like protein/domain in Ubl4A at least in part via electrostatics. This interaction helps recruit SGTA to Bag6, enhances substrate loading to Bag6, and thus prevents the formation of nondegradable protein aggregates in ERAD