Ion-mediated RNA structural collapse: effect of spatial confinement

RNAs are negatively charged molecules residing in macromolecular crowding cellular environments. Macromolecular confinement can influence the ion effects in RNA folding. In this work, using the recently developed tightly bound ion model for ion fluctuation and correlation, we investigate the confinement effect on the ion-mediated RNA structural collapse for a simple model system. We found that, for both Na$^+$ and Mg$^{2+}$, ion efficiencies in mediating structural collapse/folding are significantly enhanced by the structural confinement. Such an enhancement in the ion efficiency is attributed to the decreased electrostatic free energy difference between the compact conformation ensemble and the (restricted) extended conformation ensemble due to the spatial restriction.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure

Agent-based model with asymmetric trading and herding for complex financial systems

Background: For complex financial systems, the negative and positive return-volatility correlations, i.e., the so-called leverage and anti-leverage effects, are particularly important for the understanding of the price dynamics. However, the microscopic origination of the leverage and anti-leverage effects is still not understood, and how to produce these effects in agent-based modeling remains open. On the other hand, in constructing microscopic models, it is a promising conception to determine model parameters from empirical data rather than from statistical fitting of the results. Methods: To study the microscopic origination of the return-volatility correlation in financial systems, we take into account the individual and collective behaviors of investors in real markets, and construct an agent-based model. The agents are linked with each other and trade in groups, and particularly, two novel microscopic mechanisms, i.e., investors' asymmetric trading and herding in bull and bear markets, are introduced. Further, we propose effective methods to determine the key parameters in our model from historical market data. Results: With the model parameters determined for six representative stock-market indices in the world respectively, we obtain the corresponding leverage or anti-leverage effect from the simulation, and the effect is in agreement with the empirical one on amplitude and duration. At the same time, our model produces other features of the real markets, such as the fat-tail distribution of returns and the long-term correlation of volatilities. Conclusions: We reveal that for the leverage and anti-leverage effects, both the investors' asymmetric trading and herding are essential generation mechanisms. These two microscopic mechanisms and the methods for the determination of the key parameters can be applied to other complex systems with similar asymmetries.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure

Proceedings of the biosimilars workshop at the International Symposium on Oncology Pharmacy Practice 2019.

The International Society of Oncology Pharmacy Practitioners organized a workshop to create learning opportunities on biosimilars in pharmacy practice on 10 October 2019. The topics that were covered included (i) the development and testing of biosimilars, (ii) the challenges of bringing biosimilars to market, and (iii) real-world data on patient safety and perceptions during biosimilar implementation. The development of biosimilars can take up to eight years and the extensiveness of the process depends on several factors, such as the complexity of the production process and regulatory requirements. Compared to generic products of small-molecule drugs, there is a higher barrier to market entry for biosimilars, explaining the small number of biosimilars in the market. Appraisal of biosimilars for inclusion in hospital formularies is also different from the review process of originator biologics, where the former is usually institution-led and has fewer restrictions on use. When several biosimilar products are available, factors that should be considered besides cost are licensed indications, supply chain confidence, clinical data, and product attributes. Real-world data have shown that biosimilars are well-tolerated and have safety data that are comparable to that of the originator product. Oncology pharmacists from the United Kingdom, Kenya, and Canada also presented their respective experiences with biosimilar use. Different countries at varying stages of biosimilar implementation faced distinct challenges. Nevertheless, resources to assist biosimilar implementation can potentially be shared between different regions. International Society of Oncology Pharmacy Practitioners is well-positioned to foster professional cooperation at an international level to drive biosimilar implementation

Technical Debt Repayment in Practice

Technical debt repayment is the TD management activity which refers to the remediation of technical debt by reworking design and implementation constructs. Paying back all technical debt may be infeasible since there is typically a shortage of resources that can be allocated. Moreover, business stakeholders often prioritize resources (money and time) on developing new features and fixing defects, rather than performing TD refactoring activities. Therefore, developers need to improve resource allocation for TD repayment due to the limited resources and competing business interests. Thus, investigating the factors that influence TD repayment is crucial in finding optimal solutions that maximize value and satisfy resource constraints. The thesis reports on the investigation of how TD is paid back in practice and what factors influence this repayment, by considering both software repositories and the perspective of practitioners

Research on the Willingness to Use Shared Logistics Facilities Under the Background of Sharing Economy:Based on the Model of Moderating Effects

In the academia, there were so many papers about behavior intentions in the traditional business model, but so little attentions were paid to the factors which influenced smart express cabinet behavior intentions under the background of sharing economy.The relationships between smart express cabinet perceived factors, green value and behavioral intentions were revealed. Through literature review, the perceived factors for smart express cabinets were measured using functional value, emotional value , price perceived value and service quality perceived value. A structural equation model (SEM) was then developed to describe those correlations and effects. The results show that functional value, emotional value and price perceived value have direct positive impacts on behavioral intentions. In addition, green value adjusts the relationship between functional value , price perceived value and behavioral intentions. Therefore, attaching importance to green value and improving service from functional value, emotional value , price perceived value in logistics industry are essential ways to increase behavioral intentions. Keywords: green value, sharing economy, customer perception, behavioral intentions. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-17-05 Publication date:June 30th 201