1,465 research outputs found

    The Impact of an Innovative Human Resource Function on Firm Performance: the Moderating Role of Financing Strategy

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    The current study examined the impact of the human resource function and financing strategyon the financial performance of 104 UK manufacturing firms. Hypotheses are drawn from aresource-based perspective on human resource management and a financial theoryperspective on capital structure. Results show that an innovative HR function is significantlyrelated to economic performance. However, the relationship between an innovative HRfunction and economic performance was moderated by the firm¿s financing strategy. Firmsobtained higher returns from an innovative HR function when pursuing a low leveraging(debt) financing strategy, a finding consistent with modern finance theory notions that firmspecificstrategic assets provide greatest value when financed primarily through equity asopposed to debt.human resource function, manufacturing, firm performance, asset characteristics

    Entanglement Sharing and Decoherence in the Spin-Bath

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    The monogamous nature of entanglement has been illustrated by the derivation of entanglement sharing inequalities - bounds on the amount of entanglement that can be shared amongst the various parts of a multipartite system. Motivated by recent studies of decoherence, we demonstrate an interesting manifestation of this phenomena that arises in system-environment models where there exists interactions between the modes or subsystems of the environment. We investigate this phenomena in the spin-bath environment, constructing an entanglement sharing inequality bounding the entanglement between a central spin and the environment in terms of the pairwise entanglement between individual bath spins. The relation of this result to decoherence will be illustrated using simplified system-bath models of decoherence.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure v2: 6 pages 2 figures, additional example and reference

    Investigating the role of anticipatory reward and habit strength in obsessive-compulsive disorder

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    Aims: To determine the rates and associated illness characteristics of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients who describe their symptoms as either rewarding or habitual. Methods: Seventy-three treatment-seeking OCD patients had their dominant compulsive behavior assessed with a structured interview (the Temporal Impulsive-Compulsive Scale–Revised) to track the progression of rewarding (ie, gain in positive affect), aversive (ie, decrease in negative affect), and neutral (or non-affective) states and a self-report scale (the Self-Report Habit Index) to evaluate their habitual features. Additional measures included structured diagnostic interviews for axis I and II disorders, measures of OCD symptoms severity, and a battery of instruments to comprehensively assess relevant aspects of sensitivity to reward and fear. Results: Almost half (49%) of our OCD patients (particularly washers) endorsed that they anticipated obtaining a reward (ie, positive affect) from the enactment of their dominant compulsive behavior. Washers stood out in that their positive affects during and after compulsive behaviors were highly (and positively) correlated with duration of illness. In contrast, habit strength did not differ between washers, checkers, and arrangers, although it also correlated with duration of illness among checkers. Furthermore, the severity of OCD and comorbidity with impulse control disorders predicted up to 35% of the variance in the habit strength of OCD behaviors. Conclusion: Compulsive washing may be more clearly characterized by problems in reward processing. In contrast, duration of checking, severity of OCD, and comorbidity with impulse control disorders shape compulsive behaviors by imparting them with habitual tendencies

    A simplified method for predicting the settlement of circular footings on multi-layered geocell-reinforced non-cohesive soils

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    Multiple layers of geosynthetic reinforcement, placed below foundations or in the supporting layers of road pavements, can improve section performance through several mechanisms, leading to reduction in stresses and deformations. This paper aims to present a new analytical solution, based on the theory of multi-layered soil system to estimate the pressure–settlement response of a circular footing resting on such foundations, specifically those containing geocell layers. An analytical model that incorporates the elastic characteristics of soil and reinforcement is developed to predict strain and confining pressure propagated throughout an available multi-layer system, is proposed. A modified elastic method has been used to back-calculate the elastic modulus in terms of strain and confining pressure with materials data extracted from triaxial tests on unreinforced and geocell-reinforced soil samples. The proposed model has been validated by results of plate load tests on unreinforced and geocell-reinforced foundation beds. The comparisons between the results of the plate load tests and proposed analytical method reflected a satisfactory accuracy and consistency, especially at expected, practical, settlement ratios. Furthermore, to have a better assessment of geocell-reinforced foundations' behaviour, a parametric sensitivity has been studied. The results of this study show that the higher bearing pressure and lower settlement were achieved when number of geocell layer, secant modulus of geocell and the modulus number of the soil were increased. These results are in-line with the experimental results of the previous researchers. The study also permits the limits of effective and efficient reinforcement to be determined

    Dynamic and redundant regulation of LRRK2 and LRRK1 expression

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mutations within the <it>leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 </it>(<it>LRRK2</it>) gene account for a significant proportion of autosomal-dominant and some late-onset sporadic Parkinson's disease. Elucidation of LRRK2 protein function in health and disease provides an opportunity for deciphering molecular pathways important in neurodegeneration. In mammals, LRRK1 and LRRK2 protein comprise a unique family encoding a GTPase domain that controls intrinsic kinase activity. The expression profiles of the murine LRRK proteins have not been fully described and insufficiently characterized antibodies have produced conflicting results in the literature.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Herein, we comprehensively evaluate twenty-one commercially available antibodies to the LRRK2 protein using mouse <it>LRRK2 </it>and human <it>LRRK2 </it>expression vectors, wild-type and <it>LRRK2</it>-null mouse brain lysates and human brain lysates. Eleven antibodies detect over-expressed human LRRK2 while four antibodies detect endogenous human LRRK2. In contrast, two antibodies recognize over-expressed mouse LRRK2 and one antibody detected endogenous mouse LRRK2. LRRK2 protein resides in both soluble and detergent soluble protein fractions. <it>LRRK2 </it>and the related <it>LRRK1 </it>genes encode low levels of expressed mRNA species corresponding to low levels of protein both during development and in adulthood with largely redundant expression profiles.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Despite previously published results, commercially available antibodies generally fail to recognize endogenous mouse LRRK2 protein; however, several antibodies retain the ability to detect over-expressed mouse LRRK2 protein. Over half of the commercially available antibodies tested detect over-expressed human LRRK2 protein and some have sufficient specificity to detect endogenous LRRK2 in human brain. The mammalian LRRK proteins are developmentally regulated in several tissues and coordinated expression suggest possible redundancy in the function between <it>LRRK1 </it>and <it>LRRK2</it>.</p

    Layered architecture for quantum computing

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    We develop a layered quantum computer architecture, which is a systematic framework for tackling the individual challenges of developing a quantum computer while constructing a cohesive device design. We discuss many of the prominent techniques for implementing circuit-model quantum computing and introduce several new methods, with an emphasis on employing surface code quantum error correction. In doing so, we propose a new quantum computer architecture based on optical control of quantum dots. The timescales of physical hardware operations and logical, error-corrected quantum gates differ by several orders of magnitude. By dividing functionality into layers, we can design and analyze subsystems independently, demonstrating the value of our layered architectural approach. Using this concrete hardware platform, we provide resource analysis for executing fault-tolerant quantum algorithms for integer factoring and quantum simulation, finding that the quantum dot architecture we study could solve such problems on the timescale of days.Comment: 27 pages, 20 figure
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