12,308 research outputs found
Nationalism and international disputes in China: Implications for transnational corporations as corporate diplomats
© John Benjamins Publishing Company. For decades, the territorial dispute between China and Japan over the sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands has caused diplomatic deteriorations in Sino-Japanese relations. When there is extensive media coverage on news about the dispute, nationalist sentiments in both two countries would be triggered and could be expressed through detrimental behaviors towards transnational corporations (hereinafter TNCs). While TNCs play a significant political function as corporate diplomats for their home countries, they are subject to the risk of crises when their home countries are involved in political and economic conflicts with the foreign countries in which they have operations. Against this backdrop, this paper seeks to examine the roles of TNCs with reference to three cases of nationalism-induced crises in China. It proposes relational principles based on which TNCs could implement strategies to mitigate the damage from nationalism-induced crises and contribute to their home countries' diplomatic goals as corporate diplomats
Vortices and the entrainment transition in the 2D Kuramoto model
We study synchronization in the two-dimensional lattice of coupled phase
oscillators with random intrinsic frequencies. When the coupling is larger
than a threshold , there is a macroscopic cluster of
frequency-synchronized oscillators. We explain why the macroscopic cluster
disappears at . We view the system in terms of vortices, since cluster
boundaries are delineated by the motion of these topological defects. In the
entrained phase (), vortices move in fixed paths around clusters, while
in the unentrained phase (), vortices sometimes wander off. These
deviant vortices are responsible for the disappearance of the macroscopic
cluster. The regularity of vortex motion is determined by whether clusters
behave as single effective oscillators. The unentrained phase is also
characterized by time-dependent cluster structure and the presence of chaos.
Thus, the entrainment transition is actually an order-chaos transition. We
present an analytical argument for the scaling for small
lattices, where is the threshold for phase-locking. By also deriving the
scaling , we thus show that for small , in
agreement with numerics. In addition, we show how to use the linearized model
to predict where vortices are generated.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure
Inquiring into activist publics in chronic environmental issues: Use of the mutual-gains approach for breaking a deadlock
© 2015 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. This study aims to understand different publics' communicative behaviors for problem solving surrounding an oil spill issue in Korea. Specifically, it explores the differences between chronic activists and other types of publics who were affected by this chronic environmental issue. A total of 24 interviews were conducted, from which five different types of publics were identified. The findings suggest that the majority of activists who are currently working on the issue are closed-chronic activists, which are slightly different from Ni and Kim's findings on chronic activists' communicative behaviors. Interviews were also conducted with five communication experts to propose viable conflict resolution strategies for the issue. The mutual-gains approach is recommended as a viable organization-public conflict resolution strategy
Pharmacokinetic Modeling of Intranasal Scopolamine in Plasma Saliva and Urine
An intranasal gel formulation of scopolamine (INSCOP) was developed for the treatment of Space Motion Sickness. The bioavailability and pharmacokinetics (PK) were evaluated under the Food and Drug Administration guidelines for clinical trials for an Investigative New Drug (IND). The aim of this project was to develop a PK model that can predict the relationship between plasma, saliva and urinary scopolamine concentrations using data collected from the IND clinical trial with INSCOP. METHODS: Twelve healthy human subjects were administered three dose levels (0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 mg) of INSCOP. Serial blood, saliva and urine samples were collected between 5 min to 24 h after dosing and scopolamine concentrations measured by using a validated LC-MS-MS assay. Pharmacokinetic Compartmental models, using actual dosing and sampling times, were built using Phoenix (version 1.2). Model discrimination was performed, by minimizing the Akaike Information Criteria (AIC), maximizing the coefficient of determination (r) and by comparison of the quality of fit plots. RESULTS: The best structural model to describe scopolamine disposition after INSCOP administration (minimal AIC =907.2) consisted of one compartment for plasma, saliva and urine respectively that were inter-connected with different rate constants. The estimated values of PK parameters were compiled in Table 1. The model fitting exercises revealed a nonlinear PK for scopolamine between plasma and saliva compartments for K21, Vmax and Km. CONCLUSION: PK model for INSCOP was developed and for the first time it satisfactorily predicted the PK of scopolamine in plasma, saliva and urine after INSCOP administration. Using non-linear PK yielded the best structural model to describe scopolamine disposition between plasma and saliva compartments, and inclusion of non-linear PK resulted in a significant improved model fitting. The model can be utilized to predict scopolamine plasma concentration using saliva and/or urine data that allows non-invasive assessment of pharmacotherapeutics of scopolamine in space and other remote environments without requiring blood sampling
NuSTAR observations and broadband spectral energy distribution modeling of the millisecond pulsar binary PSR J1023+0038
We report the first hard X-ray (3-79 keV) observations of the millisecond
pulsar (MSP) binary PSR J1023+0038 using NuSTAR. This system has been shown
transiting between a low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) state and a rotation-powered
MSP state. The NuSTAR observations were taken in both LMXB state and
rotation-powered state. The source is clearly seen in both states up to ~79
keV. During the LMXB state, the 3-79 keV flux is about a factor of 10 higher
that in the rotation-powered state. The hard X-rays show clear orbital
modulation during the X-ray faint rotation-powered state but the X-ray orbital
period is not detected in the X-ray bright LMXB state. In addition, the X-ray
spectrum changes from a flat power-law spectrum during the rotation-powered
state to a steeper power-law spectrum in the LMXB state. We suggest that the
hard X-rays are due to the intra-binary shock from the interaction between the
pulsar wind and the injected material from the low-mass companion star. During
the rotation-powered MSP state, the X-ray orbital modulation is due to Doppler
boosting of the shocked pulsar wind. At the LMXB state, the evaporating matter
of the accretion disk due to the gamma-ray irradiation from the pulsar stops
almost all the pulsar wind, resulting the disappearance of the X-ray orbital
modulation.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures; accepted for publication in Ap
Pharmacokinetic Modeling of Intranasal Scopolamine in Plasma Saliva and Urine
An intranasal gel dosage formulation of scopolamine (INSCOP) was developed for the treatment of Space Motion Sickness (SMS). The bioavailability and pharmacokinetics (PK) were evaluated under IND (Investigational New Drug) guidelines. The aim of the project was to develop a PK model that can predict the relationships among plasma, saliva and urinary scopolamine concentrations using data collected from the IND clinical trial protocol with INSCOP. Twelve healthy human subjects were administered at three dose levels (0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 mg) of INSCOP. Serial blood, saliva and urine samples were collected between 5 min to 24 h after dosing and scopolamine concentrations were measured by using a validated LCMSMS assay. PK compartmental models, using actual dosing and sampling time, were established using Phoenix (version 1.2). Model selection was based on a likelihood ratio test on the difference of criteria (2LL (i.e. log-likelihood ratio test)) and comparison of the quality of fit plots. The results: Predictable correlations among scopolamine concentrations in compartments of plasma, saliva and urine were established, and for the first time the model satisfactorily predicted the population and individual PK of INSCOP in plasma, saliva and urine. The model can be utilized to predict the INSCOP plasma concentration by saliva and urine data, and it will be useful for monitoring the PK of scopolamine in space and other remote environments using noninvasive sampling of saliva and/or urine
High-Energy emissions from the Pulsar/Be binary system PSR J2032+4127/MT91 213
PSR J2032+4127 is a radio-loud gamma-ray-emitting pulsar; it is orbiting
around a high-mass Be type star with a very long orbital period of 25-50years,
and is approaching periastron, which will occur in late 2017/early 2018. This
system comprises with a young pulsar and a Be type star, which is similar to
the so-called gamma-ray binary PSR~B1259-63/LS2883. It is expected therefore
that PSR J2032+4127 shows an enhancement of high-energy emission caused by the
interaction between the pulsar wind and Be wind/disk around periastron. Ho et
al. recently reported a rapid increase in the X-ray flux from this system. In
this paper, we also confirm a rapid increase in the X-ray flux along the orbit,
while the GeV flux shows no significant change. We discuss the high-energy
emissions from the shock caused by the pulsar wind and stellar wind interaction
and examine the properties of the pulsar wind in this binary system. We argue
that the rate of increase of the X-ray flux observed by Swift indicates (1) a
variation of the momentum ratio of the two-wind interaction region along the
orbit, or (2) an evolution of the magnetization parameter of the pulsar wind
with the radial distance from the pulsar. We also discuss the pulsar wind/Be
disk interaction at the periastron passage, and propose the possibility of
formation of an accretion disk around the pulsar. We model high-energy
emissions through the inverse-Compton scattering process of the
cold-relativistic pulsar wind off soft photons from the accretion disk.Comment: 18 pages, 23 figures, 1 Table, accepted for publication in Ap
Origin of complexity in multicellular organisms
Through extensive studies of dynamical system modeling cellular growth and
reproduction, we find evidence that complexity arises in multicellular
organisms naturally through evolution. Without any elaborate control mechanism,
these systems can exhibit complex pattern formation with spontaneous cell
differentiation. Such systems employ a `cooperative' use of resources and
maintain a larger growth speed than simple cell systems, which exist in a
homogeneous state and behave 'selfishly'. The relevance of the diversity of
chemicals and reaction dynamics to the growth of a multicellular organism is
demonstrated. Chaotic biochemical dynamics are found to provide the
multi-potency of stem cells.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, Physical Review Letters, 84, 6130, (2000
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