56,053 research outputs found
[Report from H. M. Hart to Chief J. E. Curry, concerning the activities of Jack Ruby #2]
No full textReport from H. M. Hart to Chief J. E. Curry, concerning the activities of Jack Ruby on the morning of Saturday, November 23, 1963. Hart states that Sergeant D. V. Harkness saw Jack Ruby standing in the street on Saturday afternoon and directed him to go back to the sidewalk
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Passive in motion: the Early Italian auxiliary andare (‘to go’).
No full textThe Italian construction andare ‘to go’ + (transitive) past participle expresses a passive meaning when occurring in a perfective past tense (1), whereas it conveys an additional deontic sense of (impersonal) obligation when used in an imperfective tense (2) (Bertinetto 1991; Giacalone Ramat 2000). A further constraint on the passive reading is represented by the semantics of the participle, necessarily expressing a negative value of ‘loss/destruction’; this value is moreover conceived as ‘non-intentional’, as the impossibility to express the agent (*da qualcuno) shows:
(1) I documenti andarono distrutti. (*da qualcuno)
the documents go. prf.3pl destroy.pst.ptcp.pl (by someone)
‘The documents were destroyed.’
(2) I documenti vanno conservati.
the documents go.3pl preserved. pst.ptcp.pl
‘The documents must be preserved.’
Both the negative semantics and the lack of agentive implication can be explained by means of the deictic structure of the motion verb involved, which expresses a change of location implying distancing from the speaker’s point of view (Fillmore 1997; Radden 1996). This structure allows a metaphorical-metonymical reinterpretation as ‘accidental/non-intentional deviation from a pre-existing state of affairs’, which explains the grammaticalisation of the motion verb in resultative contexts denoting non-caused (i.e. intransitive) changes of state (e.g. he went mad, see Heine-Kuteva 2002). Drawing upon the insights of Cognitive Grammar (Langacker 1991) and the findings of the theory of grammaticalisation (Heine 1993; Hopper-Traugott 2003; Haspelmath 2004), I argue that the resultative meaning more likely constitutes the basis on which the passive construction arose when the motion verb loses its argumental structure becoming an auxiliaries.
This further step, however, needs to be accurately described on the basis of corpus data. A survey of Early Italian (13th-15th centuries), in fact, shows that the passive construction is not originally associated with the negative value and it occasionally allows the presence of agentive prepositional phrases:
(3) andata=gli la elezione confirmata dal papa,
go.pst.ptcp=to him the election confirm.pst.ptcp by the Pope
costui si mostrò di non la
this himself show.pst.pfv.3sg of not it volere
want. prs. inf .
‘once the election was confirmed to him by the Pope, he proved not to want it’ (Trec., 149, 14-15).
Already limited in Early Italian, the passive construction progressively contracts its range of usage, retracting towards a stable association with verbs denoting ‘(non-intentional) loss/destruction’. Rather than being interpreted as a process of degrammaticalisation, this contraction can also be analysed as a semantic specialization. I discuss how this specialization can be motivated by the deictic meaning of andare, also comparing with the account of Giacalone Ramat and Sansò about the correlate motion verb venire
Why do firms go public? evidence from the banking industry
No full textThe lack of data on private firms has made it difficult to empirically examine theories of why firms go public. However, both public and private banks must disclose financial information to regulators. We exploit this requirement to explore the going-public decision. Our results indicate that banks that convert to public ownership are more likely to become targets than control banks that remain private. Banks that go public are also more likely to become acquirers than control banks. IPO banks grow faster than control banks after going public, although there is some evidence that their performance deteriorates.Financial institutions
Chinese Overseas M&A Performance and the go Global Policy
No full textThis paper investigates whether stock markets view Chinese OMAs as increasing shareholder wealth. The subject is of interest given the influential role that the government plays in Chinese firms’ overseas activities, and the fact that the government may have objectives other than maximization of shareholder wealth. We examine 145 OMAs by Chinese acquiring firms over the year 1994-2008. We find some evidence that markets positively responded to news of Chinese OMAs. However, we also find that markets responded less favorably after China implemented its Go Global policy encouraging overseas investment. We hypothesize two reasons for this: First, the expansion of OMAs under Go Global resulted in Chinese firms pursuing less attractive targets, on average. Second, Go Global re-directed investment towards industries having national strategic value but diminished profit value. Using a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition procedure, we find no evidence to support this latter hypothesis. Thus, to whatever extent strategic interests may motivate China’s Go Global policy, it does not appear that their pursuit has come at the expense of shareholder wealth.Economic Development; China Economy; Overseas Mergers and Acquisitions; Event Study; Go Global
Sub-ambient daytime radiative cooling by silica-coated porous anodic aluminum oxide
No full textAn energy-free daytime radiative cooler based on silica-coated porous anodic aluminum oxide is proposed, optimized, and experimentally realized. It is shown that a simple thin silica layer coating on porous anodic aluminum oxide can produce the spectral emissivity in the atmospheric window (8-13 mu m) required for subambient cooling effect under direct sunlight. The final design, optimized using effective medium theory, exhibits high reflectance of 0.86 in the solar spectral region, and a substantial average emissivity of 0.96 in the atmospheric window. The fabricated centimeter-scale radiative cooler demonstrates a maximum cooling of 6.1 degrees C below ambient during the daytime. We believe that the proposed approach is a promising way to produce inexpensive and efficient radiative coolers.11Nsciescopu
Radiolytic and cellular reduction of a novel hypoxia-activated cobalt(III) prodrug of a chloromethylbenzindoline DNA minor groove alkylator
No full textMetabolic reduction can be used to activate prodrugs in hypoxic regions of tumours, but reduction by ionising radiation is also theoretically attractive. Previously, we showed that a cobalt(III) complex containing 8-hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ) and cyclen ligands releases 8-HQ efficiently on irradiation in hypoxic solutions [Ahn G-O, Ware DC, Denny WA, Wilson WR. optimization of the auxiliary ligand shell of cobalt(III)(8-hydroxyquinoline) complexes as model hypoxia-selective radiation-activated prodrugs. Radiat Res 2004;162:315-25]. Here we investigate an analogous Co(III) complex containing the potent DNA minor groove alkylator azachloromethylbenzindoline (azaCBI, (1) under bar) to determine whether it releases (1) under bar on radiolytic and/or enzymatic reduction under hypoxia. Monitoring by HPLC, the azaCBI ligand in the Co(III)(cyclen)(azaCBI) complex M slowly hydrolysed in aqueous solution, in contrast to the free ligand 1 which readily converted to its reactive cyclopropyl form. Irradiation of 2 (3050 mu M) in hypoxic solutions released (1) under bar with yields of 0.57 mu mol/J in formate buffer and 0.13 mu mol/J in human plasma. Using bioassay methods, cytotoxic activation by irradiation of at 1 mu M in hypoxic plasma was readily detectable at clinically relevant doses (>= 1 Gy), with a estimated yield of (1) under bar of 0.075 mu mol/J. Release of 1 from 2 was also observed in hypoxic HT29 cultures without radiation, with subsequent conversion of 1 to its O-glucuronide. Surprisingly, overexpression of human cytochrome P450 reductase in A549 cells did not increase the rate of metabolic reduction of 2, suggesting that other reductases and/or non-enzymatic reductants are responsible. Thus the cobalt(III) complex 2 is a promising prodrug capable of being activated to release a very potent cytotoxin when reduced by either ionising radiation or cells under hypoxic conditions. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.X115049sciescopu
Social capital and governance for sustainable rural development
No full textThough policy openings for support from the ‘new rural paradigm’ look promising, market access through sustainability-led economic organisations in fragmented rural areas is not easy. This paper analyses the implications of the interactive embedded governance model framed by the structural, cognitive and relational dimensions of social capital and hence the firms’ ability to engage with networked stakeholders in bottom-up knowledge-sharing for innovation. We show how, in the case of three marginal rural villages in the province of Trentino, Italy, this approach was used to raise stakeholders’ awareness that the local identity and heritage resources represent assets that given appropriate knowledge sharing could be converted into ‘authentic’ tourism products. The study illustrates the critical importance of such non-economic factors for achieving sustainable rural development
Consórcio de milho verde com feijão: benefício socioeconômico para o pequeno produtor.
No full textO objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar metodologias, identificadas pela Embrapa Arroz e Feijão e Emater-GO, para consórcio de milho verde com feijão no plantio de inverno, praticados por pequenos produtores no entorno de Goiânia (GO). Especificamente, propôs-se verificar a melhor disposição espacial das culturas em consorcio: urna ou duas linhas de milho verde com duas de feijão no plantio de inverno, validar tecnologias preconizadas pela Embrapa e Emater-GO para plantio mecanizado e incentivar 0 cultivo de feijão de inverno entre os pequenos produtores
Long-term channel block is required to inhibit cellular transformation by human ether-à-go-go-related gene (hERG1) potassium channels
No full textBoth human ether-à-go-go-related gene (hERG1) and the closely related human ether-à-go-go (hEAG1) channel are aberrantly expressed in a large proportion of human cancers. In the present study, we demonstrate that transfection of hERG1 into mouse fibroblasts is sufficient to induce many features characteristic of malignant transformation. An important finding of this work is that this transformation could be reversed by chronic incubation (for 2-3 weeks) with the hERG channel blocker dofetilide (100 nM), whereas more acute applications (for 1-2 days) were ineffective. The hERG1 expression resulted in a profound loss of cell contact inhibition, multiple layers of overgrowing cells, and high saturation densities. Cells also changed from fibroblast-like to a more spindle-shaped morphology, which was associated with a smaller cell size, a dramatic increase in cell polarization, a reduction in the number of actin stress fibers, and less punctate labeling of focal adhesions. Analysis of single-cell migration and scratch-wound closure clearly demonstrated that hERG1-expressing cells migrated more rapidly than vector-transfected control cells. In contrast to previous studies on hEAG1, there were no increases in rates of proliferation, or loss of growth factor dependency; however, hERG1-expressing cells were capable of substrate-independent growth. Allogeneic transplantation of hERG1-expressing cells into nude mice resulted in an increased incidence of tumors. In contrast to hEAG1, the mechanism of cellular transformation is dependent on ion conduction. Trafficking-deficient and conduction-deficient hERG1 mutants also prevented cellular transformation. These results provide evidence that hERG1 expression is sufficient to induce cellular transformation by a mechanism distinct from hEAG1. The most important conclusion of this study is that selective hERG1 channel blockers have therapeutic potential in the treatment of hERG1-expressing cancers
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