4,812 research outputs found
Multinational Corporations and Pacific Regionalism
No full textThe purpose of this paper is twofold. The first is to determine empirically whether there is a unique regional model of foreign direct investment (FDI) somewhere in the AsiaPacific region, driven by complex network behaviour of multinational corporations. The second is to determine empirically whether the investment provisions of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) have had any influence on this regional investment behaviour. The results suggest that the answer to the first question is affirmative and the answer to the second is negative. They show that when FDI and trade are sufficiently driven by fundamentals, as in Asia, the resulting network patterns of investment do not need to be boosted by investment provisions of PTAs. Further, the network patterns can be sufficiently strong to insulate a country from investment diversion when the FDI source countries play the PTA game elsewhere. So the investment provisions of PTAs pose neither a threat nor a promise to FDI in the Asian region. But a very real threat may come from the trade provisions of PTAs.
Nurturing children’s innate musicality: the impact of music self-concept and parent education on musical parenting practices with young children
No full textThe purpose of this mixed-methods experimental study is twofold. First, the researcher examined the relationship between parents’ musical self-concept and intentional music-making with their young children (four years of age and under.) An intentional music-making episode (IMME) is defined as a consciously parent-initiated activity or extension of an activity, either spontaneous or planned beforehand, in which both parent and child are musically engaged. Second, the research considers the impact of active and passive parent education methods on frequency of IMME. In order to assess musical self-concept, a modified version of Asmus’ Motivation for Music test was administered to subjects before treatment. Subjects were randomly distributed into one of two groups. The Active Group comprised those receiving weekly electronic newsletters about music-making with young children and who were also enrolled in a 10-week parent/child music class. The Passive Group only received the weekly e-newsletters about music-making with young children. All subjects took a researcher-constructed survey pre- and post-treatment to assess for any change in IMME. Analysis indicated that variability in IMME attributable to MSC was low (R² =.0030), and that there was no significant difference in IMME of subjects who completed Active and Passive treatments. That is, no connection was identified linking subjects’ MSC and the amount of musical engagement with their children, lending evidence to the idea that music is a fundamental human drive and intrinsic to the parent/child relationship. A Repeated Measures ANCOVA revealed a positive relationship between both Active and Passive treatment conditions and IMME, as the entire sample demonstrated statistically significant improvement from pre- to posttest IMME scores (p < .001). Limited qualitative data revealed that Active Group parents finished the treatment with more confidence in their own ability to be musical with their child, as well as a strong commitment to continued intentional music-making with their children in the future. Taken together, these findings support the idea that music specialists can play a valuable role in educating parents about music-making with their young children, thereby strengthening the crucial early musical development of future students.D.M.A.Includes bibliographical referencesMelissa C. Stron
An analysis of ethanol-induced behavioural plasticity in Caenorhabditis elegans
No full textEthanol is one of the most widely used and socially acceptable drugs in the world.However its chronic use can lead to serious problems including the development ofdependence. Alcohol dependence is a chronic, relapsing disorder characterised bytolerance, withdrawal, preoccupation with obtaining alcohol, loss of control over itsconsumption and impairment in social and occupational functioning. In humans thisdevelops over years, primarily driven by adaptations in many distinct signallingpathways and neural circuits as a result of continued heavy drinking. Whilst alcoholdependence has been extensively studied our understanding of how its distinct targetsintegrate to produce various behavioural responses remains far from clear.The nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans is a model genetic organism with asimple nervous system and well-defined behaviour. These nematodes can displayplasticity in the form of tolerance to, and withdrawal from, 5-HT or nicotine. They arethus a genetically tractable system in which to investigate the neural substrates ofadaptive responses to ethanol. In this simple system the impact of changes at themolecular level on signalling in defined neural circuits and the resultant animalbehaviour can be investigated. The aims of this thesis were to establish a C. elegansparadigm for alcohol dependence and to use this to define the genetic basis of theethanol-dependent behaviours of intoxication, tolerance and withdrawal.Evidence was provided that ethanol equilibrates rapidly across the worm cuticleindicating that the internal concentration closely approximates to the externalconcentration in which the animal is placed. Ethanol-dependent behaviours werecarefully characterised using a variety of behavioural assays. C. elegans exhibitdistinct behavioural states, corresponding to intoxication and withdrawal, whichimpair the ability to navigate towards food. Visual and automated analysis defined asub-behaviour, an increased tendency to form spontaneous deep body bends, whichwas specifically associated with withdrawal. This was ameliorated by a low dose ofalcohol supporting the contention that it arises from ethanol-induced neuroadaptation.A series of loss of function mutants, were analysed for alterations in ethanoldependentbehaviour. The absence of withdrawal in a strain of worms depleted inneuropeptides (egl-3) demonstrated that peptidergic signalling is key to the chronicadaption to, but not to the acute effects of, ethanol. However the neuropeptidereceptor NPR-1, previously shown to impact on ethanol responses in C. elegans, hadno effect on withdrawal behaviour in these assays. Alterations in intoxication andwithdrawal behaviour in strains of worms depleted in 5-HT (tph-1) and dopamine(cat-2) indicated that serotonergic and dopaminergic signalling may also be involvedin the ethanol response in C. elegans. This study has therefore provided a quantitativeanalysis of distinct ethanol-induced behavioural states and highlighted a role forneuropeptides and major classes of neuromodulatory transmitters. In particular thisdata is consistent with the emerging role of neuropeptides in ethanol withdrawal.<br/
Bilipschitz Mappings And Strong ... Weights
No full text. Given a doubling measure ¯ on R n , one can define an associated quasidistance on R n by ffi (x; y) = ¯(B x;y ) 1=n ; where B x;y is the smallest ball which contains the points x and y . This paper is concerned with the resulting geometry which is induced by ¯ . The main result provides a condition on ¯ under which R n equipped with the quasidistance ffi (\Delta; \Delta) admits a bilipschitz embedding into R N with the standard Euclidean structure for some N ! 1 . This sufficient condition is not so far from being necessary, but of course the reader knows how it is. This paper is closely related to an earlier one by Guy David and the author [DS1]. 1. Introduction Let ¯ be a doubling measure on R n , so that there is a C ? 0 such that (1:1) 0 ! ¯(2B) C¯(B) for all balls B . (Here 2B denotes the ball with the same center as B but twice the diameter.) We can associate to ¯ the quasidistance ffi(x; y) on R n defined by (1:2) ffi(x; y) = ¯(B x;y ) 1=n ; where (1:3) ..
The IPHAS catalogue of H alpha emission-line sources in the northern Galactic plane
No full textWe present a catalogue of point-source H alpha emission-line objects selected from the INT/WFC Photometric Ha Survey (IPHAS) of the northern Galactic plane. The catalogue covers the magnitude range 13 <= r' <= 19.5 and includes Northern hemisphere sources in the Galactic latitude range -5 degrees < b < 5 degrees. It is derived from similar to 1500 deg(2) worth of imaging data, which represents 80 per cent of the final IPHAS survey area. The electronic version of the catalogue will be updated once the full survey data become available. In total, the present catalogue contains 4853 point sources that exhibit strong photometric evidence for Ha emission. We have so far analysed spectra for similar to 300 of these sources, confirming more than 95 per cent of them as genuine emission-line stars. A wide range of stellar populations are represented in the catalogue, including early-type emission-line stars, active late-type stars, interacting binaries, young stellar objects and compact nebulae.
The spatial distribution of catalogue objects shows overdensities near sites of recent or current star formation, as well as possible evidence for the warp of the Galactic plane. Photometrically, the incidence of Ha emission is bimodally distributed in (r' - i'). The blue peak is made up mostly of early-type emission-line stars, whereas the red peak may signal an increasing contribution from other objects, such as young/active low-mass stars. We have cross-matched our H alpha-excess catalogue against the emission-line star catalogue of Kohoutek & Wehmeyer, as well as against sources in SIMBAD. We find that fewer than 10 per cent of our sources can be matched to known objects of any type. Thus IPHAS is uncovering an order of magnitude more faint (r' > 13) emission-line objects than were previously known in the Milky Way
Structure of unsteady stably stratified turbulence with mean shear.
No full textThe statistics of unsteady turbulence with uniform stratification N (Brunt–Väisälä frequency) and shear α(=dU1/dx3) are analysed over the entire time range (00 and \it Ri>0.25 respectively, oscillatory momentum and positive and negative density fluxes develop. Above a critical value of \it Ri\scriptsize\it crit(∼0.3), their average values are persistently countergradient. This structural change in the turbulence is the primary mechanism whereby stable stratification reduces the fluxes and the production of variances. It is quite universal and differs from the energy and stability mechanisms of Richardson (1926) and Taylor (1931). The long-time asymptotics of the energy ratio ER(=\it PE/VKE) of the potential energy to the vertical kinetic energy generally decreases with \it Ri(≥0.25), reaching the smallest value of 3/2 when there is no shear (\it Ri→∞). For strong mean shear (\it Ri<0.25), RDT significantly overestimates ER since (as in unstratified shear flow) it underestimates the vertical kinetic energy VKE. The RDT results show that the asymptotic values of the energy ratio ER and the normalized vertical density flux are independent of the initial value of ER, in agreement with DNS. This independence of the initial condition occurs because the ratios of the contributions from the initial values PE0 and KE0 are the same for PE and VKE and can be explained by the linear processes. Stable stratification generates buoyancy oscillations in the direction of the energy propagation of the internal gravity wave and suppresses the generation of turbulence by mean shear. Because the shear distorts the wavenumber fluctuations, the low-wavenumber spectrum of the vertical kinetic energy has the general form E33(k)∝(αtk)−1, where (LXαt)−1≪k≪L−1X (LX: integral scale). The viscous decay is controlled by the shear, so that the components of larger streamwise wavenumber k1 decay faster. Then, combined with the spectrum distortion by the shear, the energy and the flux are increasingly dominated by the small-k1 components as time elapses. They oscillate at the buoyancy period π/N because even in a shear flow the components as k1→0 are weakly affected by the shear. The effects of stratification N and shear α at small scales are to reduce both VKE and PE. Even for the same \it Ri, larger N and α reduce the high-wavenumber components of VKE and PE. This supports the applicability of the linear assumption for large N and α. At large scales, the stratification and shear effects oppose each other, i.e. both VKE and PE decrease due to the stratification but they increase due to the shear. We conclude that certain of these unsteady results can be applied directly to estimate the properties of sheared turbulence in a statistically steady state, but others can only be applied qualitatively
A model-independent Dalitz plot analysis of B±→DK± with D→K0Sh+h− (h=π,K) decays and constraints on the CKM angle γ
No full textA binned Dalitz plot analysis of B ±→DK ± decays, with D→KS0π+π- and D→KS0K+K-, is performed to measure the CP-violating observables x ± and y ± which are sensitive to the CKM angle γ. The analysis exploits 1.0 fb -1 of data collected by the LHCb experiment. The study makes no model-based assumption on the variation of the strong phase of the D decay amplitude over the Dalitz plot, but uses measurements of this quantity from CLEO-c as input. The values of the parameters are found to be x -=(0.0±4.3±1.5±0.6)×10 -2, y -=(2.7±5.2±0.8±2.3)×10 -2, x +=(-10.3±4.5±1.8±1.4)×10 -2 and y +=(-0.9±3.7±0.8±3.0)×10 -2. The first, second, and third uncertainties are the statistical, the experimental systematic, and the error associated with the precision of the strong-phase parameters measured at CLEO-c, respectively. These results correspond to γ=(44-38+43)°, with a second solution at γ→γ+180°, and r B=0.07±0.04, where r B is the ratio between the suppressed and favoured B decay amplitudes
Strong decay patterns of the hidden-charm pentaquark states P-c(4380) and P-c(4450)
No full textWith the heavy quark symmetry and spin rearrangement scheme, we study the strong decay behavior of the hidden-charm pentaquark states with J(P) = 3/2 +/-, 5/2 +/- assuming they are molecular candidates composed of (D) over bar(*) and Sigma((*))(c). We obtain several typical ratios of the partial decay widths of the hidden-charm pentaquarks. For the three S-wave ((D) over bar*Sigma(c)), ((D) over bar*Sigma(*)(c)), and ((D) over bar*Sigma(*)(c)), molecular pentaquarks with JP = 3/2(-), we have obtained the ratio of their J/Psi N decay widths: Gamma[((D) over bar*Sigma(c))] : Gamma[((D) over bar*Sigma(c))] : Gamma[((D) over bar*Sigma(c))] = 2.7:1.0:5.4, which may be useful to further test the possible molecular assignment of the P-c states.National Natural Science Foundation of China [11205011, 11475015, 11375024, 11222547, 11175073, 11035006, 11575008]SCI(E)[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Strong association of the APOA5-1131T>C gene variant and early-onset acute myocardial infarction
No full textBackground: Epidemiological studies support the role for a strong genetic component in the occurrence of early-onset myocardial infarction (MI), although the specific genetic variants responsible for familial clustering remain largely unknown.
Methods: The Italian study of early-onset MI is a nationwide case-control study involving 1864 case patients <45 years old who were hospitalized for a first MI, and age/sex/place of origin-matched controls (n = 1864). We investigated the association between early-onset MI, lipid levels and 20 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the candidate genes ADIPOQ, APOA5, ALOX5AP, CYBA, IL6, LPL, PECAM1, PLA2G2A and PLA2G7, chosen because of previously reported associations with Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) or with CHD risk factors.
Results: Of all the SNPs investigated, APOA5-1131T>C [(rs662799), minor allele frequency 0.084 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.07-0.09)] alone showed a statistically significant association with risk of early-onset MI (p = 6.7 x 10(-5)), after Bonferroni correction, with a per C allele odds ratio of 1.44 (95% CI 1.23-1.69). In controls, APOA5-1131T>C was significantly associated with raised plasma triglyceride levels (p = 0.001), compared with non-carriers, the per C allele increase being 11.4% (95% CI 4-19%), equivalent to 0.15 mmol/L (95% CI 0.11-0.20 mmol/L). In cases, the association with early MI risk remained statistically significant after adjustment for triglycerides (p = 0.006).
Conclusions: The APOA5-1131C allele, associated with higher fasting triglyceride levels, strongly affects the risk for early-onset MI, even after adjusting for triglycerides. This raises the possibility that APOA5-1131T>C may affect the risk of early MI over and above effects mediated by triglycerides. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd
Bayesian analysis of cosmic ray propagation: evidence against homogeneous diffusion
No full textThe American Astronomical Society, find out more
The American Astronomical Society, find out more
The Institute of Physics, find out more
The Institute of Physics, find out more
BAYESIAN ANALYSIS OF COSMIC RAY PROPAGATION: EVIDENCE AGAINST HOMOGENEOUS DIFFUSION
G. Jóhannesson1, R. Ruiz de Austri2, A. C. Vincent3, I. V. Moskalenko4,5
, E. Orlando4,5, T. A. Porter4,5, A. W. Strong6, R. Trotta7,8
, F. Feroz9, P. Graff10,11Show full author list
Published 2016 June 3 • © 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 824, Number 1 Citation G. Jóhannesson et al 2016 ApJ 824 16
Download Article PDF
Figures
Tables
References
Download PDF
1482 Total downloads
70
70 total citations on Dimensions.
Turn on MathJax
Get permission to re-use this article
Share this article
Share this content via email
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Google+
Share on Mendeley
Article information
Abstract
We present the results of the most complete scan of the parameter space for cosmic ray (CR) injection and propagation. We perform a Bayesian search of the main GALPROP parameters, using the MultiNest nested sampling algorithm, augmented by the BAMBI neural network machine-learning package. This is the first study to separate out low-mass isotopes (p, , and He) from the usual light elements (Be, B, C, N, and O). We find that the propagation parameters that best-fit , and He data are significantly different from those that fit light elements, including the B/C and 10Be/9Be secondary-to-primary ratios normally used to calibrate propagation parameters. This suggests that each set of species is probing a very different interstellar medium, and that the standard approach of calibrating propagation parameters using B/C can lead to incorrect results. We present posterior distributions and best-fit parameters for propagation of both sets of nuclei, as well as for the injection abundances of elements from H to Si. The input GALDEF files with these new parameters will be included in an upcoming public GALPROP update
- …
