Competitive Strategies and Improved Performance of Selected Nigeria Telecommunication Companies

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Waidi Adeniyi Akingbad

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract The influence of globalization in telecommunication companies has greatly increased the level of competition in the industry and they are forced to be competitive to survive. Different types of strategies are put in place in order to be profitable and competitive. All these strategies are directed to attract, retain and maintain customers for continuous profitability. However, majority of them hardly measure the impact of their strategic innovation on their customers. The paper seeks to explore the influence of competitive strategies embarked upon by selected telecommunication companies in Nigeria on their performance. The paper also examines how competitive strategies could be implemented for improved customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty. Three null hypotheses were postulated to test the relationship between lower prices and customer satisfaction, uninterrupted trunk services and customer loyalty, and customer complaint handling and retention. Only customers using telephone service were selected as respondents from Lagos State. The state was stratified in to 20 local government council area and questionnaires were distributed to 125 respondents in each of them. The completion rate of the questionnaire in each of them is between 103 and 110. Survey research design was adopted to carry out the study. A structured questionnaire was designed and validated through the construct validity and tested for confirmation using the KMO measure of sampling adequacy. It was also made reliable using Cronbach’s Alpha test. From the study, findings revealed relationship between competitive strategies and customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty. The findings revealed that there is a relationship between competitive strategies, its constituents and performance of telecommunication companies. It is recommended that universal mobile telecommunication services (UMTS operators should adopt the culture of competitive strategies since it can

Sexual Selection on male cuticular hydrocarbons via male-male competition and female choice.

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Lane, S M; Dickinson, A W; Tregenza, T; House, C M

2016-07-01

Traditional views of sexual selection assumed that male-male competition and female mate choice work in harmony, selecting upon the same traits in the same direction. However, we now know that this is not always the case and that these two mechanisms often impose conflicting selection on male sexual traits. Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) have been shown to be linked to both social dominance and male attractiveness in several insect species. However, although several studies have estimated the strength and form of sexual selection imposed on male CHCs by female mate choice, none have established whether these chemical traits are also subject to sexual selection via male-male competition. Using a multivariate selection analysis, we estimate and compare sexual selection exerted by male-male competition and female mate choice on male CHC composition in the broad-horned flour beetle Gnatocerus cornutus. We show that male-male competition exerts strong linear selection on both overall CHC abundance and body size in males, while female mate choice exerts a mixture of linear and nonlinear selection, targeting not just the overall amount of CHCs expressed but the relative abundance of specific hydrocarbons as well. We discuss the potential implications of this antagonistic selection with regard to male reproductive success. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Evolutionary Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society for Evolutionary Biology.

Sperm competition selects for sperm quantity and quality in the Australian Maluridae.

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Rowe, Melissah; Pruett-Jones, Stephen

2011-01-25

When ejaculates from rival males compete for fertilization, there is strong selection for sperm traits that enhance fertilization success. Sperm quantity is one such trait, and numerous studies have demonstrated a positive association between sperm competition and both testes size and the number of sperm available for copulations. Sperm competition is also thought to favor increases in sperm quality and changes in testicular morphology that lead to increased sperm production. However, in contrast to sperm quantity, these hypotheses have received considerably less empirical support and remain somewhat controversial. In a comparative study using the Australian Maluridae (fairy-wrens, emu-wrens, grasswrens), we tested whether increasing levels of sperm competition were associated with increases in both sperm quantity and quality, as well as an increase in the relative amount of seminiferous tubule tissue contained within the testes. After controlling for phylogeny, we found positive associations between sperm competition and sperm numbers, both in sperm reserves and in ejaculate samples. Additionally, as sperm competition level increased, the proportion of testicular spermatogenic tissue also increased, suggesting that sperm competition selects for greater sperm production per unit of testicular tissue. Finally, we also found that sperm competition level was positively associated with multiple sperm quality traits, including the proportion of motile sperm in ejaculates and the proportion of both viable and morphologically normal sperm in sperm reserves. These results suggest multiple ejaculate traits, as well as aspects of testicular morphology, have evolved in response to sperm competition in the Australian Maluridae. Furthermore, our findings emphasize the importance of post-copulatory sexual selection as an evolutionary force shaping macroevolutionary differences in sperm phenotype.

Generating Relational Competitive Advantage from Strategic Technological Partnership

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hu, Yimei; Zhang, Si; Li, Jizhen

2012-01-01

Collaborating with external partners on strategic technological partnerships (STPs) have been popular phenomena for long, which leads new development in existing theories on competitive advantage. Under the relational view, the competitive advantage is jointly generated by alliance firms. Though...... the relational view of competitive advantage has been proposed for more than a decade, few in-depth empirical researches are down within this field, especially case study on R&D strategic alliance from this perspective. Based on these considerations, we investigate an STP between a Danish transnational...... corporation and a Chinese private firm aiming to understand how to generate relational competitive from an STP? Based on the explorative case study, we find that there are three key processes related to relational competitive advantage: partner selection, relational rents generation and relational rents...

Sales Restriction, Quality Selection and the Mode of Competition

OpenAIRE

Boccard, Nicolas; Wauthy, Xavier

2003-01-01

A regulator imposing "sales restrictions" on firms competing in oligopolistic markets may enhance quality provision by the firms. Moreover, for most restrictions levels, the impact on quality selection is invariant to the mode of competition.

Competitive seeds-selection in complex networks

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Zhao, Jiuhua; Liu, Qipeng; Wang, Lin; Wang, Xiaofan

2017-02-01

This paper investigates a competitive diffusion model where two competitors simultaneously select a set of nodes (seeds) in the network to influence. We focus on the problem of how to select these seeds such that, when the diffusion process terminates, a competitor can obtain more supports than its opponent. Instead of studying this problem in the game-theoretic framework as in the existing work, in this paper we design several heuristic seed-selection strategies inspired by commonly used centrality measures-Betweenness Centrality (BC), Closeness Centrality (CC), Degree Centrality (DC), Eigenvector Centrality (EC), and K-shell Centrality (KS). We mainly compare three centrality-based strategies, which have better performances in competing with the random selection strategy, through simulations on both real and artificial networks. Even though network structure varies across different networks, we find certain common trend appearing in all of these networks. Roughly speaking, BC-based strategy and DC-based strategy are better than CC-based strategy. Moreover, if a competitor adopts CC-based strategy, then BC-based strategy is a better strategy than DC-based strategy for his opponent, and the superiority of BC-based strategy decreases as the heterogeneity of the network decreases.

Existence of nash equilibrium in competitive nonlinear pricing games with adverse selection

OpenAIRE

Monteiro, P. K.

2003-01-01

We show that for a large class of competitive nonlinear pricing games with adverse selection, the property of better-reply security is naturally satisfied - thus, resolving via a result due to Reny (1999) the issue of existence of Nash equilibrium for a large class of competitive nonlinear pricing games.

[Charles Darwin and the problem of evolutionary progress].

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Iordanskiĭ, N N

2010-01-01

According to Ch. Darwin's evolutionary theory, evolutionary progress (interpreted as morpho-physiological progress or arogenesis in recent terminology) is one of logical results of natural selection. At the same time, natural selection does not hold any factors especially promoting evolutionary progress. Darwin emphasized that the pattern of evolutionary changes depends on organism nature more than on the pattern of environment changes. Arogenesis specificity is determined by organization of rigorous biological systems - integral organisms. Onward progressive development is determined by fundamental features of living organisms: metabolism and homeostasis. The concept of social Darwinism differs fundamentally from Darwin's ideas about the most important role of social instincts in progress of mankind. Competition and selection play secondary role in socio-cultural progress of human society.

A change in competitive context reverses sexual selection on male size.

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Kasumovic, M M; Andrade, M C B

2009-02-01

In studies of sexual selection, larger size is often argued to increase male fitness, and relatively smaller males are explained by genetic and/or environmental variation. We demonstrate that a size-development life-history trade-off could underlie the maintenance of a broad, unimodal distribution of size in male redback spiders (Latrodectus hasselti). Larger males are superior in direct competition, but redback males mature rapidly at small size in the presence of females. In field enclosures, we simulated two competitive contexts favouring development of divergent male sizes. Relatively smaller males lost when competing directly, but had 10 times higher fitness than relatively larger males when given the temporal advantage of rapid development. Linear selection gradients confirmed the reversal of selection on size, showing that it is critical to consider life-history decisions underlying the development of traits related to fitness.

IT OUTSOURCING: METHODOLOGY FOR SUPPLIER SELECTION CRITERIA FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

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Sergio Alexandre Simões

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract: Two criteria are usually adopted to select the provider of IT: lower prices or better service qualification of the supplier. This article proposes a strategic approach: the company should hire the provider that best leverage their competitive advantages. This approach implied the need to develop a methodology. To support it, the authors analyzed four models, Porter, RBV (Resource-Based View, Balanced Scorecard and the Weapons and Field Competition. Preferred the latter to be the most complete, qualiquantitative technique and able to accurately align the goals of the IT service firm's to competitive contracting strategy. The methodology was developed and applied to an insurance company and in face of the excellent results, decided to write this article to disclose it.

Recent progress in competitive intelligence, competitive technical intelligence and knowledge management

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Dou Henri

2011-04-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the role of competitive intelligence and knowledge management to create, maintain and sustain competitive advantages. The triple helix model, based on the integration of the public sector (government, business models (private corporations and universities to promote innovation is examined. Research trends in competitive intelligence are presented. It concludes that the systematic use of the technology monitoring should support the comparison between various business models of companies that hold the market best practices and form a basis to knowledge for the decision making process and strategies development.

Competition for trophies triggers male generosity.

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Xiaofei Sophia Pan

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Cooperation is indispensable in human societies, and much progress has been made towards understanding human pro-social decisions. Formal incentives, such as punishment, are suggested as potential effective approaches despite the fact that punishment can crowd out intrinsic motives for cooperation and detrimentally impact efficiency. At the same time, evolutionary biologists have long recognized that cooperation, especially food sharing, is typically efficiently organized in groups living on wild foods, even absent formal economic incentives. Despite its evident importance, the source of this voluntary compliance remains largely uninformed. Drawing on costly signaling theory, and in light of the widely established competitive nature of males, we hypothesize that unique and displayable rewards (trophies out of competition may trigger male generosity in competitive social environments. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here, we use a controlled laboratory experiment to show that cooperation is sustained in a generosity competition with trophy rewards, but breaks down in the same environment with equally valuable but non-unique and non-displayable rewards. Further, we find that males' competition for trophies is the driving force behind treatment differences. In contrast, it appears that female competitiveness is not modulated by trophy rewards. SIGNIFICANCE: Our results suggest new approaches to promoting cooperation in human groups that, unlike punishment mechanisms, do not sacrifice efficiency. This could have important implications in any domain where voluntary compliance matters--including relations between spouses, employers and employees, market transactions, and conformity to legal standards.

A competitive interaction theory of attentional selection and decision making in brief, multielement displays.

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Smith, Philip L; Sewell, David K

2013-07-01

We generalize the integrated system model of Smith and Ratcliff (2009) to obtain a new theory of attentional selection in brief, multielement visual displays. The theory proposes that attentional selection occurs via competitive interactions among detectors that signal the presence of task-relevant features at particular display locations. The outcome of the competition, together with attention, determines which stimuli are selected into visual short-term memory (VSTM). Decisions about the contents of VSTM are made by a diffusion-process decision stage. The selection process is modeled by coupled systems of shunting equations, which perform gated where-on-what pathway VSTM selection. The theory provides a computational account of key findings from attention tasks with near-threshold stimuli. These are (a) the success of the MAX model of visual search and spatial cuing, (b) the distractor homogeneity effect, (c) the double-target detection deficit, (d) redundancy costs in the post-stimulus probe task, (e) the joint item and information capacity limits of VSTM, and (f) the object-based nature of attentional selection. We argue that these phenomena are all manifestations of an underlying competitive VSTM selection process, which arise as a natural consequence of our theory. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

The essential tension competition, cooperation and multilevel selection in evolution

CERN Document Server

Bahar, Sonya

2018-01-01

'The Essential Tension' explores how agents that naturally compete come to act together as a group. The author argues that the controversial concept of multilevel selection is essential to biological evolution, a proposition set to stimulate new debate. The idea of one collective unit emerging from the cooperative interactions of its constituent (and mutually competitive) parts has its roots in the ancient world. More recently, it has illuminated studies of animal behavior, and played a controversial role in evolutionary biology. In Part I, the author explores the historical development of the idea of a collectivity in biological systems, from early speculations on the sociology of human crowd behavior, through the mid-twentieth century debates over the role of group selection in evolution, to the notion of the selfish gene. Part II investigates the balance between competition and cooperation in a range of contemporary biological problems, from flocking and swarming to experimental evolution and the evolutio...

Selective loads periodization attenuates biochemical disturbances and enhances performance in female futsal players during competitive season

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Ricelli Endrigo Ruppel da Rocha

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This study evaluated the effect of selective loads periodization on physical performance and biochemical parameters in professional female futsal players during competitive season. Twelve elite female futsal players from Kindermann team (Brazil participated in the study. Variables of physical performance and erythrogram, leukogram, plasma cortisol, plasma immunoglobulin A (IgA in the beginning of the preparatory period (PP, in the competitive period (CP and in the final competitive period (FCP were evaluated. Using selective loads periodization, all variables of physical performance increased (p < .01 during CP and were maintained during FCP (p < .05. White blood cells did not modify during CP and the increase of FCP in 28% remained within normal ranges. Plasma cortisol also increased during CP (p < .01 and was within the normal ranges during FCP. Plasma IgA also was within the normal ranges during CP and FCP. Selective loads periodization is adequate and attends the requirements of the sport during competitive season in female futsal players.

Managing the market. Focusing on a select group of customers can keep an organization competitive.

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MacStravic, R S

1989-05-01

The real challenge in healthcare marketing today is managing markets, focusing on selected groups of customers rather than on the organization or its services. Market management includes three distinct but related levels: Strategic market management assesses current and potential markets and chooses those the organization can serve best; segment management focuses on the needs and wants of subsets of chosen customers; and customer management reinforces long-term commitments to the organization. The patient care experience can be broken down into specific contacts with each staff member. The key to managing the experience is to identify and achieve standards of performance for each contact by examining what each event means to the patients and how patients judge each staff member, as well as the overall care experience. Regular feedback helps. An unavoidable risk in market management is that a given segment may decline in size, in need for services, or in cohesiveness as a segment. Yet those organizations which can identify the right segments and "manage" them effectively will have an advantage in a competitive market.

Dissolved methane oxidation and competition for oxygen in down-flow hanging sponge reactor for post-treatment of anaerobic wastewater treatment

OpenAIRE

Hatamoto, Masashi; Miyauchi, Tomo; Kindaichi, Tomonori; Ozaki, Noriatsu; Ohashi, Akiyoshi

2011-01-01

Post-treatment of anaerobic wastewater was undertaken to biologically oxidize dissolved methane, with the aim of preventing methane emission. The performance of dissolved methane oxidation and competition for oxygen among methane, ammonium, organic matter, and sulfide oxidizing bacteria were investigated using a lab-scale closed-type down-flow hanging sponge (OHS) reactor. Under the oxygen abundant condition of a hydraulic retention time of 2 h and volumetric air supply rate of 12.95 m(3)-air...

Does the sex difference in competitiveness decrease in selective sub-populations? A test with intercollegiate distance runners.

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Deaner, Robert O; Lowen, Aaron; Rogers, William; Saksa, Eric

2015-01-01

Sex differences in some preferences and motivations are well established, but it is unclear whether they persist in selective sub-populations, such as expert financial decision makers, top scientists, or elite athletes. We addressed this issue by studying competitiveness in 1,147 varsity intercollegiate distance runners. As expected, across all runners, men reported greater competitiveness with two previously validated instruments, greater competitiveness on a new elite competitiveness scale, and greater training volume, a known correlate of competitiveness. Among faster runners, the sex difference decreased for one measure of competitiveness but did not decrease for the two other competitiveness measures or either measure of training volume. Across NCAA athletic divisions (DI, DII, DIII), the sex difference did not decrease for any competitiveness or training measure. Further analyses showed that these sex differences could not be attributed to women suffering more injuries or facing greater childcare responsibilities. However, women did report greater commitment than men to their academic studies, suggesting a sex difference in priorities. Therefore, policies aiming to provide men and women with equal opportunities to flourish should acknowledge that sex differences in some kinds of preferences and motivation may persist even in selective sub-populations.

Port competition and selection in contestable hinterlands : the case of Austria

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Langen, de P.W.

2007-01-01

This paper deals with port competition and port selection for cargo to/from Austria. Austria is located centrally in Europe and seaports in at least five countries are used for imports and exports. Changes of market shares over time of different ports serving Austria are analysed. Switching of cargo

Selection by mating competitiveness improves the performance of Anastrepha ludens males of the genetic sexing strain Tapachula-7.

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Quintero-Fong, L; Toledo, J; Ruiz, L; Rendón, P; Orozco-Dávila, D; Cruz, L; Liedo, P

2016-10-01

The sexual performance of Anastrepha ludens males of the Tapachula-7 genetic sexing strain, produced via selection based on mating success, was compared with that of males produced without selection in competition with wild males. Mating competition, development time, survival, mass-rearing quality parameters and pheromone production were compared. The results showed that selection based on mating competitiveness significantly improved the sexual performance of offspring. Development time, survival of larvae, pupae and adults, and weights of larvae and pupae increased with each selection cycle. Differences in the relative quantity of the pheromone compounds (Z)-3-nonenol and anastrephin were observed when comparing the parental males with the F4 and wild males. The implications of this colony management method on the sterile insect technique are discussed.

Co-existence of Distinct Prion Types Enables Conformational Evolution of Human PrPSc by Competitive Selection*

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Haldiman, Tracy; Kim, Chae; Cohen, Yvonne; Chen, Wei; Blevins, Janis; Qing, Liuting; Cohen, Mark L.; Langeveld, Jan; Telling, Glenn C.; Kong, Qingzhong; Safar, Jiri G.

2013-01-01

The unique phenotypic characteristics of mammalian prions are thought to be encoded in the conformation of pathogenic prion proteins (PrPSc). The molecular mechanism responsible for the adaptation, mutation, and evolution of prions observed in cloned cells and upon crossing the species barrier remains unsolved. Using biophysical techniques and conformation-dependent immunoassays in tandem, we isolated two distinct populations of PrPSc particles with different conformational stabilities and aggregate sizes, which frequently co-exist in the most common human prion disease, sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The protein misfolding cyclic amplification replicates each of the PrPSc particle types independently and leads to the competitive selection of those with lower initial conformational stability. In serial propagation with a nonglycosylated mutant PrPC substrate, the dominant PrPSc conformers are subject to further evolution by natural selection of the subpopulation with the highest replication rate due to its lowest stability. Cumulatively, the data show that sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease PrPSc is not a single conformational entity but a dynamic collection of two distinct populations of particles. This implies the co-existence of different prions, whose adaptation and evolution are governed by the selection of progressively less stable, faster replicating PrPSc conformers. PMID:23974118

Sexual selection, germline mutation rate and sperm competition

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Møller AP

2003-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background An important component of sexual selection arises because females obtain viability benefits for their offspring from their mate choice. Females choosing extra-pair fertilization generally favor males with exaggerated secondary sexual characters, and extra-pair paternity increases the variance in male reproductive success. Furthermore, females are assumed to benefit from 'good genes' from extra-pair sires. How additive genetic variance in such viability genes is maintained despite strong directional selection remains an evolutionary enigma. We propose that sexual selection is associated with elevated mutation rates, changing the balance between mutation and selection, thereby increasing variance in fitness and hence the benefits to be obtained from good genes sexual selection. Two hypotheses may account for such elevated mutation: (1 Increased sperm production associated with sperm competition may increase mutation rate. (2 Mutator alleles increase mutation rates that are revealed by the expression of condition-dependent secondary sexual characters used by choosy females during their mate choice. M Petrie has independently developed the idea that mutator alleles may account for the maintenance of genetic variation in viability despite strong directional selection. Results A comparative study of birds revealed a positive correlation between mutation rate at minisatellite loci and extra-pair paternity, but not between mutation rate and relative testes mass which is a measure of relative sperm production. Minisatellite mutation rates were not related to longevity, suggesting a meiotic rather than a mitotic origin of mutations. Conclusion We found evidence of increased mutation rate in species with more intense sexual selection. Increased mutation was not associated with increased sperm production, and we suggest that species with intense sexual selection may maintain elevated mutation rates because sexual selection continuously

Demolishing the competition: the longitudinal link between competitive video games, competitive gambling, and aggression.

Science.gov (United States)

Adachi, Paul J C; Willoughby, Teena

2013-07-01

The majority of research on the link between video games and aggression has focused on the violent content in games. In contrast, recent experimental research suggests that it is video game competition, not violence, that has the greatest effect on aggression in the short-term. However, no researchers have examined the long-term relationship between video game competition and aggression. In addition, if competition in video games is a significant reason for the link between video game play and aggression, then other competitive activities, such as competitive gambling, also may predict aggression over time. In the current study, we directly assessed the socialization (competitive video game play and competitive gambling predicts aggression over time) versus selection hypotheses (aggression predicts competitive video game play and competitive gambling over time). Adolescents (N = 1,492, 50.8 % female) were surveyed annually from Grade 9 to Grade 12 about their video game play, gambling, and aggressive behaviors. Greater competitive video game play and competitive gambling predicted higher levels of aggression over time, after controlling for previous levels of aggression, supporting the socialization hypothesis. The selection hypothesis also was supported, as aggression predicted greater competitive video game play and competitive gambling over time, after controlling for previous competitive video game play and competitive gambling. Our findings, taken together with the fact that millions of adolescents play competitive video games every day and that competitive gambling may increase as adolescents transition into adulthood, highlight the need for a greater understanding of the relationship between competition and aggression.

Does Competition Destroy Ethical Behavior?

OpenAIRE

Andrei Shleifer

2004-01-01

Explanations of unethical behavior often neglect the role of competition, as opposed to greed, in assuring its spread. Using the examples of child labor, corruption, "excessive" executive pay, corporate earnings manipulation, and commercial activities by universities, this paper clarifies the role of competition in promoting censured conduct. When unethical behavior cuts costs, competition drives down prices and entrepreneurs' incomes, and thereby reduces their willingness to pay for ethical ...

A competitive trade-off limits the selective advantage of increased antibiotic production.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerardin, Ylaine; Springer, Michael; Kishony, Roy

2016-09-26

In structured environments, antibiotic-producing microorganisms can gain a selective advantage by inhibiting nearby competing species 1 . However, despite their genetic potential 2,3 , natural isolates often make only small amounts of antibiotics, and laboratory evolution can lead to loss rather than enhancement of antibiotic production 4 . Here, we show that, due to competition with antibiotic-resistant cheater cells, increased levels of antibiotic production can actually decrease the selective advantage to producers. Competing fluorescently labelled Escherichia coli colicin producers with non-producing resistant and sensitive strains on solid media, we found that although producer colonies can greatly benefit from the inhibition of nearby sensitive colonies, this benefit is shared with resistant colonies growing in their vicinity. A simple model, which accounts for such local competitive and inhibitory interactions, suggests that the advantage of producers varies non-monotonically with the amount of production. Indeed, experimentally varying the amount of production shows a peak in selection for producers, reflecting a trade-off between benefit gained by inhibiting sensitive competitors and loss due to an increased contribution to resistant cheater colonies. These results help explain the low level of antibiotic production observed for natural species and can help direct laboratory evolution experiments selecting for increased or novel production of antibiotics.

The neural dynamics of competition resolution for language production in the prefrontal cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Bourguignon, Nicolas J; Ohashi, Hiroki; Nguyen, Don; Gracco, Vincent L

2018-03-01

Previous research suggests a pivotal role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in word selection during tasks of confrontation naming (CN) and verb generation (VG), both of which feature varying degrees of competition between candidate responses. However, discrepancies in prefrontal activity have also been reported between the two tasks, in particular more widespread and intense activation in VG extending into (left) ventrolateral PFC, the functional significance of which remains unclear. We propose that these variations reflect differences in competition resolution processes tied to distinct underlying lexico-semantic operations: Although CN involves selecting lexical entries out of limited sets of alternatives, VG requires exploration of possible semantic relations not readily evident from the object itself, requiring prefrontal areas previously shown to be recruited in top-down retrieval of information from lexico-semantic memory. We tested this hypothesis through combined independent component analysis of functional imaging data and information-theoretic measurements of variations in selection competition associated with participants' performance in overt CN and VG tasks. Selection competition during CN engaged the anterior insula and surrounding opercular tissue, while competition during VG recruited additional activity of left ventrolateral PFC. These patterns remained after controlling for participants' speech onset latencies indicative of possible task differences in mental effort. These findings have implications for understanding the neural-computational dynamics of cognitive control in language production and how it relates to the functional architecture of adaptive behavior. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

SELECTION OF KURAU FISHING TECHNOLOGY UNITS Eleutheronema tetradactylum WHICH COMPETITIVE AND SUSTAINABLE

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Muhammad Natsir Kholis

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Environmentally friendly fishing technology unit is needed in sustainable fisheries management. The purpose of this study was to determine the fishing technology unit of kurau competitive and sustainable. Data collection was carried out from July to September 2016 in the Coastal Pambang of Bengkalis District of Riau Province, by using the survey method. The analytical data method used is scoring the biological, technical and socioeconomic aspects the fishing technology unit of kurau. Results of research show that combined analysis of biological, technical and socioeconomic aspects have the value of the VA fishing line function (2.48 is higher than the other three fishing gear. Thus, the fishing line is a selected fishing technology unit of kurau competitive and sustainable in the Coastal Pambang Bengkalis District. Keywords: competitive,coastal pambang, fishing technology, kurau fish,sustainable fishing

Competition in education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, Hanne; Christensen, Søren

Competition in education has two functions: selection and motivation. How do these two functions correlate, contradict or co-exist? How has the educational system reflected on the relation between competition as motivational technology and as a technology for selection? The aim of this paper...... is to formulate the problem of competition in education as a relation between selection and motivation and provide an analytical strategy to grasp this problem. Our ambition is to theorize the problem and give empirical illustrations of how the connection between selection and motivation has been articulated...... in various educational institutions and programs....

Thermodynamics of competitive molecular channel transport: application to artificial nuclear pores.

Science.gov (United States)

Bauer, Wolfgang R; Nadler, Walter

2010-12-13

In an analytical model channel transport is analyzed as a function of key parameters, determining efficiency and selectivity of particle transport in a competitive molecular environment. These key parameters are the concentration of particles, solvent-channel exchange dynamics, as well as particle-in-channel- and interparticle interaction. These parameters are explicitly related to translocation dynamics and channel occupation probability. Slowing down the exchange dynamics at the channel ends, or elevating the particle concentration reduces the in-channel binding strength necessary to maintain maximum transport. Optimized in-channel interaction may even shift from binding to repulsion. A simple equation gives the interrelation of access dynamics and concentration at this transition point. The model is readily transferred to competitive transport of different species, each of them having their individual in-channel affinity. Combinations of channel affinities are determined which differentially favor selectivity of certain species on the cost of others. Selectivity for a species increases if its in-channel binding enhances the species' translocation probability when compared to that of the other species. Selectivity increases particularly for a wide binding site, long channels, and fast access dynamics. Recent experiments on competitive transport of in-channel binding and inert molecules through artificial nuclear pores serve as a paradigm for our model. It explains qualitatively and quantitatively how binding molecules are favored for transport at the cost of the transport of inert molecules.

Către un concept operațional al dezvoltării competitive în plan teritorial

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valentin COJANU

2009-06-01

Full Text Available This paper emphasizes the conceptual need for an agreement on reassigning priorities of competitive development from policies aiming at reducing regional differences to policies encouraging functional integration of a development area. The underlying rationale in shifting the analytical focus rests on the political-economic and socio-cultural characteristics of a habitat that indeterminably amplify or scale down the benefits of economic activities. The permanence of spatial developmental disparities suggests that the strategic directions of any initiative targeting regional competitiveness should follow the lines of (1 maximizing its competitive impact and (2 matching the territorial specificity. According to this perspective, the paper discusses an original theoretical construct and points to graphical representations of operational forms that may configure a policy of territorial development along four co-existent levels: (1 urban fields, (2 clusters, (3 development areas, and (4 disadvantaged areas. The main implication for public policy initiatives resides in smoothing the progress towards building up such a potential for growth. A selected list of recommendations is therefore advanced in compliance with the expeditiousness imperative, namely: (1 adjusting public policy interventions to geographically variable areas of development; (2 prioritizing financial assistance according to integration difficulties specific to a certain area of development, whose coordinates are described along variable geographical scales (local, regional, national and, possibly, international and functional potentialities; (3 enhancing the complementary role of private and community interventions in developing the programming capability.

Sleep deprivation selectively disrupts top-down adaptation to cognitive conflict in the Stroop test.

Science.gov (United States)

Gevers, Wim; Deliens, Gaetane; Hoffmann, Sophie; Notebaert, Wim; Peigneux, Philippe

2015-12-01

Sleep deprivation is known to exert detrimental effects on various cognitive domains, including attention, vigilance and working memory. Seemingly at odds with these findings, prior studies repeatedly failed to evidence an impact of prior sleep deprivation on cognitive interference in the Stroop test, a hallmark paradigm in the study of cognitive control abilities. The present study investigated further the effect of sleep deprivation on cognitive control using an adapted version of the Stroop test that allows to segregate top-down (attentional reconfiguration on incongruent items) and bottom-up (facilitated processing after repetitions in responses and/or features of stimuli) components of performance. Participants underwent a regular night of sleep or a night of total sleep deprivation before cognitive testing. Results disclosed that sleep deprivation selectively impairs top-down adaptation mechanisms: cognitive control no longer increased upon detection of response conflict at the preceding trial. In parallel, bottom-up abilities were found unaffected by sleep deprivation: beneficial effects of stimulus and response repetitions persisted. Changes in vigilance states due to sleep deprivation selectively impact on cognitive control in the Stroop test by affecting top-down, but not bottom-up, mechanisms that guide adaptive behaviours. © 2015 European Sleep Research Society.

Investment-innovation mechanism of ensuring competitiveness of industrial enterprises

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kozyk Vasyl V.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The article considers the process of formation of the investment-innovation mechanism of ensuring competitiveness of industrial enterprises. It identifies the essence, composition, goals and means of functioning of this mechanism. It establishes sequence of the process of functioning of the investment-innovation mechanism of ensuring competitiveness of economic subjects. It marks out such particular types of this mechanism: mechanism of renovation of fixed assets of an enterprise, mechanism of formation of channels and network of sales of enterprise products, mechanism of expansion of production capacity of the enterprise on manufacture of traditional types of products, mechanism of introduction of new progressive production processes, mechanism of development and production of innovation products, and mechanism of reduction of the level of risk of investment activity of the enterprise. The article conducts modelling of the process of development and realisation of investment solutions on introduction of progressive technologies of manufacture of products at the enterprise. It offers a method of selection of the most competitive variant of technology of manufacture of products depending on the level of quality and also specific current capital outlays for their manufacture.

Down-regulation of S100C is associated with bladder cancer progression and poor survival

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Memon, Ashfaque Ahmed; Sorensen, Boe Sandahl; Meldgaard, Peter

2005-01-01

cancer biopsy samples obtained from 88 patients followed for a median of 23 months (range, 1-97 months). RESULTS: We found a significantly lower mRNA expression of S100C in connective tissue invasive tumors (T1, P = 0.0030) and muscle invasive tumors [(T2-T4), P ...PURPOSE: The goal of this study was to identify proteins down-regulated during bladder cancer progression. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: By using comparative proteome analysis and measurement of mRNA, we found a significant down-regulation of S100C, a member of the S100 family of proteins, in T24 (grade 3......) as compared with RT4 (grade 1) bladder cancer cell lines. Moreover, quantification of the mRNA level revealed that decreased expression of the protein reflects a low level of transcription of the S100C gene. Based on this observation, we quantified the S100C mRNA expression level with real-time PCR in bladder...

MODELLING THE PROGRESSION OF COMPETITIVE PERFORMANCE OF AN ACADEMY'S SOCCER TEAMS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rita M. Malcata

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Progression of a team's performance is a key issue in competitive sport, but there appears to have been no published research on team progression for periods longer than a season. In this study we report the game-score progression of three teams of a youth talent-development academy over five seasons using a novel analytic approach based on generalised mixed modelling. The teams consisted of players born in 1991, 1992 and 1993; they played totals of 115, 107 and 122 games in Asia and Europe between 2005 and 2010 against teams differing in age by up to 3 years. Game scores predicted by the mixed model were assumed to have an over-dispersed Poisson distribution. The fixed effects in the model estimated an annual linear pro-gression for Aspire and for the other teams (grouped as a single opponent with adjustment for home-ground advantage and for a linear effect of age difference between competing teams. A random effect allowed for different mean scores for Aspire and opposition teams. All effects were estimated as factors via log-transformation and presented as percent differences in scores. Inferences were based on the span of 90% confidence intervals in relation to thresholds for small factor effects of x/÷1.10 (+10%/-9%. Most effects were clear only when data for the three teams were combined. Older teams showed a small 27% increase in goals scored per year of age difference (90% confidence interval 13 to 42%. Aspire experienced a small home-ground advantage of 16% (-5 to 41%, whereas opposition teams experienced 31% (7 to 60% on their own ground. After adjustment for these effects, the Aspire teams scored on average 1.5 goals per match, with little change in the five years of their existence, whereas their opponents' scores fell from 1.4 in their first year to 1.0 in their last. The difference in progression was trivial over one year (7%, -4 to 20%, small over two years (15%, -8 to 44%, but unclear over >2 years. In conclusion, the generalized

Feature-selective attention in healthy old age: a selective decline in selective attention?

Science.gov (United States)

Quigley, Cliodhna; Müller, Matthias M

2014-02-12

Deficient selection against irrelevant information has been proposed to underlie age-related cognitive decline. We recently reported evidence for maintained early sensory selection when older and younger adults used spatial selective attention to perform a challenging task. Here we explored age-related differences when spatial selection is not possible and feature-selective attention must be deployed. We additionally compared the integrity of feedforward processing by exploiting the well established phenomenon of suppression of visual cortical responses attributable to interstimulus competition. Electroencephalogram was measured while older and younger human adults responded to brief occurrences of coherent motion in an attended stimulus composed of randomly moving, orientation-defined, flickering bars. Attention was directed to horizontal or vertical bars by a pretrial cue, after which two orthogonally oriented, overlapping stimuli or a single stimulus were presented. Horizontal and vertical bars flickered at different frequencies and thereby elicited separable steady-state visual-evoked potentials, which were used to examine the effect of feature-based selection and the competitive influence of a second stimulus on ongoing visual processing. Age differences were found in feature-selective attentional modulation of visual responses: older adults did not show consistent modulation of magnitude or phase. In contrast, the suppressive effect of a second stimulus was robust and comparable in magnitude across age groups, suggesting that bottom-up processing of the current stimuli is essentially unchanged in healthy old age. Thus, it seems that visual processing per se is unchanged, but top-down attentional control is compromised in older adults when space cannot be used to guide selection.

Infanticide and within-clutch competition select for reproductive synchrony in a cooperative bird.

Science.gov (United States)

Riehl, Christina

2016-08-01

Reproduction among members of social animal groups is often highly synchronized, but neither the selective advantages nor the proximate causes of synchrony are fully understood. Here I investigate the evolution of hatching synchrony in the Greater Ani (Crotophaga major), a communally nesting bird in which several unrelated females contribute eggs to a large, shared clutch. Hatching synchrony is variable, ranging from complete synchrony to moderate asynchrony, and is determined by the onset of incubation of the communal clutch. Data from a 10-year field study indicate that individual reproductive success is highest in synchronous groups, and that nestlings that hatch in the middle of the hatching sequence are most likely to survive. Nestling mortality is high in asynchronous clutches because early-hatching nestlings are more likely to be killed by adult group members, whereas late-hatching nestlings are more likely to starve due competition with their older nest-mates. Therefore, the timing of hatching appears to be under stabilizing selection from infanticide and resource competition acting in concert. These results provide empirical support for models predicting that synchrony may evolve as an adaptive counter-strategy to infanticide, and they highlight the importance of competition in shaping the timing of reproduction in social groups. © 2016 The Author(s). Evolution © 2016 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Thermodynamics of competitive molecular channel transport: application to artificial nuclear pores.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wolfgang R Bauer

Full Text Available In an analytical model channel transport is analyzed as a function of key parameters, determining efficiency and selectivity of particle transport in a competitive molecular environment. These key parameters are the concentration of particles, solvent-channel exchange dynamics, as well as particle-in-channel- and interparticle interaction. These parameters are explicitly related to translocation dynamics and channel occupation probability. Slowing down the exchange dynamics at the channel ends, or elevating the particle concentration reduces the in-channel binding strength necessary to maintain maximum transport. Optimized in-channel interaction may even shift from binding to repulsion. A simple equation gives the interrelation of access dynamics and concentration at this transition point. The model is readily transferred to competitive transport of different species, each of them having their individual in-channel affinity. Combinations of channel affinities are determined which differentially favor selectivity of certain species on the cost of others. Selectivity for a species increases if its in-channel binding enhances the species' translocation probability when compared to that of the other species. Selectivity increases particularly for a wide binding site, long channels, and fast access dynamics. Recent experiments on competitive transport of in-channel binding and inert molecules through artificial nuclear pores serve as a paradigm for our model. It explains qualitatively and quantitatively how binding molecules are favored for transport at the cost of the transport of inert molecules.

Modelling the Progression of Competitive Performance of an Academy's Soccer Teams.

Science.gov (United States)

Malcata, Rita M; Hopkins, Will G; Richardson, Scott

2012-01-01

Progression of a team's performance is a key issue in competitive sport, but there appears to have been no published research on team progression for periods longer than a season. In this study we report the game-score progression of three teams of a youth talent-development academy over five seasons using a novel analytic approach based on generalised mixed modelling. The teams consisted of players born in 1991, 1992 and 1993; they played totals of 115, 107 and 122 games in Asia and Europe between 2005 and 2010 against teams differing in age by up to 3 years. Game scores predicted by the mixed model were assumed to have an over-dispersed Poisson distribution. The fixed effects in the model estimated an annual linear pro-gression for Aspire and for the other teams (grouped as a single opponent) with adjustment for home-ground advantage and for a linear effect of age difference between competing teams. A random effect allowed for different mean scores for Aspire and opposition teams. All effects were estimated as factors via log-transformation and presented as percent differences in scores. Inferences were based on the span of 90% confidence intervals in relation to thresholds for small factor effects of x/÷1.10 (+10%/-9%). Most effects were clear only when data for the three teams were combined. Older teams showed a small 27% increase in goals scored per year of age difference (90% confidence interval 13 to 42%). Aspire experienced a small home-ground advantage of 16% (-5 to 41%), whereas opposition teams experienced 31% (7 to 60%) on their own ground. After adjustment for these effects, the Aspire teams scored on average 1.5 goals per match, with little change in the five years of their existence, whereas their opponents' scores fell from 1.4 in their first year to 1.0 in their last. The difference in progression was trivial over one year (7%, -4 to 20%), small over two years (15%, -8 to 44%), but unclear over >2 years. In conclusion, the generalized mixed model

LENIENCY POLICY FOR COMPETITIVE ACTIVITY

OpenAIRE

Ilie Moga

2013-01-01

A market driven economy is inconceivable without competition. In this system, the competition is beneficial firstly for consumers, but also for producers. The former have the ability to satisfy their needs according to taste and financial ability, while the latter are incentivized to innovate and increase efficiency. Competition induces natural selection among companies. This selection must adhere to strictly abiding by competition law regulation, while regulation must benefit both consumers ...

Sustainability and Competitiveness in Australian Cities

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Richard Hu

2015-02-01

Full Text Available This study injects sustainability into competitiveness to inform policy making and planning for contemporary urban development. This is built upon the recent advancement in the scholarship on urban competitiveness that demonstrates a clear deviation from an economic-centric approach to incorporate multiple dimensions of a city’s progress. This study has an explicit concern for environmental sustainability and its relationship with urban competitiveness and their conceptual and methodological articulations. Empirically, this study measures the sustainability and competitiveness in Australian cities and reveals that Australia’s urban progress is clearly associated with an environmental cost. The findings are useful to inform policy making and planning for building sustainable and competitive cities. Apart from the conventional solutions that focus on urban form change and transport infrastructure improvement, this study suggests a need to explore the opportunities deriving from the emerging smart city planning and practice.

COMPETITION FOR THE MARKET AND LIBERALIZATION: THE FRENCH EXPERIENCE

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Bruno Lassere

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Progressing from a state controlled economy to a fully liberalized market economy takes considerable efforts. Depending on the specificities of the markets and the sectors regulated, the opening of markets to competition can take different forms. Competition on the market is considered to be the traditional form of competition. Certain economic sectors, however, are not prone to this traditional form of competition, specifically in situations where natural monopolies seem to be the only viable solutions. This is where competition for the market can be a good substitute.Competition for the market implies that a bidding process is organized to select the operator, which will be allowed to serve demand on a given market for a given time. Going through this bidding process is meant to introduce market mechanisms or, in other words, ex ante competition. As such, competition for the market contributes to put competitive pressure on monopolists, which is beneficial to consumers and users not only in terms of price and service quality, but also in terms of adjustment between supply and demand and access to information.Experience has shown, however, that several factors can hinder the expected benefits derived from competition for the market. In light of these difficulties, the French Competition Authority de la concurrence has developed solutions to unleash the full potential of competition for the market.Naturally, once markets are liberalized, comes the time for regulation through enforcement actions as well as continued advocacy efforts toward government, incumbent operators and new market players.

The form of sexual selection arising from male-male competition depends on the presence of females in the social environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Procter, D S; Moore, A J; Miller, C W

2012-05-01

Sexual selection arises from social interactions, and if social environments vary so too should sexual selection. For example, male-male competition often occurs either in the presence or in the absence of females, and such changes in the social environment could affect the form and strength of sexual selection. Here we examine how the presence of a female influences selection arising from male-male competition in a leaf-footed cactus bug, Narnia femorata, which has a resource defence mating system. Males compete for territories on cacti because females lay eggs on the cactus plants. Females are not always present when this competition first occurs; however, the presence or absence of the female matters. We found that both the form and strength of selection on male traits, those traits that influenced success in intrasexual competition, depended on the social context. When a female was not present, male size and the area of the sexually dimorphic hind legs was only marginally important to winning a contest. However, males with larger overall size and leg area were more likely to win in the presence of a female. There was also positive quadratic selection on these traits when a female was present with both the largest and the smallest males winning. The implication is unexpected alternative strategies when females are present. Our results support the notion that sexual selection should be studied under all relevant social contexts. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2012 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

Facing competitive pressures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weinrich, H.

1994-01-01

This article discusses the problems facing the electric power industry and professional personnel as a result of economic downturn and the resulting down sizing of individual companies and utilities. The author proposes that the most efficient use of technology will have greater impact in making a utility more competitive than reducing the head count

Dancing in the Dark: Competition over the "Meaning of Competition"

OpenAIRE

Metcalfe John Stanley

2009-01-01

Competing concepts of competition provide a sharp divide between theories of economic order and theories of economic transformation. The shift from competition as a state of affairs and competition as a creative process provides the divergence of perspective that is the topic of this paper. We link the Smith Marshall approach of rivalry and open competition to the more modern evolutionary view based on variation cum selection perspectives on innovation and the adaptive role of market processe...

The State of Competition and the Competition Regime of Ethiopia ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2015-08-14

Ethiopia has made progress toward market-oriented economic management, but the state of domestic competition remains weak, ... These policies are still in place in Ethiopia, even though they clash with market principles. ... August 14, 2015 ...

Top down and bottom up selection drives variations in frequency and form of a visual signal.

Science.gov (United States)

Yeh, Chien-Wei; Blamires, Sean J; Liao, Chen-Pan; Tso, I-Min

2015-03-30

The frequency and form of visual signals can be shaped by selection from predators, prey or both. When a signal simultaneously attracts predators and prey selection may favour a strategy that minimizes risks while attracting prey. Accordingly, varying the frequency and form of the silken decorations added to their web may be a way that Argiope spiders minimize predation while attracting prey. Nonetheless, the role of extraneous factors renders the influences of top down and bottom up selection on decoration frequency and form variation difficult to discern. Here we used dummy spiders and decorations to simulate four possible strategies that the spider Argiope aemula may choose and measured the prey and predator attraction consequences for each in the field. The strategy of decorating at a high frequency with a variable form attracted the most prey, while that of decorating at a high frequency with a fixed form attracted the most predators. These results suggest that mitigating the cost of attracting predators while maintaining prey attraction drives the use of variation in decoration form by many Argiope spp. when decorating frequently. Our study highlights the importance of considering top-down and bottom up selection pressure when devising evolutionary ecology experiments.

Clonal selection in xenografted TAM recapitulates the evolutionary process of myeloid leukemia in Down syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Saida, Satoshi; Watanabe, Ken-ichiro; Sato-Otsubo, Aiko; Terui, Kiminori; Yoshida, Kenichi; Okuno, Yusuke; Toki, Tsutomu; Wang, RuNan; Shiraishi, Yuichi; Miyano, Satoru; Kato, Itaru; Morishima, Tatsuya; Fujino, Hisanori; Umeda, Katsutsugu; Hiramatsu, Hidefumi; Adachi, Souichi; Ito, Etsuro; Ogawa, Seishi; Ito, Mamoru; Nakahata, Tatsutoshi; Heike, Toshio

2013-05-23

Transient abnormal myelopoiesis (TAM) is a clonal preleukemic disorder that progresses to myeloid leukemia of Down syndrome (ML-DS) through the accumulation of genetic alterations. To investigate the mechanism of leukemogenesis in this disorder, a xenograft model of TAM was established using NOD/Shi-scid, interleukin (IL)-2Rγ(null) mice. Serial engraftment after transplantation of cells from a TAM patient who developed ML-DS a year later demonstrated their self-renewal capacity. A GATA1 mutation and no copy number alterations (CNAs) were detected in the primary patient sample by conventional genomic sequencing and CNA profiling. However, in serial transplantations, engrafted TAM-derived cells showed the emergence of divergent subclones with another GATA1 mutation and various CNAs, including a 16q deletion and 1q gain, which are clinically associated with ML-DS. Detailed genomic analysis identified minor subclones with a 16q deletion or this distinct GATA1 mutation in the primary patient sample. These results suggest that genetically heterogeneous subclones with varying leukemia-initiating potential already exist in the neonatal TAM phase, and ML-DS may develop from a pool of such minor clones through clonal selection. Our xenograft model of TAM may provide unique insight into the evolutionary process of leukemia.

The Effect of Sport Activities on Perceptual-motor Skills among Obese Children with Down Syndrome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdollah Ghasemi

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of eight weeks selected sport trainings on perceptual- motor skills among typical obese girls and girls with Down syndrome (aged 7-13. Materials & Methods: In this quasi-experimental study with control group, 22 obese children with Down syndrome and 22 typical obese children who were selected purposefully participated in 24 purposeful sport training sessions. All groups were assessed with Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency before and after training sessions. Results: The findings showed that both groups of participants significantly developed in their gross motor skills (P<0.05 but not in fine skills. Also, the results indicated that obese children with Down syndrome had significantly (P<0.05 higher progress in both gross and fine motor skills than typical children. Conclusion: Despite of the variety of influential genetic and environmental constraints on obese children with Down syndrome they can develop their perceptual-motor skills via purposeful sport trainings such as play and leisure. Necessity of early perceptual-motor training is discussed.

Architectural Competition and BIM

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Nils Lykke; Frandsen, Anne Kathrine; Øien, Turid Borgestrand

2015-01-01

on architecturalcompetitions, a series of interviews was conducted with building clients as well as architects, focusing on the impact of the above-mentioned changes within the building sector on architectural competitions as an institution. In the interviews, ICT and notleast BIM was a recurring theme that both parties saw...... as having a positive impact on competitions. But when looking closely into the answers, these revealed diverse understandings of how and why the impact of BIM on competitions could be said to be positive. The paper sheds light on the interaction between the actors (building clients, architects and client...... consultants) and the applied technologies (competition forms, ICT tools, directives) in architectural competitions in a theoretical actor-network perspective. The diverging understandings of the role of BIM are demonstrating one of many negotiations in progress in the network of architectural competitions...

Early processing variations in selective attention to the color and direction of moving stimuli during 30 days head-down bed rest

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Lin-Jie; He, Si-Yang; Niu, Dong-Bin; Guo, Jian-Ping; Xu, Yun-Long; Wang, De-Sheng; Cao, Yi; Zhao, Qi; Tan, Cheng; Li, Zhi-Li; Tang, Guo-Hua; Li, Yin-Hui; Bai, Yan-Qiang

2013-11-01

Dynamic variations in early selective attention to the color and direction of moving stimuli were explored during a 30 days period of head-down bed rest. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded at F5, F6, P5, P6 scalp locations in seven male subjects who attended to pairs of bicolored light emitting diodes that flashed sequentially to produce a perception of movement. Subjects were required to attend selectively to a critical feature of the moving target, e.g., color or direction. The tasks included: a no response task, a color selective response task, a moving direction selective response task, and a combined color-direction selective response task. Subjects were asked to perform these four tasks on: the 3rd day before bed rest; the 3rd, 15th and 30th day during the bed rest; and the 5th day after bed rest. Subjects responded quickly to the color than moving direction and combined color-direction response. And they had a longer reaction time during bed rest on the 15th and 30th day during bed rest after a relatively quicker response on the 3rd day. Using brain event-related potentials technique, we found that in the color selective response task, the mean amplitudes of P1 and N1 for target ERPs decreased in the 3rd day during bed rest and 5th day after bed rest in comparison with pre-bed rest, 15th day and 30th day during bed rest. In the combined color-direction selective response task, the P1 latencies for target ERPs on the 3rd and 30th day during bed rest were longer than on the 15th day during bed rest. As 3rd day during bed rest was in the acute adaptation period and 30th day during bed rest was in the relatively adaptation stage of head-down bed rest, the results help to clarify the effects of bed rest on different task loads and patterns of attention. It was suggested that subjects expended more time to give correct decision in the head-down tilt bed rest state. A difficulty in the recruitment of brain resources was found in feature selection task

Biased Competition in Visual Processing Hierarchies: A Learning Approach Using Multiple Cues.

Science.gov (United States)

Gepperth, Alexander R T; Rebhan, Sven; Hasler, Stephan; Fritsch, Jannik

2011-03-01

In this contribution, we present a large-scale hierarchical system for object detection fusing bottom-up (signal-driven) processing results with top-down (model or task-driven) attentional modulation. Specifically, we focus on the question of how the autonomous learning of invariant models can be embedded into a performing system and how such models can be used to define object-specific attentional modulation signals. Our system implements bi-directional data flow in a processing hierarchy. The bottom-up data flow proceeds from a preprocessing level to the hypothesis level where object hypotheses created by exhaustive object detection algorithms are represented in a roughly retinotopic way. A competitive selection mechanism is used to determine the most confident hypotheses, which are used on the system level to train multimodal models that link object identity to invariant hypothesis properties. The top-down data flow originates at the system level, where the trained multimodal models are used to obtain space- and feature-based attentional modulation signals, providing biases for the competitive selection process at the hypothesis level. This results in object-specific hypothesis facilitation/suppression in certain image regions which we show to be applicable to different object detection mechanisms. In order to demonstrate the benefits of this approach, we apply the system to the detection of cars in a variety of challenging traffic videos. Evaluating our approach on a publicly available dataset containing approximately 3,500 annotated video images from more than 1 h of driving, we can show strong increases in performance and generalization when compared to object detection in isolation. Furthermore, we compare our results to a late hypothesis rejection approach, showing that early coupling of top-down and bottom-up information is a favorable approach especially when processing resources are constrained.

MicroRNA-124 slows down the progression of Huntington′s disease by promoting neurogenesis in the striatum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tian Liu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available MicroRNA-124 contributes to neurogenesis through regulating its targets, but its expression both in the brain of Huntington′s disease mouse models and patients is decreased. However, the effects of microRNA-124 on the progression of Huntington′s disease have not been reported. Results from this study showed that microRNA-124 increased the latency to fall for each R6/2 Huntington′s disease transgenic mouse in the rotarod test. 5-Bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU staining of the striatum shows an increase in neurogenesis. In addition, brain-derived neurotrophic factor and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha protein levels in the striatum were increased and SRY-related HMG box transcription factor 9 protein level was decreased. These findings suggest that microRNA-124 slows down the progression of Huntington′s disease possibly through its important role in neuronal differentiation and survival.

Experimental evolution of sperm competitiveness in a mammal

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Simmons Leigh W

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background When females mate with multiple partners, sperm from rival males compete to fertilise the ova. Studies of experimental evolution have proven the selective action of sperm competition on male reproductive traits. However, while reproductive traits may evolve in response to sperm competition, this does not necessarily provide evidence that sperm competitive ability responds to selection. Indeed, a study of Drosophila failed to observe divergence in sperm competitive ability of males in lines selected for enhanced sperm offence and defence. Results Adopting the naturally polygamous house mouse (Mus domesticus as our vertebrate model, we performed an experimental evolution study and observed genetic divergence in sperm quality; males from the polygamous selection lines produced ejaculates with increased sperm numbers and greater sperm motility compared to males from the monogamous lines. Here, after 12 generations of experimental evolution, we conducted competitive matings between males from lineages evolving under sperm competition and males from lineages subject to relaxed selection. We reduced variation in paternity arising from embryo mortality by genotyping embryos in utero at 14 days gestation. Our microsatellite data revealed a significant paternity bias toward males that evolved under the selective regime of sperm competition. Conclusion We provide evidence that the sperm competitiveness phenotype can respond to selection, and show that improved sperm quality translates to greater competitive fertilisation success in house mice.

A Competitive Strategic Position Analysis of Major Container Ports in Southeast Asia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viet Linh Dang

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The importance of planning strategies to achieve higher competitiveness has become more apparent in the context of seaports since seaports have been encountering quickly changing and highly competitive business environments. Therefore, the strategic competitive position of seaports needs to be investigated using strategic positioning methods. The purpose of this study was to analyze the competitive positions of the top 20 container ports of five countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN-5 in six years from 2009 to 2014 using dynamic portfolio analysis. This study aims to fill the gap in research on the competitive strategic position and analysis of Southeast Asian container ports in order to allow seaport operators to visualize the position and progress of selected ports as well as to predict the future development possibilities of seaports. The findings revealed effective operations at the following ports that retained their dominant positions during the duration of the study: Port Klang, Tanjung Pelepas (Malaysia, Manila (the Philippines, Laem Chabang (Thailand, and Tan Cang Sai Gon (Vietnam. However, findings revealed a common deterioration at other ports studied.

Selective inhibition of plant serine hydrolases by agrochemicals revealed by competitive ABPP.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaschani, Farnusch; Nickel, Sabrina; Pandey, Bikram; Cravatt, Benjamin F; Kaiser, Markus; van der Hoorn, Renier A L

2012-01-15

Organophosphate and -phosphonates and their thio derivatives are often used in agroindustry as herbicides and insecticides, but their potential off-targets in the plant are poorly investigated. Here, we use competitive activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) of serine hydrolases (SHs) to detect targets of these agrochemicals and other compounds in Arabidopsis thaliana. Using broad-range and specific probes, and by overexpression of various SHs in planta, we are able to confirm eight SH-compound interactions, including selective inhibition of carboxylesterase CXE12, prolyloligopeptidase, methylesterase MES2 and tripeptidyl peptidase TPP2. These observations can be used for the design of novel probes and selective inhibitors and may help to assess physiological effects of agrochemicals on crop plants. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Use and selection of information as generic competition in the professional training of Systems Engineers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis Anderson Coronel-Rojas

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Generic competitions have become increasingly popular in the current educational field. In fact, they are considered by numerous higher education institutions when structuring their educational programs, as well as advocated in extensive academic work. However, thus far, not enough research reports demonstrating these competitions as indeed suited to higher education exist. University graduates do not seem sufficiently prepared for real-life challenges: they lack the skills needed to organize, take risks, and go beyond what was taught in class, tailoring their knowledge to new situations, especially in cases of correctly choosing the information necessary in order to make an informed decision. Accordingly, this article presents the results of a study published by students in their first and last semester of Systems Engineering at the University of Francisco de Paula Santander, Ocaña. The study examines the link between the ability to successfully select and use information with the evaluation of a certain skillset. Specifically, it seeks to investigate the way the students enter such a competition based on the perceptions of their teachers and peers. The results include the analysis of inductive subcategories, such as the gathering, classification and evaluation of relevant information and their ability to relay it through the appropriate channels, as well as their proficiency in information technology. Overall, the students assert that this competition is important for their education, and recognize their efficiency in selecting and classifying information, as well as their creativity the means by which they convey it, and the skills they have been able to successfully adapt during their education program However, they also recognize there are still points that require improvement.

Slow progression of paediatric HIV disease: Selective adaptation or ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In the European Caucasian populations, the chemokine-cell receptor variant CCR5 \\"Delta 32\\" is a the genetic determinant of HIV disease progression that is believed to have been selected for in the general population by exposure to antigens closely interlinked to HIV like Yersinia pestis or small pox virus. Among African ...

Semantic interference from distractor pictures in single-picture naming: evidence for competitive lexical selection.

Science.gov (United States)

Jescheniak, Jörg D; Matushanskaya, Asya; Mädebach, Andreas; Müller, Matthias M

2014-10-01

Picture-naming studies have demonstrated interference from semantic-categorically related distractor words, but not from corresponding distractor pictures, and the lack of generality of the interference effect has been argued to challenge theories viewing lexical selection in speech production as a competitive process. Here, we demonstrate that semantic interference from context pictures does become visible, if sufficient attention is allocated to them. We combined picture naming with a spatial-cuing procedure. When participants' attention was shifted to the distractor, semantically related distractor pictures interfered with the response, as compared with unrelated distractor pictures. This finding supports models conceiving lexical retrieval as competitive (Levelt, Roelofs, & Meyer, 1999) but is difficult to reconcile with the response exclusion hypothesis (Finkbeiner & Caramazza, 2006b) proposed as an alternative.

Source selection problem of competitive power plants under government intervention: a game theory approach

Science.gov (United States)

Mahmoudi, Reza; Hafezalkotob, Ashkan; Makui, Ahmad

2014-06-01

Pollution and environmental protection in the present century are extremely significant global problems. Power plants as the largest pollution emitting industry have been the cause of a great deal of scientific researches. The fuel or source type used to generate electricity by the power plants plays an important role in the amount of pollution produced. Governments should take visible actions to promote green fuel. These actions are often called the governmental financial interventions that include legislations such as green subsidiaries and taxes. In this paper, by considering the government role in the competition of two power plants, we propose a game theoretical model that will help the government to determine the optimal taxes and subsidies. The numerical examples demonstrate how government could intervene in a competitive market of electricity to achieve the environmental objectives and how power plants maximize their utilities in each energy source. The results also reveal that the government's taxes and subsidiaries effectively influence the selected fuel types of power plants in the competitive market.

Designing the Lunar Regolith Excavation Competition

Science.gov (United States)

Le, Christopher

2009-01-01

The project assigned this summer involves designing a lunar regolith mining robotics competition. This process involves consulting several assets available at the Kennedy Space Center. The process involves several steps. The first step is to determine the requirements for the competition. Once these requirements are determined, the dimensions of the playing field are drawn up, first by hand, and then using computer models. After these drawings are tentatively decided upon, the cost of materials must be determined, so as to fit within the allotted budget for the project. The materials are to then be ordered, assembled, broken down, and stored throughout the duration of the competition. We must also design the advertisements and logos for the competition. This is to market and publicize the competition to college level teams. We must also determine the rules for the competition so as to have uniform requirements for all teams. Once these processes are completed, the competition can be finalized and publicized for the public. The contributing parties are Greg Galloway, Robert Mueller, Susan Sawyer, Gloria Murphy, Julia Nething, and Cassandra Liles.

Top down and bottom up selection drives variations in frequency and form of a visual signal

OpenAIRE

Yeh, Chien-Wei; Blamires, Sean J.; Liao, Chen-Pan; Tso, I.-Min

2015-01-01

The frequency and form of visual signals can be shaped by selection from predators, prey or both. When a signal simultaneously attracts predators and prey, selection may favour a strategy that minimizes risks while attracting prey. Accordingly, varying the frequency and form of the silken decorations added to their web may be a way that Argiope spiders minimize predation while attracting prey. Nonetheless, the role of extraneous factors renders the influences of top down and bottom up selecti...

Within-host competition does not select for virulence in malaria parasites; studies with Plasmodium yoelii.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hussein M Abkallo

2015-02-01

Full Text Available In endemic areas with high transmission intensities, malaria infections are very often composed of multiple genetically distinct strains of malaria parasites. It has been hypothesised that this leads to intra-host competition, in which parasite strains compete for resources such as space and nutrients. This competition may have repercussions for the host, the parasite, and the vector in terms of disease severity, vector fitness, and parasite transmission potential and fitness. It has also been argued that within-host competition could lead to selection for more virulent parasites. Here we use the rodent malaria parasite Plasmodium yoelii to assess the consequences of mixed strain infections on disease severity and parasite fitness. Three isogenic strains with dramatically different growth rates (and hence virulence were maintained in mice in single infections or in mixed strain infections with a genetically distinct strain. We compared the virulence (defined as harm to the mammalian host of mixed strain infections with that of single infections, and assessed whether competition impacted on parasite fitness, assessed by transmission potential. We found that mixed infections were associated with a higher degree of disease severity and a prolonged infection time. In the mixed infections, the strain with the slower growth rate was often responsible for the competitive exclusion of the faster growing strain, presumably through host immune-mediated mechanisms. Importantly, and in contrast to previous work conducted with Plasmodium chabaudi, we found no correlation between parasite virulence and transmission potential to mosquitoes, suggesting that within-host competition would not drive the evolution of parasite virulence in P. yoelii.

System driven technology selection for future European launch systems

Science.gov (United States)

Baiocco, P.; Ramusat, G.; Sirbi, A.; Bouilly, Th.; Lavelle, F.; Cardone, T.; Fischer, H.; Appel, S.

2015-02-01

In the framework of the next generation launcher activity at ESA, a top-down approach and a bottom-up approach have been performed for the identification of promising technologies and alternative conception of future European launch vehicles. The top-down approach consists in looking for system-driven design solutions and the bottom-up approach features design solutions leading to substantial advantages for the system. The main investigations have been focused on the future launch vehicle technologies. Preliminary specifications have been used in order to permit sub-system design to find the major benefit for the overall launch system. The development cost, non-recurring and recurring cost, industrialization and operational aspects have been considered as competitiveness factors for the identification and down-selection of the most interesting technologies. The recurring cost per unit payload mass has been evaluated. The TRL/IRL has been assessed and a preliminary development plan has been traced for the most promising technologies. The potentially applicable launch systems are Ariane and VEGA evolution. The main FLPP technologies aim at reducing overall structural mass, increasing structural margins for robustness, metallic and composite containment of cryogenic hydrogen and oxygen propellants, propellant management subsystems, elements significantly reducing fabrication and operational costs, avionics, pyrotechnics, etc. to derive performing upper and booster stages. Application of the system driven approach allows creating performing technology demonstrators in terms of need, demonstration objective, size and cost. This paper outlines the process of technology down selection using a system driven approach, the accomplishments already achieved in the various technology fields up to now, as well as the potential associated benefit in terms of competitiveness factors.

Catalytic ozonation not relying on hydroxyl radical oxidation: A selective and competitive reaction process related to metal-carboxylate complexes

KAUST Repository

Zhang, Tao

2014-01-01

Catalytic ozonation following non-hydroxyl radical pathway is an important technique not only to degrade refractory carboxylic-containing organic compounds/matter but also to avoid catalyst deactivation caused by metal-carboxylate complexation. It is unknown whether this process is effective for all carboxylates or selective to special molecule structures. In this work, the selectivity was confirmed using O3/(CuO/CeO2) and six distinct ozone-resistant probe carboxylates (i.e., acetate, citrate, malonate, oxalate, pyruvate and succinate). Among these probe compounds, pyruvate, oxalate, and citrate were readily degraded following the rate order of oxalate>citrate>pyruvate, while the degradation of acetate, malonate, and succinate was not promoted. The selectivity was independent on carboxylate group number of the probe compounds and solution pH. Competitive degradation was observed for carboxylate mixtures following the preference order of citrate, oxalate, and finally pyruvate. The competitive degradation was ascribed to competitive adsorption on the catalyst surface. It was revealed that the catalytically degradable compounds formed bidentate chelating or bridging complexes with surface copper sites of the catalyst, i.e., the active sites. The catalytically undegradable carboxylates formed monodentate complexes with surface copper sites or just electrostatically adsorbed on the catalyst surface. The selectivity, relying on the structure of surface metal-carboxylate complex, should be considered in the design of catalytic ozonation process. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Adaptive measurement selection for progressive damage estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Wenfan; Kovvali, Narayan; Papandreou-Suppappola, Antonia; Chattopadhyay, Aditi; Peralta, Pedro

2011-04-01

Noise and interference in sensor measurements degrade the quality of data and have a negative impact on the performance of structural damage diagnosis systems. In this paper, a novel adaptive measurement screening approach is presented to automatically select the most informative measurements and use them intelligently for structural damage estimation. The method is implemented efficiently in a sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) setting using particle filtering. The noise suppression and improved damage estimation capability of the proposed method is demonstrated by an application to the problem of estimating progressive fatigue damage in an aluminum compact-tension (CT) sample using noisy PZT sensor measurements.

Herbivory and competition slow down invasion of a tall grass along a productivity gradient

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kuijper, DPJ; Nijhoff, DJ; Bakker, JP

2004-01-01

Competition models including competition for light predict that small plant species preferred by herbivores will be outshaded by taller unpreferred plant species with increasing productivity. When the tall plant species is little grazed by the herbivores, it can easily invade and dominate short

Price competition among Dutch sickness funds

OpenAIRE

Varkevisser, Marco; Geest, Stéphanie

2003-01-01

textabstractIn general, competition enhances efficiency. On the market for health insurance free market competition, however, has unwanted side-effects. The existence of asymmetrical information can lead to adverse selection and cream skimming. Adequate risk-adjustment removes the incentives for cream skimming and balances the negative consequences of adverse selection. In an attempt to enhance efficiency, the Dutch government in 1992 introduced price competition between social health insurer...

Targeted advertising, platform competition and privacy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kox, Henk; Straathof, Bas; Zwart, Gijsbert

2017-01-01

Targeted advertising can benefit consumers through lower prices for access to web sites. Yet, if consumers dislike that web sites collect their personal information, their welfare may go down. We study competition for consumers between web sites that can show targeted advertisements. We find that

Secondary Waste Form Down-Selection Data Package—Fluidized Bed Steam Reforming Waste Form

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Qafoku, Nikolla; Westsik, Joseph H.; Strachan, Denis M.; Valenta, Michelle M.; Pires, Richard P.

2011-09-12

The Hanford Site in southeast Washington State has 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemically hazardous wastes stored in 177 underground tanks (ORP 2010). The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of River Protection (ORP), through its contractors, is constructing the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) to convert the radioactive and hazardous wastes into stable glass waste forms for disposal. Within the WTP, the pretreatment facility will receive the retrieved waste from the tank farms and separate it into two treated process streams. These waste streams will be vitrified, and the resulting waste canisters will be sent to offsite (high-level waste [HLW]) and onsite (immobilized low-activity waste [ILAW]) repositories. As part of the pretreatment and ILAW processing, liquid secondary wastes will be generated that will be transferred to the Effluent Treatment Facility (ETF) on the Hanford Site for further treatment. These liquid secondary wastes will be converted to stable solid waste forms that will be disposed of in the Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF). To support the selection of a waste form for the liquid secondary wastes from WTP, Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) has initiated secondary waste form testing work at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). In anticipation of a down-selection process for a waste form for the Solidification Treatment Unit to be added to the ETF, PNNL is developing data packages to support that down-selection. The objective of the data packages is to identify, evaluate, and summarize the existing information on the four waste forms being considered for stabilizing and solidifying the liquid secondary wastes. At the Hanford Site, the FBSR process is being evaluated as a supplemental technology for treating and immobilizing Hanford LAW radioactive tank waste and for treating secondary wastes from the WTP pretreatment and LAW vitrification processes.

Sensor Data Quality and Angular Rate Down-Selection Algorithms on SLS EM-1

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Thomas; Smith, Austin; Oliver, T. Emerson

2018-01-01

The NASA Space Launch System Block 1 launch vehicle is equipped with an Inertial Navigation System (INS) and multiple Rate Gyro Assemblies (RGA) that are used in the Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GN&C) algorithms. The INS provides the inertial position, velocity, and attitude of the vehicle along with both angular rate and specific force measurements. Additionally, multiple sets of co-located rate gyros supply angular rate data. The collection of angular rate data, taken along the launch vehicle, is used to separate out vehicle motion from flexible body dynamics. Since the system architecture uses redundant sensors, the capability was developed to evaluate the health (or validity) of the independent measurements. A suite of Sensor Data Quality (SDQ) algorithms is responsible for assessing the angular rate data from the redundant sensors. When failures are detected, SDQ will take the appropriate action and disqualify or remove faulted sensors from forward processing. Additionally, the SDQ algorithms contain logic for down-selecting the angular rate data used by the GNC software from the set of healthy measurements. This paper explores the trades and analyses that were performed in selecting a set of robust fault-detection algorithms included in the GN&C flight software. These trades included both an assessment of hardware-provided health and status data as well as an evaluation of different algorithms based on time-to-detection, type of failures detected, and probability of detecting false positives. We then provide an overview of the algorithms used for both fault-detection and measurement down selection. We next discuss the role of trajectory design, flexible-body models, and vehicle response to off-nominal conditions in setting the detection thresholds. Lastly, we present lessons learned from software integration and hardware-in-the-loop testing.

A biased competition account of attention and memory in Alzheimer's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Finke, Kathrin; Myers, Nicholas; Bublak, Peter; Sorg, Christian

2013-10-19

The common view of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is that of an age-related memory disorder, i.e. declarative memory deficits are the first signs of the disease and associated with progressive brain changes in the medial temporal lobes and the default mode network. However, two findings challenge this view. First, new model-based tools of attention research have revealed that impaired selective attention accompanies memory deficits from early pre-dementia AD stages on. Second, very early distributed lesions of lateral parietal networks may cause these attention deficits by disrupting brain mechanisms underlying attentional biased competition. We suggest that memory and attention impairments might indicate disturbances of a common underlying neurocognitive mechanism. We propose a unifying account of impaired neural interactions within and across brain networks involved in attention and memory inspired by the biased competition principle. We specify this account at two levels of analysis: at the computational level, the selective competition of representations during both perception and memory is biased by AD-induced lesions; at the large-scale brain level, integration within and across intrinsic brain networks, which overlap in parietal and temporal lobes, is disrupted. This account integrates a large amount of previously unrelated findings of changed behaviour and brain networks and favours a brain mechanism-centred view on AD.

Approaches to LLW disposal site selection and current progress of host states

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walsh, J.J.; Kerr, T.A.

1990-11-01

In accordance with the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985 and under the guidance of 10 CFR 61, States have begun entering into compacts to establish and operate regional disposal facilities for low-level radioactive waste. The progress a state makes in implementing a process to identify a specific location for a disposal site is one indication of the level of a state's commitment to meeting its responsibilities under Federal law and interstate compact agreements. During the past few years, several States have been engaged in site selection processes. The purpose of this report is to summarize the site selection approaches of some of the Host States (California, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Texas, and Illinois), and their progress to date. An additional purpose of the report is to discern whether the Host States's site selection processes were heavily influenced by any common factors. One factor each state held in common was that political and public processes exerted a powerful influence on the site selection process at virtually every stage. 1 ref

FORMULATION STRATEGY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF POWER COMPETITION

OpenAIRE

Ljiljana Stošić Mihajlović

2014-01-01

In this work, the subject of the research is defined starting hypothesis that formulation in the form of answers to the question: What factors - competitive forces shape strategy? Strategy formulation essentially boils down to competition. Competitors are all - customers, suppliers, potential new entrants to the market and producers of substitutes - and depending on the industry, may be more or less important or active. The first primary determinant of a firm's prof...

Export competitiveness of pakistani horticultural products

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akhtar, W.; Akmal, N.; Shah, H.; Tahir, A.; Niazi, M.A.

2013-01-01

This paper examines Pakistan's competitiveness in export of selected horticulture commodities by employing set of revealed comparative advantage (RCA) and revealed competitive advantage indices with respect to global trade. Results demonstrate that Pakistan has comparative and competitive advantage over the period under analysis and indicates a transition from comparative and competitive disadvantage to comparative and competitive advantage during the period under analysis. Tangerines, mandarins, clem have maintained relatively higher revealed comparative advantage as compared to other categories for the whole period under analysis. Onion export has revealed comparative advantage with some fluctuations over time. The research indicates that Pakistan's comparative and competitive advantages have been increasing in all the selected commodities during period under analysis which indicates the potential of horticulture exports for foreign exchange earnings. There is need to strengthen comparative and competitive advantage in horticulture sector by policy support and facilitating role by all stakeholders. (author)

NPD project portfolio selection using reinvestment strategy in competitive environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alireza Ghassemi

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This study aims to design a new model for selecting most fitting new product development projects in a pool of projects. To catch the best model, we assume new products will be introduced to the competitive markets. Also, we suppose the revenue yielded by completed projects can be reinvested on implementation of other projects. Other sources of financing are borrowing loans from banks and initial capital of the firm. These limited resources determine most evaluated projects to be performed. Several types of interactions among different projects are considered to make the chosen projects more like a portfolio. In addition, some numerical examples from the real world are provided to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model. These examples show how the particular considerations in the suggested model affect the results.

Size-selective predation and predator-induced life-history shifts alter the outcome of competition between planktonic grazers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hülsmann, S.; Rinke, K.; Mooij, W.M.

2011-01-01

1.We studied the effect of size-selective predation on the outcome of competition between two differently sized prey species in a homogenous environment. 2. Using a physiologically structured population model, we calculated equilibrium food concentrations for a range of predation scenarios defined

Competitive Liner Shipping Network Design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karsten, Christian Vad

.The contributions of this thesis cover modeling, methodology, and applications.The developed methods address operational (cargo routing), tactical (speed optimization and service selection), and strategic (network design) planning problems faced by liner shipping companies. Ultimately, the proposed methods help...... take the container transportation times that can be realized in the network nor the number of transshipments into consideration. This is mainly because the optimization problem is based on other transportation networks where these constraints are not decisive to the quality of the network. Furthermore......, the problem in itself is challenging to optimize due to its size and complexity. However, the field has seen crucial progress and is mature to include handling of competitiveness in the actual design of the network.As a liner shipping network is an organic entity, which is constantly changed to reflect...

Performance of the Dutch non-life insurance industry: competition, efficiency and focus

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bikker, J.A.; Gorter, J.

This paper investigates competition in the Dutch non-life insurance industry indirectly by measuring scale economies and X-inefficiency, assuming that strong competition would force insurance firms to exploit unused scale economies and to push down inefficiencies. We observe substantial economies of

The influence of extrinsic motivation on competition-based selection.

Science.gov (United States)

Sänger, Jessica; Wascher, Edmund

2011-10-10

The biased competition approach to visuo-spatial attention proposes that the selection of competing information is effected by the saliency of the stimulus as well as by an intention-based bias of attention towards behavioural goals. Wascher and Beste (2010) [32] showed that the detection of relevant information depends on its relative saliency compared to irrelevant conflicting stimuli. Furthermore the N1pc, N2pc and N2 of the EEG varied with the strength of the conflict. However, this system could also be modulated by rather global mechanisms like attentional effort. The present study investigates such modulations by testing the influence of extrinsic motivation on the selection of competing stimuli. Participants had to detect a luminance change in various conditions among others against an irrelevant orientation change. Half of the participants were motivated to maximize their performance by the announcement of a monetary reward for correct responses. Participants who were motivated had lower error rates than participants who were not motivated. The event-related lateralizations of the EEG showed no motivation-related effect on the N1pc, which reflects the initial saliency driven orientation of attention towards the more salient stimulus. The subsequent N2pc was enhanced in the motivation condition. Extrinsic motivation was also accompanied by enhanced fronto-central negativities. Thus, the data provide evidence that the improvement of selection performance when participants were extrinsically motivated by announcing a reward was not due to changes in the initial saliency based processing of information but was foremost mediated by improved higher-level mechanisms. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Progressive sampling-based Bayesian optimization for efficient and automatic machine learning model selection.

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, Xueqiang; Luo, Gang

2017-12-01

Machine learning is broadly used for clinical data analysis. Before training a model, a machine learning algorithm must be selected. Also, the values of one or more model parameters termed hyper-parameters must be set. Selecting algorithms and hyper-parameter values requires advanced machine learning knowledge and many labor-intensive manual iterations. To lower the bar to machine learning, miscellaneous automatic selection methods for algorithms and/or hyper-parameter values have been proposed. Existing automatic selection methods are inefficient on large data sets. This poses a challenge for using machine learning in the clinical big data era. To address the challenge, this paper presents progressive sampling-based Bayesian optimization, an efficient and automatic selection method for both algorithms and hyper-parameter values. We report an implementation of the method. We show that compared to a state of the art automatic selection method, our method can significantly reduce search time, classification error rate, and standard deviation of error rate due to randomization. This is major progress towards enabling fast turnaround in identifying high-quality solutions required by many machine learning-based clinical data analysis tasks.

Selective intake of down-pit water and separating potable water from water-bearing seams at the Rydultowy mine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Musiolik, H; Sikora, A; Murek, R

1987-06-01

Discusses problems of pit water selection. Describes the method of water intake, down-pit transport, pumping the separated potable water and its treatment at the Rydultowy mine. Stresses the usefulness of pit water selection in view of the existing shortage of potable water. Geologic and mining conditions at the mine are described along with the amount of water influx into the mine. Advantages arising from mine water utilization are outlined.

Progression of suicidal ideation to suicidal behavior from a perspective of selected suicidological models.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodziński, Paweł; Rutkowski, Krzysztof; Ostachowska, Anna

2017-06-18

In clinical practice suicidal ideation (SI) is one of the most commonly encountered symptoms in patients with mental disorders. Such encounter calls for diligent evaluation of suicidal risk. Although the risk factors are widely known, accurate estimation of suicidal risk remains one of the most difficult and most important tasks that clinicians face - especially considering recently collected data showing increase in suicide prevalence in Poland. More thorough estimation of suicidal risk in patients with SI requires taking under consideration not only suicidal risk factors but also factors that are more specific for progression of SI to suicidal behaviors (SB). The review presented in this paper consists of a range of suicidological theories that allow to select a number of groups of factors and mechanisms that are most specific for progression of SI to SB. These groups include: (1) transgression of fear of causing harm and pain to oneself, as well as disintegration of other protective barriers such as (2) decline of social integration with others, feeling of being alienated or abandoned, decline of sense of belongingness, lack of social support, (3) resignation from family and social obligations, (4) dismissing cultural or religious norms, (5) rejection of life goals, values and aspirations that were appreciated earlier, (6) narrowing down in perceived alternatives for suicide, i.e., "tunnel vision", feelings of helplessness and powerlessness, (7) devising in details and accepting simple suicidal plan, especially when such plan is being consolidated through rehearsals and as if "automatized", (8) impulsiveness, (9) accumulation of aggression that may be vented out as suicide, and finally (10) accessibility of means to commit suicide.

Chemical Methods to Knock Down the Amyloid Proteins

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Na Gao

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Amyloid proteins are closely related with amyloid diseases and do tremendous harm to human health. However, there is still a lack of effective strategies to treat these amyloid diseases, so it is important to develop novel methods. Accelerating the clearance of amyloid proteins is a favorable method for amyloid disease treatment. Recently, chemical methods for protein reduction have been developed and have attracted much attention. In this review, we focus on the latest progress of chemical methods that knock down amyloid proteins, including the proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC strategy, the “recognition-cleavage” strategy, the chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA strategy, the selectively light-activatable organic and inorganic molecules strategy and other chemical strategies.

Strategic Alliance: Competitiveness of Sino-Foreign Cooperative School Running Operation

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Lihui; Hou, Tao; Li, Ze

2011-01-01

Lying in a transformation period of economic development, economic prosperity, social progress and development in science and technology have to rely on strong competitiveness of a nation's universities to a large degree. Actually, universities' competitiveness is closely related to the improvement of a nation's competitiveness in human resources,…

First International Public Health Film Competition 2016-reflections on the development and use of competition judging criteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoang, U; Luna, P; Russell, P; Bergonzi-King, L; Ashton, J; McCarthy, C; Donovan, H; Inman, P; Seminog, O; Botchway, S

2018-03-01

Film competitions can be a helpful method to understand issues of quality in health films. In this paper, we describe the development and use of explicit quality criteria to identify the 'best' films for the first ever international public health film competition. A film selection committee encompassing a range of stakeholders was compiled. The committee drew up 10 explicit quality criteria to judge films drawing upon other film festival's selection criteria. These criteria were then applied to a broad range of health-related films entered into a film competition to select the 'best' film to screen. Eighty-four films from 20 different countries were submitted to the public health film competition. The originality of the subject covered by the film, the public health importance of the issue and story-telling approach in the film were found to be the most discriminatory criteria to select films. Selection of health films for festivals can be undertaken using explicit quality criteria. There are a number of advantages to such an approach; however, explicit selection involves a large commitment of resources from film festival organizers and there is further research required to test the validity of the quality criteria applied to health-related films.

Business networking for SMEs as a means to promote regional competitiveness: A Theoretical Framework

OpenAIRE

Vitor Braga

2004-01-01

The competitiveness of regions, as a means of promoting the competitiveness of a country as a whole, has been one of the main topics on the agenda of policy makers over the last decades. Several attempts at promoting competitiveness have been made with different degrees of success. In most cases, public investment in the regions was perceived as the solution to promote regional competitiveness and top-down policies were implemented. However, competitiveness also has an important dimension tha...

Critical success factors for competitiveness of construction companies: A critical review

Science.gov (United States)

Hanafi, Abdul Ghafur; Nawi, Mohd Nasrun Mohd

2016-08-01

Making progress basically, a fundamental issue for the construction companies to get by in a highly competitive industry. From time to time, industry players are facing stiff and tough competition due to large number of players, whether existing or new players involved from various background and track record. Furthermore, the large numbers of component deciding the competitiveness of contractors, whose organization structures and governance have turned out to be more muddled. Different construction companies have their own unique criteria which may differ from one to another. The enormous amount of issues needs to bring down to manageable numbers so that measures can be identified and scrutinized to enhance competitiveness. This paper discusses the result from the critical investigation from past studies in the Asian countries, namely China, India, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. Several fundamental factors have been identified as CSFs in construction companies in respective country. Also highlighted a critical survey based upon various literatures written on this subject where critical success factors (CSFs) as a yardstick to gauge the relationship among CSFs in various construction companies in the Asian region. Far reaching estimation of an organization's performance and resulting input to its supervision is crucial for business change. Estimation additionally empowers organizations to be contrasted from one another on the premise of institutionalized data, permitting best practices to be distinguished and connected more widely. Different countries have their own set of critical success factors (CSFs) which may differ in term of priority and at the same time share common elements of success factor in accomplishment as a construction companies. The study, which is exploratory in nature, embraced the content investigation and inductive technique to accomplish its objectives.

Microenvironmental independence associated with tumor progression.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Alexander R A; Hassanein, Mohamed; Branch, Kevin M; Lu, Jenny; Lobdell, Nichole A; Maier, Julie; Basanta, David; Weidow, Brandy; Narasanna, Archana; Arteaga, Carlos L; Reynolds, Albert B; Quaranta, Vito; Estrada, Lourdes; Weaver, Alissa M

2009-11-15

Tumor-microenvironment interactions are increasingly recognized to influence tumor progression. To understand the competitive dynamics of tumor cells in diverse microenvironments, we experimentally parameterized a hybrid discrete-continuum mathematical model with phenotypic trait data from a set of related mammary cell lines with normal, transformed, or tumorigenic properties. Surprisingly, in a resource-rich microenvironment, with few limitations on proliferation or migration, transformed (but not tumorigenic) cells were most successful and outcompeted other cell types in heterogeneous tumor simulations. Conversely, constrained microenvironments with limitations on space and/or growth factors gave a selective advantage to phenotypes derived from tumorigenic cell lines. Analysis of the relative performance of each phenotype in constrained versus unconstrained microenvironments revealed that, although all cell types grew more slowly in resource-constrained microenvironments, the most aggressive cells were least affected by microenvironmental constraints. A game theory model testing the relationship between microenvironment resource availability and competitive cellular dynamics supports the concept that microenvironmental independence is an advantageous cellular trait in resource-limited microenvironments.

Dissolved methane oxidation and competition for oxygen in down-flow hanging sponge reactor for post-treatment of anaerobic wastewater treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Hatamoto, Masashi; Miyauchi, Tomo; Kindaichi, Tomonori; Ozaki, Noriatsu; Ohashi, Akiyoshi

2011-11-01

Post-treatment of anaerobic wastewater was undertaken to biologically oxidize dissolved methane, with the aim of preventing methane emission. The performance of dissolved methane oxidation and competition for oxygen among methane, ammonium, organic matter, and sulfide oxidizing bacteria were investigated using a lab-scale closed-type down-flow hanging sponge (DHS) reactor. Under the oxygen abundant condition of a hydraulic retention time of 2h and volumetric air supply rate of 12.95m(3)-airm(-3)day(-1), greater than 90% oxidation of dissolved methane, ammonium, sulfide, and organic matter was achieved. With reduction in the air supply rate, ammonium oxidation first ceased, after which methane oxidation deteriorated. Sulfide oxidation was disrupted in the final step, indicating that COD and sulfide oxidation occurred prior to methane oxidation. A microbial community analysis revealed that peculiar methanotrophic communities dominating the Methylocaldum species were formed in the DHS reactor operation. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gender and Competition in Adolescence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dreber, Anna; Essen, Emma von; Ranehill, Eva

2013-01-01

We look at gender differences among adolescents in Sweden in preferences for competition, altruism and risk. For competitiveness, we explore two different tasks that differ in associated stereotypes. We find no gender difference in competitiveness when comparing performance under competition...... to that without competition. We further find that boys and girls are equally likely to self-select into competition in a verbal task, but that boys are significantly more likely to choose to compete in a mathematical task. This gender gap diminishes and becomes nonsignificant when we control for actual...... performance, beliefs about relative performance, and risk preferences, or for beliefs only. Girls are also more altruistic and less risk taking than boys....

Secondary Waste Form Down Selection Data Package – Ceramicrete

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cantrell, Kirk J.; Westsik, Joseph H.

2011-08-31

As part of high-level waste pretreatment and immobilized low activity waste processing, liquid secondary wastes will be generated that will be transferred to the Effluent Treatment Facility on the Hanford Site for further treatment. These liquid secondary wastes will be converted to stable solid waste forms that will be disposed in the Integrated Disposal Facility. Currently, four waste forms are being considered for stabilization and solidification of the liquid secondary wastes. These waste forms are Cast Stone, Ceramicrete, DuraLith, and Fluidized Bed Steam Reformer. The preferred alternative will be down selected from these four waste forms. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is developing data packages to support the down selection process. The objective of the data packages is to identify, evaluate, and summarize the existing information on the four waste forms being considered for stabilization and solidification of the liquid secondary wastes. The information included will be based on information available in the open literature and from data obtained from testing currently underway. This data package is for the Ceramicrete waste form. Ceramicrete is a relatively new engineering material developed at Argonne National Laboratory to treat radioactive and hazardous waste streams (e.g., Wagh 2004; Wagh et al. 1999a, 2003; Singh et al. 2000). This cement-like waste form can be used to treat solids, liquids, and sludges by chemical immobilization, microencapsulation, and/or macroencapsulation. The Ceramicrete technology is based on chemical reaction between phosphate anions and metal cations to form a strong, dense, durable, low porosity matrix that immobilizes hazardous and radioactive contaminants as insoluble phosphates and microencapsulates insoluble radioactive components and other constituents that do not form phosphates. Ceramicrete is a type of phosphate-bonded ceramic, which are also known as chemically bonded phosphate ceramics. The Ceramicrete

Competitiveness of Serbia as a tourist destination: Analysis of selected key indicators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Popesku Jovan

2013-01-01

Full Text Available To achieve the favourable competitiveness position, tourist destination has to offer quality experiences to tourists that can make the destination more attractive compared to other tourist destinations. The role of destination management is to exploit and develop existing resources by using clear and effective strategies for developing tourism products and creating additional value of tourist experience. The first step of analysis is to define destination competitiveness by using the indicators which will review and give the guidelines for improvement of competitive position. This paper discusses the tourist destinations' competitiveness and indicators for its measurement with a special reference to Serbia. Tourism development of Serbia is a big chance for overall economic development of the country. Current competitive position of Serbian tourism on international market is not satisfactory and this paper is trying to analyze and to point out the reasons of Serbia's tourism low competitiveness. Conclusions about the competitive positioning of Serbia as a tourist destination are drawn out firstly based on the relevant studies as well as on the Serbian Tourism Development Strategy. The results of Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (WEF TTCI reports for Serbia are also presented. Based on own research, this paper is also showing the results related to competitiveness of Serbia as a tourist destination in terms of two groups of indicators: natural, cultural and historical resources as well as destination management. According to the results, Serbia is more competitive in its natural, cultural and historical resources comparing to the role of destination management.

Violence: heightened brain attentional network response is selectively muted in Down syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Jeffrey S; Treiman, Scott M; Ferguson, Michael A; Nielsen, Jared A; Edgin, Jamie O; Dai, Li; Gerig, Guido; Korenberg, Julie R

2015-01-01

The ability to recognize and respond appropriately to threat is critical to survival, and the neural substrates subserving attention to threat may be probed using depictions of media violence. Whether neural responses to potential threat differ in Down syndrome is not known. We performed functional MRI scans of 15 adolescent and adult Down syndrome and 14 typically developing individuals, group matched by age and gender, during 50 min of passive cartoon viewing. Brain activation to auditory and visual features, violence, and presence of the protagonist and antagonist were compared across cartoon segments. fMRI signal from the brain's dorsal attention network was compared to thematic and violent events within the cartoons between Down syndrome and control samples. We found that in typical development, the brain's dorsal attention network was most active during violent scenes in the cartoons and that this was significantly and specifically reduced in Down syndrome. When the antagonist was on screen, there was significantly less activation in the left medial temporal lobe of individuals with Down syndrome. As scenes represented greater relative threat, the disparity between attentional brain activation in Down syndrome and control individuals increased. There was a reduction in the temporal autocorrelation of the dorsal attention network, consistent with a shortened attention span in Down syndrome. Individuals with Down syndrome exhibited significantly reduced activation in primary sensory cortices, and such perceptual impairments may constrain their ability to respond to more complex social cues such as violence. These findings may indicate a relative deficit in emotive perception of violence in Down syndrome, possibly mediated by impaired sensory perception and hypoactivation of medial temporal structures in response to threats, with relative preservation of activity in pro-social brain regions. These findings indicate that specific genetic differences associated

Scientific Progress in Strategic Management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Foss, Nicolai Juul

Does the RBV represent a case of scientific progress? And has it emerged as the dominant approach to the analysis of competitive advantage for this reason? Conventional criteria for scientific progress, notably those of the growth of knowledge literature, are not particularly helpful for understa...

Imaging cell competition in Drosophila imaginal discs.

Science.gov (United States)

Ohsawa, Shizue; Sugimura, Kaoru; Takino, Kyoko; Igaki, Tatsushi

2012-01-01

Cell competition is a process in which cells with higher fitness ("winners") survive and proliferate at the expense of less fit neighbors ("losers"). It has been suggested that cell competition is involved in a variety of biological processes such as organ size control, tissue homeostasis, cancer progression, and the maintenance of stem cell population. By advent of a genetic mosaic technique, which enables to generate fluorescently marked somatic clones in Drosophila imaginal discs, recent studies have presented some aspects of molecular mechanisms underlying cell competition. Now, with a live-imaging technique using ex vivo-cultured imaginal discs, we can dissect the spatiotemporal nature of competitive cell behaviors within multicellular communities. Here, we describe procedures and tips for live imaging of cell competition in Drosophila imaginal discs. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

FORMULATION STRATEGY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF POWER COMPETITION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ljiljana Stošić Mihajlović

2014-10-01

Full Text Available In this work, the subject of the research is defined starting hypothesis that formulation in the form of answers to the question: What factors - competitive forces shape strategy? Strategy formulation essentially boils down to competition. Competitors are all - customers, suppliers, potential new entrants to the market and producers of substitutes - and depending on the industry, may be more or less important or active. The first primary determinant of a firm's profitability is the attractiveness of the system to which it belongs. Competitive strategy must be developed from the basic knowledge of the rules of competition that determine the attractiveness of an economic system. The ultimate aim of competitive strategy is to apply, or - ideally - a change these rules in favor of the company. In any economic system, regardless of Whether it is domestic or international, and Whether products or services, the rules of competition are embodied in five competitive factors, the five basic forces: the entry of new competitors into the market, the threat of substitution, bargaining power of the buyer, bargaining power of suppliers and rivalry among existing competitors. Joint strength of these forces determines the ultimate potential of an activity to make a profit.

Relationship between Admission Selection Criteria and Academic Progression for Student Nurse Anesthetists

Science.gov (United States)

Burns, Sharon M.

2009-01-01

Today's admission selection criteria require refinement with the intention of fostering academic progression for students entering nurse anesthesia programs (Reese, 2002).With the escalating cost of graduate education coupled with the current economic crisis, efforts by educational leaders to minimize attrition remains pivotal (Andrews, Johansson,…

Analysis of Structural Changes and Competitiveness of East Asian Exports after the Currency Crisis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wangjoong Kim

1999-06-01

Full Text Available This thesis analyzed the export structure and competitive relation of Eastern Asia after the economic crisis in 1997. After the crisis, the export of Eastern Asia slowed down; especially the economic stagnation of Eastern Asia resulted in the big scale decrease in export in that area. Under this situation, Eastern Asia began more and more depending on the export of America. The competition among the Eastern Asia countries takes on a fiercer situation in American market. On the other hand, observing the export competition among the Eastern Asia countries in American market around the foreign exchange crisis period in aspects such as the market share, the extent of export competition and the index of MCA, the result is that Korea has fallen behind the other countries of Asia including China. The export-oriented economy of Korea has been pinned down. Especially considering the importance of export after foreign exchange crisis, this will be a disconcerting problem.

Energy resource alternatives competition. Progress report for the period February 1, 1975--December 31, 1975. [Space heating and cooling, hot water, and electricity for homes, farms, and light industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matzke, D.J.; Osowski, D.M.; Radtke, M.L.

1976-01-01

This progress report describes the objectives and results of the intercollegiate Energy Resource Alternatives competition. The one-year program concluded in August 1975, with a final testing program of forty student-built alternative energy projects at the Sandia Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The goal of the competition was to design and build prototype hardware which could provide space heating and cooling, hot water, and electricity at a level appropriate to the needs of homes, farms, and light industry. The hardware projects were powered by such nonconventional energy sources as solar energy, wind, biologically produced gas, coal, and ocean waves. The competition rules emphasized design innovation, economic feasibility, practicality, and marketability. (auth)

A Rhodium(III) Complex as an Inhibitor of Neural Precursor Cell Expressed, Developmentally Down-Regulated 8-Activating Enzyme with in Vivo Activity against Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, Hai-Jing; Wang, Wanhe; Kang, Tian-Shu; Yan, Hui; Yang, Yali; Xu, Lipeng; Wang, Yuqiang; Ma, Dik-Lung; Leung, Chung-Hang

2017-01-12

We report herein the identification of the rhodium(III) complex [Rh(phq) 2 (MOPIP)] + (1) as a potent and selective ATP-competitive neural precursor cell expressed, developmentally down-regulated 8 (NEDD8)-activating enzyme (NAE) inhibitor. Structure-activity relationship analysis indicated that the overall organometallic design of complex 1 was important for anti-inflammatory activity. Complex 1 showed promising anti-inflammatory activity in vivo for the potential treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.

Price competition among Dutch sickness funds

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M. Varkevisser (Marco); S.A. van der Geest (Stéphanie)

2003-01-01

textabstractIn general, competition enhances efficiency. On the market for health insurance free market competition, however, has unwanted side-effects. The existence of asymmetrical information can lead to adverse selection and cream skimming. Adequate risk-adjustment removes the incentives for

Down-regulation of tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle genes blocks progression through the first mitotic division in Caenorhabditis elegans embryos.

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Rahman, Mohammad M; Rosu, Simona; Joseph-Strauss, Daphna; Cohen-Fix, Orna

2014-02-18

The cell cycle is a highly regulated process that enables the accurate transmission of chromosomes to daughter cells. Here we uncover a previously unknown link between the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and cell cycle progression in the Caenorhabditis elegans early embryo. We found that down-regulation of TCA cycle components, including citrate synthase, malate dehydrogenase, and aconitase, resulted in a one-cell stage arrest before entry into mitosis: pronuclear meeting occurred normally, but nuclear envelope breakdown, centrosome separation, and chromosome condensation did not take place. Mitotic entry is controlled by the cyclin B-cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (Cdk1) complex, and the inhibitory phosphorylation of Cdk1 must be removed in order for the complex to be active. We found that following down-regulation of the TCA cycle, cyclin B levels were normal but CDK-1 remained inhibitory-phosphorylated in one-cell stage-arrested embryos, indicative of a G2-like arrest. Moreover, this was not due to an indirect effect caused by checkpoint activation by DNA damage or replication defects. These observations suggest that CDK-1 activation in the C. elegans one-cell embryo is sensitive to the metabolic state of the cell, and that down-regulation of the TCA cycle prevents the removal of CDK-1 inhibitory phosphorylation. The TCA cycle was previously shown to be necessary for the development of the early embryo in mammals, but the molecular processes affected were not known. Our study demonstrates a link between the TCA cycle and a specific cell cycle transition in the one-cell stage embryo.

Alberta's new competitive electricity system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hancher, L.

1996-01-01

The shape, speed and direction of further reforms in Alberta's electric power industry were forecast, following the introduction of a competitive framework for the industry, the first province to do so in Canada, effective January 1996. This study reviews the previously existing system ( a mix of investor-owned and municipally-owned utilities), as well as the proposed new structure as laid out in the new Electric Utilities Act, based on the three principles of unbundling, a competitive power pool and open system access transmission. The paper also reviewed some of the major issues that will have to be faced in the future, such as how to deal with market power and possible collusion between the generators to hold prices down, a problem that has been the well-known failing of the U.K. pool mechanism

Competition between clonal plasma cells and normal cells for potentially overlapping bone marrow niches is associated with a progressively altered cellular distribution in MGUS vs myeloma.

Science.gov (United States)

Paiva, B; Pérez-Andrés, M; Vídriales, M-B; Almeida, J; de las Heras, N; Mateos, M-V; López-Corral, L; Gutiérrez, N C; Blanco, J; Oriol, A; Hernández, M T; de Arriba, F; de Coca, A G; Terol, M-J; de la Rubia, J; González, Y; Martín, A; Sureda, A; Schmidt-Hieber, M; Schmitz, A; Johnsen, H E; Lahuerta, J-J; Bladé, J; San-Miguel, J F; Orfao, A

2011-04-01

Disappearance of normal bone marrow (BM) plasma cells (PC) predicts malignant transformation of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and smoldering myeloma (SMM) into symptomatic multiple myeloma (MM). The homing, behavior and survival of normal PC, but also CD34(+) hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), B-cell precursors, and clonal PC largely depends on their interaction with stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) expressing, potentially overlapping BM stromal cell niches. Here, we investigate the distribution, phenotypic characteristics and competitive migration capacity of these cell populations in patients with MGUS, SMM and MM vs healthy adults (HA) aged >60 years. Our results show that BM and peripheral blood (PB) clonal PC progressively increase from MGUS to MM, the latter showing a slightly more immature immunophenotype. Of note, such increased number of clonal PC is associated with progressive depletion of normal PC, B-cell precursors and CD34(+) HSC in the BM, also with a parallel increase in PB. In an ex vivo model, normal PC, B-cell precursors and CD34(+) HSC from MGUS and SMM, but not MM patients, were able to abrogate the migration of clonal PC into serial concentrations of SDF-1. Overall, our results show that progressive competition and replacement of normal BM cells by clonal PC is associated with more advanced disease in patients with MGUS, SMM and MM.

CCND1-CDK4-mediated cell cycle progression provides a competitive advantage for human hematopoietic stem cells in vivo.

Science.gov (United States)

Mende, Nicole; Kuchen, Erika E; Lesche, Mathias; Grinenko, Tatyana; Kokkaliaris, Konstantinos D; Hanenberg, Helmut; Lindemann, Dirk; Dahl, Andreas; Platz, Alexander; Höfer, Thomas; Calegari, Federico; Waskow, Claudia

2015-07-27

Maintenance of stem cell properties is associated with reduced proliferation. However, in mouse hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), loss of quiescence results in a wide range of phenotypes, ranging from functional failure to extensive self-renewal. It remains unknown whether the function of human HSCs is controlled by the kinetics of cell cycle progression. Using human HSCs and human progenitor cells (HSPCs), we report here that elevated levels of CCND1-CDK4 complexes promoted the transit from G0 to G1 and shortened the G1 cell cycle phase, resulting in protection from differentiation-inducing signals in vitro and increasing human leukocyte engraftment in vivo. Further, CCND1-CDK4 overexpression conferred a competitive advantage without impacting HSPC numbers. In contrast, accelerated cell cycle progression mediated by elevated levels of CCNE1-CDK2 led to the loss of functional HSPCs in vivo. Collectively, these data suggest that the transition kinetics through the early cell cycle phases are key regulators of human HSPC function and important for lifelong hematopoiesis. © 2015 Mende et al.

Martial arts sports medicine: current issues and competition event coverage.

Science.gov (United States)

Nishime, Robert S

2007-06-01

More sports medicine professionals are becoming actively involved in the care of the martial arts athlete. Although there are many different forms of martial arts practiced worldwide, certain styles have shown a potential for increased participation in competitive-type events. Further research is needed to better understand the prevalence and profiles of injuries sustained in martial arts full-contact competitive events. Breaking down the martial art techniques into basic concepts of striking, grappling, and submission maneuvers, including choking and joint locking, may facilitate better understanding and management of injuries. This article outlines this approach and reviews the commonly encountered injuries and problems during martial arts full-contact competitions.

Building New Competition Law Regimes: Selected Essays | CRDI ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

29 mars 2013 ... Individual chapters examine the development of competition law regimes in diverse countries – Mexico, Hungary, South Africa, Thailand (with remarks on South ... David Lewis is Executive Director of Corruption Watch and Extraordinary Professor at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, South Africa.

Comparison of physical capacities between nonselected and selected elite male competitive surfers for the National Junior Team.

Science.gov (United States)

Tran, Tai T; Lundgren, Lina; Secomb, Josh; Farley, Oliver R L; Haff, G Gregory; Seitz, Laurent B; Newton, Robert U; Nimphius, Sophia; Sheppard, Jeremy M

2015-03-01

To determine whether a previously validated performance-testing protocol for competitive surfers is able to differentiate between Australian elite junior surfers selected (S) to the national team and those not selected (NS). Thirty-two elite male competitive junior surfers were divided into 2 groups (S=16, NS=16). Their age, height, body mass, sum of 7 skinfolds, and lean-body-mass ratio (mean±SD) were 16.17±1.26 y, 173.40±5.30 cm, 62.35±7.40 kg, 41.74±10.82 mm, 1.54±0.35 for the S athletes and 16.13±1.02 y, 170.56±6.6 cm, 61.46±10.10 kg, 49.25±13.04 mm, 1.31±0.30 for the NS athletes. Power (countermovement jump [CMJ]), strength (isometric midthigh pull), 15-m sprint paddling, and 400-m endurance paddling were measured. There were significant (P≤.05) differences between the S and NS athletes for relative vertical-jump peak force (P=.01, d=0.9); CMJ height (P=.01, d=0.9); time to 5-, 10-, and 15-m sprint paddle; sprint paddle peak velocity (P=.03, d=0.8; PV); time to 400 m (P=.04, d=0.7); and endurance paddling velocity (P=.05, d=0.7). All performance variables, particularly CMJ height; time to 5-, 10-, and 15-m sprint paddle; sprint paddle PV; time to 400 m; and endurance paddling velocity, can effectively discriminate between S and NS competitive surfers, and this may be important for athlete profiling and training-program design.

Obama Pushes Pre-K, Competitive Grants in Budget

Science.gov (United States)

Klein, Alyson

2013-01-01

President Barack Obama's latest budget proposal envisions a sweeping, multi-billion-dollar expansion of prekindergarten programs and doubles down on the administration's strategy of using competitive grants to drive big change in states and districts--all as school districts try to cope with the largest cuts to federal education spending in recent…

Building New Competition Law Regimes : Selected Essays | IDRC ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

29 mars 2013 ... Ce livre porte sur la création d'institutions du droit de la concurrence. ... et plus précisément sur celui de l'International Competition Network, ainsi que sur ... How low- and middle-income countries support public science has a ...

The impact of competition on quality and prices in the English care homes market.

Science.gov (United States)

Forder, Julien; Allan, Stephen

2014-03-01

This study assesses the impact of competition on quality and price in the English care/nursing homes market. Considering the key institutional features, we use a theoretical model to assess the conditions under which further competition could increase or reduce quality. A dataset comprising the population of 10,000 care homes was used. We constructed distance/travel-time weighted competition measures. Instrumental variable estimations, used to account for the endogeneity of competition, showed quality and price were reduced by greater competition. Further analyses suggested that the negative quality effect worked through the effect on price - higher competition reduces revenue which pushes down quality. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

EDITORIAL: Physics competitions Physics competitions

Science.gov (United States)

Jordens, H.; Mathelitsch, L.

2009-11-01

1. Physics competitions: aims and realizations One aim of physics competitions is to increase the interest of young students, primarily at upper secondary level, to physics and natural sciences in general. A competition has motivational aspects known usually from sports events or games—comparing one's own ability with others, of course with the desire to be better and to win. If competitions reach nationwide and even international levels, additional stimulation is created. Competitions provide greatest attraction to possible winners, to the group of gifted people in a particular field. This implies that science contests are excellent tools for the promotion of talented students. Traditional teaching has been shown to have problems in supporting this group of students. Very often teachers are overstretched with the demands of teaching both low- and high-level students. Extracurricular activities are therefore a good chance to relieve the teacher, and to give talented students the opportunity for appropriate training and challenge. The competitions, however, have a broader impact and address more young people than one might guess from the statements above. Training courses and selection at school level give a larger group of students extra and, to some extent, complimentary education in physics. The degree of complexity of the tasks corresponds very often to the standards of the next level of education in the school system. Interestingly, many physics competitions have their origin in countries beyond the former Iron Curtain. They started as regional and national tournaments, were joined by neighbouring countries and have grown, in some cases, to events with participants from more than 80 countries. Although the features mentioned above are common to the different competitions, there are distinct differences between them [1]. The International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) is the oldest international physics competition for students at upper secondary level [2]. It dates

Segregating Top-Down Selective Attention from Response Inhibition in a Spatial Cueing Go/NoGo Task: An ERP and Source Localization Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Xiangfei; Wang, Yao; Sun, Junfeng; Li, Chunbo; Tong, Shanbao

2017-08-29

Successfully inhibiting a prepotent response tendency requires the attentional detection of signals which cue response cancellation. Although neuroimaging studies have identified important roles of stimulus-driven processing in the attentional detection, the effects of top-down control were scarcely investigated. In this study, scalp EEG was recorded from thirty-two participants during a modified Go/NoGo task, in which a spatial-cueing approach was implemented to manipulate top-down selective attention. We observed classical event-related potential components, including N2 and P3, in the attended condition of response inhibition. While in the ignored condition of response inhibition, a smaller P3 was observed and N2 was absent. The correlation between P3 and CNV during the foreperiod suggested an inhibitory role of P3 in both conditions. Furthermore, source analysis suggested that P3 generation was mainly localized to the midcingulate cortex, and the attended condition showed increased activation relative to the ignored condition in several regions, including inferior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, precentral gyrus, insula and uncus, suggesting that these regions were involved in top-down attentional control rather than inhibitory processing. Taken together, by segregating electrophysiological correlates of top-down selective attention from those of response inhibition, our findings provide new insights in understanding the neural mechanisms of response inhibition.

The relative importance of seed competition, resource competition and perturbations on community structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Bohn

2011-05-01

Full Text Available While the regional climate is the primary selection pressure for whether a plant strategy can survive, however, competitive interactions strongly affect the relative abundances of plant strategies within communities. Here, we investigate the relative importance of competition and perturbations on the development of vegetation community structure. To do so, we develop DIVE (Dynamics and Interactions of VEgetation, a simple general model that links plant strategies to their competitive dynamics, using growth and reproduction characteristics that emerge from climatic constraints. The model calculates population dynamics based on establishment, mortality, invasion and exclusion in the presence of different strengths of perturbations, seed and resource competition. The highest levels of diversity were found in simulations without competition as long as mortality is not too high. However, reasonable successional dynamics were only achieved when resource competition is considered. Under high levels of competition, intermediate levels of perturbations were required to obtain coexistence. Since succession and coexistence are observed in plant communities, we conclude that the DIVE model with competition and intermediate levels of perturbation represents an adequate way to model population dynamics. Because of the simplicity and generality of DIVE, it could be used to understand vegetation structure and functioning at the global scale and the response of vegetation to global change.

The Case for Architectural-Design Competitions

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Roger K.

2009-01-01

A well-publicized design competition is especially beneficial for universities. It allows them to enhance fund raising and stimulate design consciousness among students, the faculty, and even members of the surrounding community. Yet universities rarely conduct competitions, and instead select architects for major projects through a multistep,…

Disentangling the Role of Cortico-Basal Ganglia Loops in Top-Down and Bottom-Up Visual Attention: An Investigation of Attention Deficits in Parkinson Disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Tommasi, Giorgio; Fiorio, Mirta; Yelnik, Jérôme; Krack, Paul; Sala, Francesca; Schmitt, Emmanuelle; Fraix, Valérie; Bertolasi, Laura; Le Bas, Jean-François; Ricciardi, Giuseppe Kenneth; Fiaschi, Antonio; Theeuwes, Jan; Pollak, Pierre; Chelazzi, Leonardo

2015-06-01

It is solidly established that top-down (goal-driven) and bottom-up (stimulus-driven) attention mechanisms depend on distributed cortical networks, including prefrontal and frontoparietal regions. On the other hand, it is less clear whether the BG also contribute to one or the other of these mechanisms, or to both. The current study was principally undertaken to clarify this issue. Parkinson disease (PD), a neurodegenerative disorder primarily affecting the BG, has proven to be an effective model for investigating the contribution of the BG to different brain functions; therefore, we set out to investigate deficits of top-down and bottom-up attention in a selected cohort of PD patients. With this objective in mind, we compared the performance on three computerized tasks of two groups of 12 parkinsonian patients (assessed without any treatment), one otherwise pharmacologically treated and the other also surgically treated, with that of a group of controls. The main behavioral tool for our study was an attentional capture task, which enabled us to tap the competition between top-down and bottom-up mechanisms of visual attention. This task was suitably combined with a choice RT and a simple RT task to isolate any specific deficit of attention from deficits in motor response selection and initiation. In the two groups of patients, we found an equivalent increase of attentional capture but also comparable delays in target selection in the absence of any salient distractor (reflecting impaired top-down mechanisms) and movement initiation compared with controls. In contrast, motor response selection processes appeared to be prolonged only in the operated patients. Our results confirm that the BG are involved in both motor and cognitive domains. Specifically, damage to the BG, as it occurs in PD, leads to a distinct deficit of top-down control of visual attention, and this can account, albeit indirectly, for the enhancement of attentional capture, reflecting weakened

Competitive Grant Projects (2008) | IDRC - International ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2016-04-25

Apr 25, 2016 ... This 2008 study distills some of IDRC's corporate learning on competitive grants processes. ... The study raises some of the main options and issues that IDRC staff face when ... Related articles. Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM). The Association for Progressive Communications Women's Networking ...

Does egg competition occur in marine broadcast-spawners?

Science.gov (United States)

Marshall, D J; Evans, J P

2005-09-01

When the availability of sperm limits female reproductive success, competition for sperm, may be an important broker of sexual selection. This is because sperm limitation can increase the variance in female reproductive success, resulting in strong selection on females to compete for limited fertilization opportunities. Sperm limitation is probably common in broadcast-spawning marine invertebrates, making these excellent candidates for investigating scramble competition between broods of eggs and its consequences for female reproductive success. Here, we report our findings from a series of experiments that investigate egg competition in the sessile, broadcast-spawning polychaete Galeolaria caespitosa. We initially tested whether the order in which eggs encounter sperm affects their fertilization success at two ecologically relevant current regimes. We used a split-clutch-split--ejaculate technique to compare the fertilization success of eggs from individual females that had either first access (competition-free treatment) or second access (egg competition treatment) to a batch of sperm. We found that fertilization success depended on the order in which eggs accessed sperm; eggs that were assigned to the competition-free treatment exhibited significantly higher fertilization rates than those assigned to the egg competition treatment at both current speeds. In subsequent experiments we found that prior exposure of sperm to eggs significantly reduced both the quantity and quality of sperm available to fertilize a second clutch of eggs, resulting in reductions in fertilization success at high and low sperm concentrations. These findings suggest that female traits that increase the likelihood of sperm-egg interactions (e.g. egg size) will respond to selection imposed by egg competition.

Competition and natural monopoly: the case for generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pelegry, E.A.

1995-01-01

Some examples and references are used to support the existence of economies of scale associated with the electricity industry; for this, and in accordance with economic theory, the existence of a natural monopoly for electricity generation can be argued. The paper discusses the theory that competition in generation, with the aim of lowering the cost of electricity, can be achieved by other means than the competition between generators over the bidding price. One alternative is the competition between generators with reference to standards fixed by a Regulator, along with the progressive introduction of new low-cost installed capacity. 5 refs., 4 figs

Statistical Discrimination in a Competitive Labor Market

OpenAIRE

Jonathan B. Berk

1999-01-01

This paper studies the effect of employee job selection in a model of statistical discrimination in a competitive labor market. In an economy in which there are quality differences between groups, a surprisingly strong condition is required to guarantee discrimination against the worse qualified group --- MLRP must hold. In addition, because of the self-selection bias induced by competition, the resulting discrimination is small when compared to the magnitude of the underlying quality differe...

Selective Area Sublimation: A Simple Top-down Route for GaN-Based Nanowire Fabrication.

Science.gov (United States)

Damilano, B; Vézian, S; Brault, J; Alloing, B; Massies, J

2016-03-09

Post-growth in situ partial SiNx masking of GaN-based epitaxial layers grown in a molecular beam epitaxy reactor is used to get GaN selective area sublimation (SAS) by high temperature annealing. Using this top-down approach, nanowires (NWs) with nanometer scale diameter are obtained from GaN and InxGa1-xN/GaN quantum well epitaxial structures. After GaN regrowth on InxGa1-xN/GaN NWs resulting from SAS, InxGa1-xN quantum disks (QDisks) with nanometer sizes in the three dimensions are formed. Low temperature microphotoluminescence experiments demonstrate QDisk multilines photon emission around 3 eV with individual line widths of 1-2 meV.

Antagonistic interactions between plant competition and insect herbivory.

Science.gov (United States)

Schädler, Martin; Brandl, Roland; Haase, Josephine

2007-06-01

Interspecific competition between plants and herbivory by specialized insects can have synergistic effects on the growth and performance of the attacked host plant. We tested the hypothesis that competition between plants may also negatively affect the performance of herbivores as well as their top-down effect on the host plant. In such a case, the combined effects of competition and herbivory may be less than expected from a simple multiplicative response. In other words, competition and herbivory may interact antagonistically. In a greenhouse experiment, Poa annua was grown in the presence or absence of a competitor (either Plantago lanceolata or Trifolium repens), as well as with or without a Poa-specialist aphid herbivore. Both competition and herbivory negatively affected Poa growth. Competition also reduced aphid density on Poa. This effect could in part be explained by changes in the biomass and the nitrogen content of Poa shoots. In treatments with competitors, reduced aphid densities alleviated the negative effect of herbivory on above- and belowground Poa biomass. Hence, we were able to demonstrate an antagonistic interaction between plant-plant interspecific competition and herbivory. However, response indices suggested that antagonistic interactions between competition and herbivory were contingent on the identity of the competitor. We found the antagonistic effect only in treatments with T. repens as the competitor. We conclude that both competitor identity and the herbivore's ability to respond with changes in its density or activity to plant competition affect the magnitude and direction (synergistic vs. antagonistic) of the interaction between competition and herbivory on plant growth.

Top-Down Beta Enhances Bottom-Up Gamma.

Science.gov (United States)

Richter, Craig G; Thompson, William H; Bosman, Conrado A; Fries, Pascal

2017-07-12

Several recent studies have demonstrated that the bottom-up signaling of a visual stimulus is subserved by interareal gamma-band synchronization, whereas top-down influences are mediated by alpha-beta band synchronization. These processes may implement top-down control of stimulus processing if top-down and bottom-up mediating rhythms are coupled via cross-frequency interaction. To test this possibility, we investigated Granger-causal influences among awake macaque primary visual area V1, higher visual area V4, and parietal control area 7a during attentional task performance. Top-down 7a-to-V1 beta-band influences enhanced visually driven V1-to-V4 gamma-band influences. This enhancement was spatially specific and largest when beta-band activity preceded gamma-band activity by ∼0.1 s, suggesting a causal effect of top-down processes on bottom-up processes. We propose that this cross-frequency interaction mechanistically subserves the attentional control of stimulus selection. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Contemporary research indicates that the alpha-beta frequency band underlies top-down control, whereas the gamma-band mediates bottom-up stimulus processing. This arrangement inspires an attractive hypothesis, which posits that top-down beta-band influences directly modulate bottom-up gamma band influences via cross-frequency interaction. We evaluate this hypothesis determining that beta-band top-down influences from parietal area 7a to visual area V1 are correlated with bottom-up gamma frequency influences from V1 to area V4, in a spatially specific manner, and that this correlation is maximal when top-down activity precedes bottom-up activity. These results show that for top-down processes such as spatial attention, elevated top-down beta-band influences directly enhance feedforward stimulus-induced gamma-band processing, leading to enhancement of the selected stimulus. Copyright © 2017 Richter, Thompson et al.

Bedding down new words: Sleep promotes the emergence of lexical competition in visual word recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Hua-Chen; Savage, Greg; Gaskell, M Gareth; Paulin, Tamara; Robidoux, Serje; Castles, Anne

2017-08-01

Lexical competition processes are widely viewed as the hallmark of visual word recognition, but little is known about the factors that promote their emergence. This study examined for the first time whether sleep may play a role in inducing these effects. A group of 27 participants learned novel written words, such as banara, at 8 am and were tested on their learning at 8 pm the same day (AM group), while 29 participants learned the words at 8 pm and were tested at 8 am the following day (PM group). Both groups were retested after 24 hours. Using a semantic categorization task, we showed that lexical competition effects, as indexed by slowed responses to existing neighbor words such as banana, emerged 12 h later in the PM group who had slept after learning but not in the AM group. After 24 h the competition effects were evident in both groups. These findings have important implications for theories of orthographic learning and broader neurobiological models of memory consolidation.

Sleep Dependent Synaptic Down-Selection (II: Single Neuron Level Benefits for Matching, Selectivity, and Specificity

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Atif eHashmi

2013-10-01

Full Text Available In a companion paper (Nere et al., this volume, we used computer simulations to show that a strategy of activity-dependent, on-line net synaptic potentiation during wake, followed by off-line synaptic depression during sleep, can provide a parsimonious account for several memory benefits of sleep at the systems level, including the consolidation of procedural and declarative memories, gist extraction, and integration of new with old memories. In this paper, we consider the theoretical benefits of this two-step process at the single neuron level and employ the theoretical notion of Matching between brain and environment to measure how this process increases the ability of the neuron to capture regularities in the environment and model them internally. We show that down-selection during sleep is beneficial for increasing or restoring Matching after learning, after integrating new with old memories, and after forgetting irrelevant material. By contrast, alternative schemes, such as additional potentiation in wake, potentiation in sleep, or synaptic renormalization in wake, decrease Matching. We also argue that, by selecting appropriate loops through the brain that tie feedforward synapses with feedback ones in the same dendritic domain, different subsets of neurons can learn to specialize for different contingencies and form sequences of nested perception-action loops. By potentiating such loops when interacting with the environment in wake, and depressing them when disconnected from the environment in sleep, neurons can learn to match the long-term statistical structure of the environment while avoiding spurious modes of functioning and catastrophic interference. Finally, such a two-step process has the additional benefit of desaturating the neuron's ability to learn and of maintaining cellular homeostasis. Thus, sleep-dependent synaptic renormalization offers a parsimonious account for both cellular and systems-level effects of sleep on learning

A multi-objective model for closed-loop supply chain optimization and efficient supplier selection in a competitive environment considering quantity discount policy

Science.gov (United States)

Jahangoshai Rezaee, Mustafa; Yousefi, Samuel; Hayati, Jamileh

2017-06-01

Supplier selection and allocation of optimal order quantity are two of the most important processes in closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) and reverse logistic (RL). So that providing high quality raw material is considered as a basic requirement for a manufacturer to produce popular products, as well as achieve more market shares. On the other hand, considering the existence of competitive environment, suppliers have to offer customers incentives like discounts and enhance the quality of their products in a competition with other manufacturers. Therefore, in this study, a model is presented for CLSC optimization, efficient supplier selection, as well as orders allocation considering quantity discount policy. It is modeled using multi-objective programming based on the integrated simultaneous data envelopment analysis-Nash bargaining game. In this study, maximizing profit and efficiency and minimizing defective and functions of delivery delay rate are taken into accounts. Beside supplier selection, the suggested model selects refurbishing sites, as well as determining the number of products and parts in each network's sector. The suggested model's solution is carried out using global criteria method. Furthermore, based on related studies, a numerical example is examined to validate it.

The effects of competitive electricity supply in the UK on metering equipment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dick, A.

1996-01-01

Requirements for metering of competitive supply, following privatisation of the UK Electricity Industry in 1989, have driven the design of metering equipment in a way which was not foreseen at that time. Metering equipment used for implementing the competitive market so far has been designed to new uniform national specifications and has used commercially available communications systems to automatically collect data. In order to implement full competition down to the domestic level as from 1998, a new approach is thought to be necessary. The major influences on meter design, equipment now being used, are described, future equipment and communications options, are considered. (author)

Top-down knowledge modulates onset capture in a feedforward manner.

Science.gov (United States)

Becker, Stefanie I; Lewis, Amanda J; Axtens, Jenna E

2017-04-01

How do we select behaviourally important information from cluttered visual environments? Previous research has shown that both top-down, goal-driven factors and bottom-up, stimulus-driven factors determine which stimuli are selected. However, it is still debated when top-down processes modulate visual selection. According to a feedforward account, top-down processes modulate visual processing even before the appearance of any stimuli, whereas others claim that top-down processes modulate visual selection only at a late stage, via feedback processing. In line with such a dual stage account, some studies found that eye movements to an irrelevant onset distractor are not modulated by its similarity to the target stimulus, especially when eye movements are launched early (within 150-ms post stimulus onset). However, in these studies the target transiently changed colour due to a colour after-effect that occurred during premasking, and the time course analyses were incomplete. The present study tested the feedforward account against the dual stage account in two eye tracking experiments, with and without colour after-effects (Exp. 1), as well when the target colour varied randomly and observers were informed of the target colour with a word cue (Exp. 2). The results showed that top-down processes modulated the earliest eye movements to the onset distractors (feedforward account of top-down modulation.

Kinetic analysis of enzyme systems with suicide substrate in the presence of a reversible competitive inhibitor, tested by simulated progress curves.

Science.gov (United States)

Moruno-Dávila, M A; Garrido-del Solo, C; García-Moreno, M; Havsteen, B H; Garcia-Sevilla, F; Garcia-Cánovas, F; Varón, R

2001-02-01

The use of suicide substrates remains a very important and useful method in enzymology for studying enzyme mechanisms and designing potential drugs. Suicide substrates act as modified substrates for the target enzymes and bind to the active site. Therefore the presence of a competitive reversible inhibitor decreases the rate of substrate-induced inactivation and protects the enzyme from this inactivation. This lowering on the inactivation rate has evident physiological advantages, since it allows the easy acquisition of experimental data and facilitates kinetic data analysis by providing another variable (inhibitor concentration). However despite the importance of the simultaneous action of a suicide substrate and a competitive reversible inhibition, to date no corresponding kinetic analysis has been carried out. Therefore we present a general kinetic analysis of a Michaelis-Menten reaction mechanism with double inhibition caused by both, a suicide substrate and a competitive reversible inhibitor. We assume rapid equilibrium of the reversible reaction steps involved, while the time course equations for the reaction product have been derived with the assumption of a limiting enzyme. The goodness of the analytical solutions has been tested by comparison with the simulated curves obtained by numerical integration. A kinetic data analysis to determine the corresponding kinetic parameters from the time progress curve of the product is suggested. In conclusion, we present a complete kinetic analysis of an enzyme reaction mechanism as described above in an attempt to fill a gap in the theoretical treatment of this type of system.

Lead Slowing Down Spectrometer Status Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Warren, Glen A.; Anderson, Kevin K.; Bonebrake, Eric; Casella, Andrew M.; Danon, Yaron; Devlin, M.; Gavron, Victor A.; Haight, R.C.; Imel, G.R.; Kulisek, Jonathan A.; O'Donnell, J.M.; Weltz, Adam

2012-01-01

This report documents the progress that has been completed in the first half of FY2012 in the MPACT-funded Lead Slowing Down Spectrometer project. Significant progress has been made on the algorithm development. We have an improve understanding of the experimental responses in LSDS for fuel-related material. The calibration of the ultra-depleted uranium foils was completed, but the results are inconsistent from measurement to measurement. Future work includes developing a conceptual model of an LSDS system to assay plutonium in used fuel, improving agreement between simulations and measurement, design of a thorium fission chamber, and evaluation of additional detector techniques.

The role of male contest competition over mates in speciation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna QVARNSTRÖM, Niclas VALLIN, Andreas RUDH

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Research on the role of sexual selection in the speciation process largely focuses on the diversifying role of mate choice. In particular, much attention has been drawn to the fact that population divergence in mate choice and in the male traits subject to choice directly can lead to assortative mating. However, male contest competition over mates also constitutes an important mechanism of sexual selection. We review recent empirical studies and argue that sexual selection through male contest competition can affect speciation in ways other than mate choice. For example, biases in aggression towards similar competitors can lead to disruptive and negative frequency-dependent selection on the traits used in contest competition in a similar way as competition for other types of limited resources. Moreover, male contest abilities often trade-off against other abilities such as parasite resistance, protection against predators and general stress tolerance. Populations experiencing different ecological conditions should therefore quickly diverge non-randomly in a number of traits including male contest abilities. In resource based breeding systems, a feedback loop between competitive ability and habitat use may lead to further population divergence. We discuss how population divergence in traits used in male contest competition can lead to the build up of reproductive isolation through a number of different pathways. Our main conclusion is that the role of male contest competition in speciation remains largely scientifically unexplored [Current Zoology 58 (3: 490–506, 2012].

Intrasexual competition among males : Competitive towards men, prosocial towards women

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Buunk, Abraham P.; Massar, Karlijn

In a study among 40 males and 56 females, participants engaged in a series of decomposed social games in which they had to divide resources between themselves and either a same-sex or an opposite sex other. As predicted on the basis of theorizing on sexual selection, males behaved more competitively

Pollinator Competition as a Driver of Floral Divergence: An Experimental Test.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ethan J Temeles

Full Text Available Optimal foraging models of floral divergence predict that competition between two different types of pollinators will result in partitioning, increased assortative mating, and divergence of two floral phenotypes. We tested these predictions in a tropical plant-pollinator system using sexes of purple-throated carib hummingbirds (Anthracothorax jugularis as the pollinators, red and yellow inflorescence morphs of Heliconia caribaea as the plants, and fluorescent dyes as pollen analogs in an enclosed outdoor garden. When foraging alone, males exhibited a significant preference for the yellow morph of H. caribaea, whereas females exhibited no preference. In competition, males maintained their preference for the yellow morph and through aggression caused females to over-visit the red morph, resulting in resource partitioning. Competition significantly increased within-morph dye transfer (assortative mating relative to non-competitive environments. Competition and partitioning of color morphs by sexes of purple-throated caribs also resulted in selection for floral divergence as measured by dye deposition on stigmas. Red and yellow morphs did not differ significantly in dye deposition in the competition trials, but differences in dye deposition and preferences for morphs when sexes of purple-throated caribs foraged alone implied fixation of one or the other color morph in the absence of competition. Competition also resulted in selection for divergence in corolla length, with the red morph experiencing directional selection for longer corollas and the yellow morph experiencing stabilizing selection on corolla length. Our results thus support predictions of foraging models of floral divergence and indicate that pollinator competition is a viable mechanism for divergence in floral traits of plants.

How competitive is nuclear energy?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keppler, J.H.

2010-01-01

The economic competitiveness of nuclear energy will be crucial for determining its future share in world electricity production. In addition, the widespread liberalization of power markets, in particular in OECD countries, reinforces the role of commercial criteria in technology selection . The recently published IEA/NEA study on Projected Costs of Generating Electricity: 2010 Edition (IEA/NEA, 2010) provides important indications regarding the relative competitiveness of nuclear energy in OECD member countries as well as in four non-OECD countries (Brazil, China, Russia and South Africa). The results highlight the paramount importance of discount rates and, to a lesser extent, carbon and fuel prices when comparing different technologies. Going beyond this general finding, the study also shows that the relative competitiveness of nuclear energy varies widely from one major region to another, and even from country to country. While the study provides a useful snapshot of the costs of generating electricity with different technologies, it does not provide an absolute picture of the competitiveness of nuclear energy. Like any study, Projected Costs of Generating Electricity makes a number of common assumptions about discount rates as well as carbon and fuel prices. In addition, its calculations are based on a methodology that is referred to as the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE), which assumes that all risks are included in the interest or discount rate, which determines the cost of capital. In other words, neither the electricity price risk for nuclear and renewables, nor the carbon and fuel price risk for fossil fuels such as coal and gas, receive specific consideration. The decisions of private investors, however, will depend to a large extent on their individual appreciations of these risks. The competitiveness of nuclear energy thus depends on three different factors which may vary greatly from market to market: interest rates, carbon and fuel prices, and

The Competitive Influences of Perceptual Load and Working Memory Guidance on Selective Attention.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jinfeng Tan

Full Text Available The perceptual load theory in selective attention literature proposes that the interference from task-irrelevant distractor is eliminated when perceptual capacity is fully consumed by task-relevant information. However, the biased competition model suggests that the contents of working memory (WM can guide attentional selection automatically, even when this guidance is detrimental to visual search. An intriguing but unsolved question is what will happen when selective attention is influenced by both perceptual load and WM guidance. To study this issue, behavioral performances and event-related potentials (ERPs were recorded when participants were presented with a cue to either identify or hold in memory and had to perform a visual search task subsequently, under conditions of low or high perceptual load. Behavioural data showed that high perceptual load eliminated the attentional capture by WM. The ERP results revealed an obvious WM guidance effect in P1 component with invalid trials eliciting larger P1 than neutral trials, regardless of the level of perceptual load. The interaction between perceptual load and WM guidance was significant for the posterior N1 component. The memory guidance effect on N1 was eliminated by high perceptual load. Standardized Low Resolution Electrical Tomography Analysis (sLORETA showed that the WM guidance effect and the perceptual load effect on attention can be localized into the occipital area and parietal lobe, respectively. Merely identifying the cue produced no effect on the P1 or N1 component. These results suggest that in selective attention, the information held in WM could capture attention at the early stage of visual processing in the occipital cortex. Interestingly, this initial capture of attention by WM could be modulated by the level of perceptual load and the parietal lobe mediates target selection at the discrimination stage.

The Competitive Influences of Perceptual Load and Working Memory Guidance on Selective Attention.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Jinfeng; Zhao, Yuanfang; Wang, Lijun; Tian, Xia; Cui, Yan; Yang, Qian; Pan, Weigang; Zhao, Xiaoyue; Chen, Antao

2015-01-01

The perceptual load theory in selective attention literature proposes that the interference from task-irrelevant distractor is eliminated when perceptual capacity is fully consumed by task-relevant information. However, the biased competition model suggests that the contents of working memory (WM) can guide attentional selection automatically, even when this guidance is detrimental to visual search. An intriguing but unsolved question is what will happen when selective attention is influenced by both perceptual load and WM guidance. To study this issue, behavioral performances and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded when participants were presented with a cue to either identify or hold in memory and had to perform a visual search task subsequently, under conditions of low or high perceptual load. Behavioural data showed that high perceptual load eliminated the attentional capture by WM. The ERP results revealed an obvious WM guidance effect in P1 component with invalid trials eliciting larger P1 than neutral trials, regardless of the level of perceptual load. The interaction between perceptual load and WM guidance was significant for the posterior N1 component. The memory guidance effect on N1 was eliminated by high perceptual load. Standardized Low Resolution Electrical Tomography Analysis (sLORETA) showed that the WM guidance effect and the perceptual load effect on attention can be localized into the occipital area and parietal lobe, respectively. Merely identifying the cue produced no effect on the P1 or N1 component. These results suggest that in selective attention, the information held in WM could capture attention at the early stage of visual processing in the occipital cortex. Interestingly, this initial capture of attention by WM could be modulated by the level of perceptual load and the parietal lobe mediates target selection at the discrimination stage.

A normative model for assessing competitive strategy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ungerer, Gerard David

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The hyper-competitive nature of e-business has raised the need for a generic way to appraise the merit of a developed business strategy. Although progress has been made in the domain of strategy evaluation, the established literature differs over the ‘tests’ that a strategy must pass to be considered well-constructed. This paper therefore investigates the existing strategy-evaluation literature to propose a more integrated and comprehensive normative strategic assessment that can be used to evaluate and refine a business’ s competitive strategy , adding to its robustness and survivability.

Competitive integration. A new strategy for the brazilian industrialization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lucas, L.P.V.

1989-01-01

It is discussed a new strategy for brazilian industrialization: from importation substitution to structural changes. The strategy of competitive integration, technological progress and the new technologies. (A.C.A.S.)

The Effect of Competitive Advantage and Human Advantage on Industrial Competitive Strategy (Case Study: Smis in Gorontalo Province)

OpenAIRE

Lasalewo, Trifandi; Masruroh, Nur Aini; Subagyo; Hartono, Budi; Yuniarto, Hari Agung

2016-01-01

Small and Medium Industries (SMIs) have a strategic role in the Indonesian economy, as they earn 61.9 percent of the foreign exchange which goes to make up the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, and nationally they are able to absorb 97 percent of the workforce. The Global Competitiveness Report also notes that SMIs serve as the business units that affect every nation’s competitiveness. Considering this strategic role, the selection of a competitive strategy for these SMIs is absolutely necessa...

CONCEPTUAL APPROACH OF COMPETITIVENESS AND INTERDEPENDENCE BETWEEN COMPETITION AND COMPETITIVENESS

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Tatiana GUTIUM

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This article is devoted to analysis of interdependence and correlation between competition and competitiveness, and competition’s consequences. The author analysed some authors’ visions on competitiveness, and common features between theories of competition and competitiveness. Using the synthetic indicator elaborated by author has been evaluated the competitiveness of domestic goods on the internal and external market. At the end of this article, the author has developed proposals to increase competitiveness.

CCND1–CDK4–mediated cell cycle progression provides a competitive advantage for human hematopoietic stem cells in vivo

Science.gov (United States)

Mende, Nicole; Kuchen, Erika E.; Lesche, Mathias; Grinenko, Tatyana; Kokkaliaris, Konstantinos D.; Hanenberg, Helmut; Lindemann, Dirk; Dahl, Andreas; Platz, Alexander; Höfer, Thomas; Calegari, Federico

2015-01-01

Maintenance of stem cell properties is associated with reduced proliferation. However, in mouse hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), loss of quiescence results in a wide range of phenotypes, ranging from functional failure to extensive self-renewal. It remains unknown whether the function of human HSCs is controlled by the kinetics of cell cycle progression. Using human HSCs and human progenitor cells (HSPCs), we report here that elevated levels of CCND1–CDK4 complexes promoted the transit from G0 to G1 and shortened the G1 cell cycle phase, resulting in protection from differentiation-inducing signals in vitro and increasing human leukocyte engraftment in vivo. Further, CCND1–CDK4 overexpression conferred a competitive advantage without impacting HSPC numbers. In contrast, accelerated cell cycle progression mediated by elevated levels of CCNE1–CDK2 led to the loss of functional HSPCs in vivo. Collectively, these data suggest that the transition kinetics through the early cell cycle phases are key regulators of human HSPC function and important for lifelong hematopoiesis. PMID:26150472

Economic competitiveness of nuclear power in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hu Chuanwen

2005-01-01

Development of nuclear power in China has made a good progress. Currently, economic competitiveness of nuclear power compared to fossil-fuelled power plants is one of the major problems which hamper its development. This article presents the economic competitiveness of nuclear power in China with two-level analyses. First, levelized lifetime cost method is adopted for electricity generation cost comparisons. Important factors influencing economic competitiveness of nuclear power are described. Furthermore, a broad economic evaluation of the full fuel chain of nuclear power and fossil-fuelled plants is discussed concerning macro social-economic issues, environmental and health impacts. The comprehensive comparative assessment would be carried out for decision making to implement nuclear power programme. In consideration of external costs and carbon value, the economic competitiveness of nuclear power would be further improved. Facing swift economic growth, huge energy demand and heavy environmental burden, nuclear power could play a significant role in sustainable development in China. (authors)

Resources based factors of competitiveness of agricultural enterprises

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Matyja Małgorzata

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Among many different definitions of competitiveness it is difficult to pinpoint the most appropriate one. In the paper it was defined as the ability to be profitable by effective use of available resources. The profitability ratios (ROS, ROA, ROE and value index were proposed as measures of competitiveness and resources were indicated as one of the group of factors that has an impact on it. Precisely, the purpose of the paper was to examine the relationship between selected resourced based factors and competitiveness of agricultural enterprises. The study was done with the use of correlation analysis on the basis of statistical data on selected Polish companies operating in agriculture. The main finding was that the analyzed resources (the level of labour, size and quality of agricultural land and size of assets were weakly correlated with competitiveness. This observation means that other factors have stronger impact on agricultural company’s competitiveness. They can refer to intangible resources (such as relational capital, know-how, managerial competencies, technological resources etc. and external conditions (such as climate, legal issues of agricultural enterprises.

Developing selection protocols for weed competitiveness in aerobic rice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zhao, D.L.; Atlin, G.N.; Bastiaans, L.; Spiertz, J.H.J.

2006-01-01

Aerobic rice production systems, wherein rice is dry-sown in non-puddled soil and grown as an upland crop, offer large water savings but are subject to severe weed infestation. Weed-competitive cultivars will be critical to the adoption of aerobic rice production by farmers. Breeding

The Topical Factors of Development of the National Competitive Advantages

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Kolomiets Ganna M.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article considers the qualitative changes of the national competitive advantages as derivatives of the evolution of technological modes in the global business environment; the role of both the formal and the informal institutions in their development and implementation has been analyzed. With this in mind, topical in the development of competitive advantages will be improving the formal institutions in conjunction with the informal: recognition and use of the positive potential of the national values and attitudes. High adaptatibility towards turbulence of the economic environment, desire and capability to master new knowledge, technologies, fulfill one’s own abilities in the native country, should define the focus and content of transformations of the formal institutions. Results of the analysis show that nowadays a value shift is going on, attitudes are being changed, which suggests that there’s a necessity to understand that disposition of power institutions, mistrust to authorities can significantly slow down transformations in the direction of «competitive advantages – competitiveness»

Analysis of severe core damage accident progression for the heavy water reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tong Lili; Yuan Kai; Yuan Jingtian; Cao Xuewu

2010-01-01

In this study, the severe accident progression analysis of generic Canadian deuterium uranium reactor 6 was preliminarily provided using an integrated severe accident analysis code. The selected accident sequences were multiple steam generator tube rupture and large break loss-of-coolant accidents because these led to severe core damage with an assumed unavailability for several critical safety systems. The progressions of severe accident included a set of failed safety systems normally operated at full power, and initiative events led to primary heat transport system inventory blow-down or boil off. The core heat-up and melting, steam generator response,fuel channel and calandria vessel failure were analyzed. The results showed that the progression of a severe core damage accident induced by steam generator tube rupture or large break loss-of-coolant accidents in a CANDU reactor was slow due to heat sinks in the calandria vessel and vault. (authors)

47 CFR 25.404 - Submission of down payment and filing of long-form applications.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Submission of down payment and filing of long-form applications. 25.404 Section 25.404 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS Competitive Bidding Procedures for DARS § 25.404...

How light competition between plants affects trait optimization and vegetation-atmosphere feedbacks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Loon, M.P.

2016-01-01

How plants respond to climate change is of major concern, as plants will strongly impact future ecosystem functioning, food production and climate. Competition between plants for resources is an important selective force. As a result competition through natural selection determines vegetation

Evaluation of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry for the competitiveness analysis of selected indigenous cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) Bradyrhizobium strains from Kenya.

Science.gov (United States)

Ndungu, Samuel Mathu; Messmer, Monika M; Ziegler, Dominik; Thuita, Moses; Vanlauwe, Bernard; Frossard, Emmanuel; Thonar, Cécile

2018-06-01

Cowpea N 2 fixation and yield can be enhanced by selecting competitive and efficient indigenous rhizobia. Strains from contrasting agro-ecologies of Kilifi and Mbeere (Kenya) were screened. Two pot experiments were established consisting of 13 Bradyrhizobium strains; experiment 1 (11 Mbeere + CBA + BK1 from Burkina Faso), experiment 2 (12 Kilifi + CBA). Symbiotic effectiveness was assessed (shoot biomass, SPAD index and N uptake). Nodule occupancy of 13 simultaneously co-inoculated strains in each experiment was analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) to assess competitiveness. Strains varied in effectiveness and competitiveness. The four most efficient strains were further evaluated in a field trial in Mbeere during the 2014 short rains. Strains from bacteroids of cowpea nodules from pot and field experiments were accurately identified as Bradyrhizobium by MALDI-TOF based on the SARAMIS™ database. In the field, abundant indigenous populations 7.10 × 10 3 rhizobia g -1 soil, outcompeted introduced strains. As revealed by MALDI-TOF, indigenous strains clustered into six distinct groups (I, II, III, IV, V and VI), group III were most abundant occupying 80% of nodules analyzed. MALDI-TOF was rapid, affordable and reliable to identify Bradyrhizobium strains directly from nodule suspensions in competition pot assays and in the field with abundant indigenous strains thus, its suitability for future competition assays. Evaluating strain competitiveness and then symbiotic efficacy is proposed in bioprospecting for potential cowpea inoculant strains.

Prenatal Diagnosis of Transient Abnormal Myelopoiesis in a Down Syndrome Fetus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Gwang Jun; Lee, Eun Sil

2009-01-01

We report a case of transient abnormal myelopoiesis in a Down syndrome fetus diagnosed at 28 +3 weeks of gestation that rapidly progressed to intrauterine death 10 days later. Fetal hepatosplenomegaly with cerebral ventriculomegaly, although not specific, may be a suggestive finding of Down syndrome with transient abnormal myelopoiesis. Prompt fetal blood sampling for liver function test and chromosomal analysis are mandatory for early detection and management

Thermionic cogeneration burner assessment study. Third quarterly technical progress report, April-June, 1983

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1983-01-01

The specific tasks of this study are to mathematically model the thermionic cogeneration burner, experimentally confirm the projected energy flows in a thermal mock-up, make a cost estimate of the burner, including manufacturing, installation and maintenance, review industries in general and determine what groups of industries would be able to use the electrical power generated in the process, select one or more industries out of those for an in-depth study, including determination of the performance required for a thermionic cogeneration system to be competitive in that industry. Progress is reported. (WHK)

Alberta's electricity policy framework : competitive, reliable, sustainable

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2005-01-01

This paper described public policies in Alberta that are implemented to create an electric power industry that is competitive, reliable and sustainable. The success of Alberta's competitive electric market framework can be attributed to new investment in the industry along with new players participating in the electricity market. The Alberta Department of Energy is committed to a competitive wholesale market model and to competitively-priced electricity. The Alberta Energy and Utilities Board supports the development of Alberta's vast resource base and facilitates power generation development and support through transmission development and an interconnected transmission system. A wholesale market Policy Task Force was established in 2005 to review the progress in Alberta's electric market design and its competitive retail market. This paper outlines a policy framework which addresses design of the regulated rate option post July 1, 2006; short-term adequacy; and long-term adequacy. Other inter-related market issues were also discussed, such as operating reserves market, transmission services, interties, demand response, balancing pool assets, credit, market power mitigation, and wind generation. It is expected that the recommendations in this paper will be implemented as quickly as possible following amendments to regulations or ISO rules. tabs., figs.

Outsourcing CIS to achieve a cost-effective competitive edge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haines, A.

2000-01-01

The ability to survive in a competitive electricity market is a function of the ability of a service provider to deliver superior levels of customer service and develop new and innovative products and services. More and more, the foundation of these new services and products is the customer information system which has the capability to provide vast amounts of usage data and billing information; access to this data enables service providers to introduce new and innovative services and implement targeted marketing initiatives. Recent trend by progressive electricity providers appears to be to outsource specific information technology functions such as customer information systems (CIS) as a way to minimize capital investment, take advantage of leading edge technologies and leverage the expertise of niche service providers. Advantages of outsourcing, and factors important in the selection of an outsourcing partner are discussed

EDITORIAL: Physics competitions Physics competitions

Science.gov (United States)

Jordens, H.; Mathelitsch, L.

2011-07-01

and Astrophysics. Those in charge of the competition give an overview of this relatively young tournament. They give a few examples of theoretical and experimental tasks, and one can see the strong connection between astronomy and physics, between the large scales in the universe and the small scales in particle physics. The third paper introduces a special competition called 'First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics'. It was conceived as a national event in Poland and has gained international reputation and acceptance since 1992. Papers are submitted from young students prior to university and are refereed in the same manner as real research papers. This means that the most important criterion is the originality and novelty of the activity performed in theoretical or experimental physics. The aims of this competition are set out below and can be seen as a credo for all competitions: promotion of scientific interest among young pupils selection and promotion of outstanding pupils enhancing motivation stimulation of school work establishing friendly relations between young physicists.

Selectivity in associative learning: A cognitive stage framework for blocking and cue competition phenomena

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yannick eBoddez

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Blocking is the most important phenomenon in the history of associative learning theory: For over 40 years, blocking has inspired a whole generation of learning models. Blocking is part of a family of effects that are typically termed cue competition effects. Common amongst all cue competition effects is that a cue-outcome relation is poorly learned or poorly expressed because the cue is trained in the presence of an alternative predictor or cause of the outcome. We provide an overview of the cognitive processes involved in cue competition effects in humans and propose a stage framework that brings these processes together. The framework contends that the behavioral display of cue competition is cognitively construed following three stages that include (1 an encoding stage, (2 a retention stage, and (3 a performance stage. We argue that the stage framework supports a comprehensive understanding of cue competition effects.

Host plant quality mediates competition between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Knegt, B.; Jansa, J.; Franken, O.; Engelmoer, D.J.P.; Werner, G.D.A.; Bücking, H.; Kiers, E.T.

2016-01-01

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi exchange soil nutrients for carbon from plant hosts. Empirical works suggests that hosts may selectively provide resources to different fungal species, ultimately affecting fungal competition. However, fungal competition may also be mediated by colonization strategies of

Prenatal treatment of Down syndrome: a reality?

Science.gov (United States)

Guedj, Fayçal; Bianchi, Diana W; Delabar, Jean-Maurice

2014-04-01

Down syndrome affects more than 5 million people globally. During the last 10 years, there has been a dramatic increase in the research efforts focused on therapeutic interventions to improve learning and memory in Down syndrome. This review summarizes the different functional abnormalities targeted by researchers in mouse models of Down syndrome. Three main strategies have been used: neural stem cell implantation; environmental enrichment and physical exercise; and pharmacotherapy. Pharmacological targets include the choline pathway, GABA and NMDA receptors, DYRK1A protein, oxidative stress and pathways involved in development and neurogenesis. Many strategies have improved learning and memory as well as electrophysiological and molecular alterations in affected animals. To date, eight molecules have been tested in human adult clinical trials. No studies have yet been performed on infants. However, compelling studies reveal that permanent brain alterations originate during fetal life in Down syndrome. Early prenatal diagnosis offers a 28 weeks window to positively impact brain development and improve postnatal cognitive outcome in affected individuals. Only a few approaches (Epigallocatechine gallate, NAP/SAL, fluoxetine, and apigenin) have been used to treat mice in utero; these showed therapeutic effects that persisted to adulthood. In this article, we discuss the challenges, recent progress, and lessons learned that pave the way for new therapeutic approaches in Down syndrome.

Does hospital competition harm equity? Evidence from the English National Health Service.

Science.gov (United States)

Cookson, Richard; Laudicella, Mauro; Li Donni, Paolo

2013-03-01

Increasing evidence shows that hospital competition under fixed prices can improve quality and reduce cost. Concerns remain, however, that competition may undermine socio-economic equity in the utilisation of care. We test this hypothesis in the context of the pro-competition reforms of the English National Health Service progressively introduced from 2004 to 2006. We use a panel of 32,482 English small areas followed from 2003 to 2008 and a difference in differences approach. The effect of competition on equity is identified by the interaction between market structure, small area income deprivation and year. We find a negative association between market competition and elective admissions in deprived areas. The effect of pro-competition reform was to reduce this negative association slightly, suggesting that competition did not undermine equity. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The sexual cascade and the rise of pre-ejaculatory (Darwinian) sexual selection, sex roles, and sexual conflict.

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Geoff A

2014-08-21

After brief historic overviews of sexual selection and sexual conflict, I argue that pre-ejaculatory sexual selection (the form of sexual selection discussed by Darwin) arose at a late stage in an inevitable succession of transitions flowing from the early evolution of syngamy to the evolution of copulation and sex roles. If certain conditions were met, this "sexual cascade" progressed inevitably, if not, sexual strategy remained fixed at a given stage. Prolonged evolutionary history of intense sperm competition/selection under external fertilization preceded the rise of advanced mobility, which generated pre-ejaculatory sexual selection, followed on land by internal fertilization and reduced sperm competition in the form of postcopulatory sexual selection. I develop a prospective model of the early evolution of mobility, which, as Darwin realized, was the catalyst for pre-ejaculatory sexual selection. Stages in the cascade should be regarded as consequential rather than separate phenomena and, as such, invalidate much current opposition to Darwin-Bateman sex roles. Potential for sexual conflict occurs throughout, greatly increasing later in the cascade, reaching its peak under precopulatory sexual selection when sex roles become highly differentiated. Copyright © 2014 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; all rights reserved.

Prenatal Diagnosis of Transient Abnormal Myelopoiesis in a Down Syndrome Fetus

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Gwang Jun; Lee, Eun Sil [Chung-Ang University School of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2009-04-15

We report a case of transient abnormal myelopoiesis in a Down syndrome fetus diagnosed at 28{sup +3} weeks of gestation that rapidly progressed to intrauterine death 10 days later. Fetal hepatosplenomegaly with cerebral ventriculomegaly, although not specific, may be a suggestive finding of Down syndrome with transient abnormal myelopoiesis. Prompt fetal blood sampling for liver function test and chromosomal analysis are mandatory for early detection and management.

The renewal of hydroelectric concessions in competitive call

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-01-01

This document discusses various issues associated with the planned competitive call on the French hydraulic power plants. The principles of this competitive call for hydroelectric concessions are first addressed: administrative regime of concessions, competitive call process, criteria of selection of the concession holder, case of 'concession of valleys', potential competitors. It outlines and discusses the difficulties of this competitive call: France is the single country to implement this procedure; it concerns a national asset; it questions the guarantee of a future use of equipment at best for the energy benefits of French consumers; the competitive call is a nice idea indeed but extremely complex. A note discusses the profitability aspects of Plants for Transfer of Energy by Pumping

Competitiveness of nuclear energy - Key findings from an OECD study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bertel, Evelyne

2006-01-01

Economic competitiveness always has been a cornerstone in decision making for electricity generation options but the liberalization of energy markets has enhanced its importance. For private investors in de-regulated markets the economic attractiveness of a project is often 'the' driving factor. For plant owners and operators reducing costs is a key objective. The relative competitiveness of nuclear energy as compared with alternatives has been investigated in a recent OECD study which noted some evolution in the ranking of different options as compared with results published seven years ago. In particular the volatility of fossil fuel prices, notably natural gas for electricity generation, along with technical progress enhancing the reliability and availability factor of nuclear power plants have had a significant influence on comparative economic performance of base-load options. Furthermore, as governments implement progressively policies to address global climate change threat, the moves to internalize the costs of carbon emissions is increasing the competitiveness of low-carbon options such as renewable energy sources and nuclear power versus coal and to a lesser extent gas. (authors)

The Dynamics of Bertrand Price Competition with Cost-Reducing Investments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Iskhakov, Fedor; Rust, John; Schjerning, Bertel

We present a dynamic extension of the classic static model of Bertrand price competition that allows competing duopolists to undertake cost-reducing investments in an attempt to “leapfrog” their rival to attain low-cost leadership – at least temporarily. We show that leapfrogging occurs in equili......We present a dynamic extension of the classic static model of Bertrand price competition that allows competing duopolists to undertake cost-reducing investments in an attempt to “leapfrog” their rival to attain low-cost leadership – at least temporarily. We show that leapfrogging occurs...... in equilibrium, resolving the Bertrand investment paradox., i.e. leapfrogging explains why firms have an ex ante incentive to undertake cost-reducing investments even though they realize that simultaneous investments to acquire the state of the art production technology would result in Bertrand price competition...... leader. We show that the equilibrium involves investment preemption only when the firms invest in a deterministically alternating fashion and technological progress is deterministic. We prove that when technological progress is deterministic and firms move in an alternating fashion, the game has a unique...

Genetic parameters of eventing horse competition in France

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chanu Isabelle

2001-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Genetic parameters of eventing horse competitions were estimated. About 13 000 horses, 30 000 annual results during 17 years and 110 000 starts in eventing competitions during 8 years were recorded. The measures of performance were logarithmic transformations of annual earnings, annual earnings per start, and annual earnings per place, and underlying variables responsible for ranks in each competition. Heritabilities were low (0.11/0.17 for annual results, 0.07 for ranks. Genetic correlations between criteria were high (greater than 0.90 except between ranks and earnings per place (0.58 or per start (0.67. Genetic correlations between ages (from 5 to 10 years old were also high (more than 0.85 and allow selection on early performances. The genetic correlation between the results in different levels of competition (high/international and low/amateur was near 1. Genetic correlations of eventing with other disciplines, which included partial aptitude needed for eventing, were very low for steeplechase races (0.18 and moderate with sport: jumping (0.45, dressage (0.58. The results suggest that selection on jumping performance will lead to some positive correlated response for eventing performance, but much more response could be obtained if a specific breeding objective and selection criteria were developed for eventing.

Multicriteria Selection of Optimal Location of TCSC in a Competitive Energy Market

Science.gov (United States)

Alomoush, Muwaffaq I.

2010-05-01

The paper investigates selection of the best location of thyristor-controlled series compensator (TCSC) in a transmission system from many candidate locations in a competitive energy market such that the TCSC causes a net valuable impact on congestion management outcome, transmission utilization, transmission losses, voltage stability, degree of fulfillment of spot market contracts, and system security. The problem is treated as a multicriteria decision-making process such that the candidate locations of TCSC are the alternatives and the conflicting objectives are the outcomes of the dispatch process, which may have different importance weights. The paper proposes some performance indices that the dispatch decision-making entity can use to measure market dispatch outcomes of each alternative. Based on agreed-upon preferences, the measures presented may help the decision maker compare and rank dispatch scenarios to ultimately decide which location is the optimal one. To solve the multicriteria decision, we use the preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluations (PROMETHEE), which is a multicriteria decision support method that can handle complex conflicting-objective decision-making processes.

Multiagent cooperation and competition with deep reinforcement learning.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ardi Tampuu

Full Text Available Evolution of cooperation and competition can appear when multiple adaptive agents share a biological, social, or technological niche. In the present work we study how cooperation and competition emerge between autonomous agents that learn by reinforcement while using only their raw visual input as the state representation. In particular, we extend the Deep Q-Learning framework to multiagent environments to investigate the interaction between two learning agents in the well-known video game Pong. By manipulating the classical rewarding scheme of Pong we show how competitive and collaborative behaviors emerge. We also describe the progression from competitive to collaborative behavior when the incentive to cooperate is increased. Finally we show how learning by playing against another adaptive agent, instead of against a hard-wired algorithm, results in more robust strategies. The present work shows that Deep Q-Networks can become a useful tool for studying decentralized learning of multiagent systems coping with high-dimensional environments.

Multiagent cooperation and competition with deep reinforcement learning

Science.gov (United States)

Kodelja, Dorian; Kuzovkin, Ilya; Korjus, Kristjan; Aru, Juhan; Aru, Jaan; Vicente, Raul

2017-01-01

Evolution of cooperation and competition can appear when multiple adaptive agents share a biological, social, or technological niche. In the present work we study how cooperation and competition emerge between autonomous agents that learn by reinforcement while using only their raw visual input as the state representation. In particular, we extend the Deep Q-Learning framework to multiagent environments to investigate the interaction between two learning agents in the well-known video game Pong. By manipulating the classical rewarding scheme of Pong we show how competitive and collaborative behaviors emerge. We also describe the progression from competitive to collaborative behavior when the incentive to cooperate is increased. Finally we show how learning by playing against another adaptive agent, instead of against a hard-wired algorithm, results in more robust strategies. The present work shows that Deep Q-Networks can become a useful tool for studying decentralized learning of multiagent systems coping with high-dimensional environments. PMID:28380078

Multiagent cooperation and competition with deep reinforcement learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Tampuu, Ardi; Matiisen, Tambet; Kodelja, Dorian; Kuzovkin, Ilya; Korjus, Kristjan; Aru, Juhan; Aru, Jaan; Vicente, Raul

2017-01-01

Evolution of cooperation and competition can appear when multiple adaptive agents share a biological, social, or technological niche. In the present work we study how cooperation and competition emerge between autonomous agents that learn by reinforcement while using only their raw visual input as the state representation. In particular, we extend the Deep Q-Learning framework to multiagent environments to investigate the interaction between two learning agents in the well-known video game Pong. By manipulating the classical rewarding scheme of Pong we show how competitive and collaborative behaviors emerge. We also describe the progression from competitive to collaborative behavior when the incentive to cooperate is increased. Finally we show how learning by playing against another adaptive agent, instead of against a hard-wired algorithm, results in more robust strategies. The present work shows that Deep Q-Networks can become a useful tool for studying decentralized learning of multiagent systems coping with high-dimensional environments.

Linking root traits and competitive success in grassland species

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ravenek, Janneke M.; Mommer, Liesje; Visser, Eric J.W.; Ruijven, van Jasper; Paauw, van der Jan Willem; Smit-Tiekstra, Annemiek; Caluwe, de Hannie; Kroon, de Hans

2016-01-01

Background and aims: Competition is an important force shaping plant communities. Here we test the hypothesis that high overall root length density and selective root placement in nutrient patches, as two alternative strategies, confer competitive advantage in species mixtures. Methods: We

Battle of the Retail Channels: How Product Selection and Geography Drive Cross-Channel Competition

OpenAIRE

Erik Brynjolfsson; Yu (Jeffrey) Hu; Mohammad S. Rahman

2009-01-01

A key question for Internet commerce is the nature of competition with traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. Although traditional retailers vastly outsell Internet retailers in most product categories, research on Internet retailing has largely neglected this fundamental dimension of competition. Is cross-channel competition significant, and if so, how and where can Internet retailers win this battle? This paper attempts to answer these questions using a unique combination of data sets. We ...

Global Energy Forecasting Competition 2012

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hong, Tao; Pinson, Pierre; Fan, Shu

2014-01-01

The Global Energy Forecasting Competition (GEFCom2012) attracted hundreds of participants worldwide, who contributed many novel ideas to the energy forecasting field. This paper introduces both tracks of GEFCom2012, hierarchical load forecasting and wind power forecasting, with details...... on the aspects of the problem, the data, and a summary of the methods used by selected top entries. We also discuss the lessons learned from this competition from the organizers’ perspective. The complete data set, including the solution data, is published along with this paper, in an effort to establish...

Numerical simulation of two-phase flow around flatwater competition kayak design-evolution models.

Science.gov (United States)

Mantha, Vishveshwar R; Silva, António J; Marinho, Daniel A; Rouboa, Abel I

2013-06-01

The aim of the current study was to analyze the hydrodynamics of three kayaks: 97-kg-class, single-rower, flatwater sports competition, full-scale design evolution models (Nelo K1 Vanquish LI, LII, and LIII) of M.A.R. Kayaks Lda., Portugal, which are among the fastest frontline kayaks. The effect of kayak design transformation on kayak hydrodynamics performance was studied by the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The steady-state CFD simulations where performed by application of the k-omega turbulent model and the volume-of-fluid method to obtain two-phase flow around the kayaks. The numerical result of viscous, pressure drag, and coefficients along with wave drag at individual average race velocities was obtained. At an average velocity of 4.5 m/s, the reduction in drag was 29.4% for the design change from LI to LII and 15.4% for the change from LII to LIII, thus demonstrating and reaffirming a progressive evolution in design. In addition, the knowledge of drag hydrodynamics presented in the current study facilitates the estimation of the paddling effort required from the athlete during progression at different race velocities. This study finds an application during selection and training, where a coach can select the kayak with better hydrodynamics.

SOXs in human prostate cancer: implication as progression and prognosis factors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhong, Wei-de; Chen, Xi-bin; Lin, Zhuo-yuan; Deng, Ye-han; Wu, Shu-lin; He, Hui-chan; Wu, Chin-lee; Qin, Guo-qiang; Dai, Qi-shan; Han, Zhao-dong; Chen, Shan-ming; Ling, Xiao-hui; Fu, Xin; Cai, Chao; Chen, Jia-hong

2012-01-01

SOX genes play an important role in a number of developmental processes. Potential roles of SOXs have been demonstrated in various neoplastic tissues as tumor suppressors or promoters depending on tumor status and types. The aim of this study was to investigate the involvement of SOXs in the progression and prognosis of human prostate cancer (PCa). The gene expression changes of SOXs in human PCa tissues compared with non-cancerous prostate tissues was detected using gene expression microarray, and confirmed by real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (QRT-PCR) analysis and immunohositochemistry. The roles of these genes in castration resistance were investigated in LNCaP xenograft model of PCa. The microarray analysis identified three genes (SOX7, SOX9 and SOX10) of SOX family that were significantly dis-regulated in common among four PCa specimens. Consistent with the results of the microarray, differential mRNA and protein levels of three selected genes were found in PCa tissues by QRT-PCR analysis and immunohistochemistry. Additionally, we found that the immunohistochemical staining scores of SOX7 in PCa tissues with higher serum PSA level (P = 0.02) and metastasis (P = 0.03) were significantly lower than those with lower serum PSA level and without metastasis; the increased SOX9 protein expression was frequently found in PCa tissues with higher Gleason score (P = 0.02) and higher clinical stage (P < 0.0001); the down-regulation of SOX10 tend to be found in PCa tissues with higher serum PSA levels (P = 0.03) and advanced pathological stage (P = 0.01). Moreover, both univariate and multivariate analyses showed that the down-regulation of SOX7 and the up-regulation of SOX9 were independent predictors of shorter biochemical recurrence-free survival. Furthermore, we discovered that SOX7 was significantly down-regulated and SOX9 was significantly up-regulated during the progression to castration resistance. Our data offer the convince

Physiological pattern changes in response to a simulated competition in elite women artistic gymnasts.

Science.gov (United States)

Isacco, Laurie; Ennequin, Gaël; Cassirame, Johan; Tordi, Nicolas

2017-08-04

The outstanding progress in women's artistic gymnastics in recent decades has led to increased technical and physiological demands. The aim of this study was to investigate i) the physiological demands of elite French gymnasts and ii) the impact of a competitive routine on physiological pattern changes. Fourteen French elite female gymnasts performed anthropometric measurements, physical fitness tests and a simulated four event competition. Heart rate (HR) was continuously recorded throughout the duration of the simulated competition. Blood lactate concentrations were assessed at rest, before the beginning and at 2, 4 and 10 min after completion of the routine on each apparatus. Isometric handgrip strength and anaerobic endurance and power were assessed during the simulated competition. The highest values of HR and blood lactate concentrations were reached during the floor and uneven bar exercises. Blood lactate concentrations and HR kinetics were apparatus dependent and values remained significantly increased at 10 min of recovery compared with resting data. Anaerobic endurance and power decreased significantly as the competition progressed (P <0.001). The present results show specifically cardiorespiratory and anaerobic apparatus- dependent responses throughout a simulated competition. Recovery approaches appear relevant to prevent and/or minimize fatigue and optimize performance in these athletes.

Labour market participants’ competitiveness assessment based on latent variables theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. V. Sabetova

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article suggests innovative model for assessment of labour market subjects’ competitiveness, or successfulness. The authors state that general complex indicator for individual competitiveness within the labour market cannot be identified. Instead, precise enough assessment of such competitiveness can be based on some variables, though different for in-house and external labour market. The model of latent variables’ assessment based on Rasch’s method was selected as the base for the suggested method. The assessment model gives unbiased generalized values of subjects’ competitiveness on the linear non-dimensional scale based on the partial estimates of the selected criteria. The free choice of these criteria allows the model’s appliance for various labour market segments. The article demonstrates the mathematical grounding for the model; methodic of the assessment criteria selection; the way of assessment performance using MS Excel. It also analyses the features of the obtained estimates and shows their comparison with the estimates obtained by traditional methods. The model suggested by the authors can introduce any quantitative parameter of competitiveness as a variable after analysis of the factors affecting it. The quantitative estimates of these factors become the model’s criteria, but the assessment precision does not alter.

Spatial-simultaneous working memory and selective interference in Down syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Lanfranchi, Silvia; Mammarella, Irene C; Carretti, Barbara

2015-01-01

Several studies have suggested that individuals with Down syndrome (DS) have impairments in some aspects of the visuospatial domain. It has been reported that they are particularly impaired in the spatial-simultaneous working memory (WM) even in advantageous conditions such as when information is grouped to form a configuration. This study aimed to assess the performance of individuals with DS carrying out a spatial-simultaneous WM task in single and dual selective interference conditions in order to better explore the characteristics of their impairment in this area. Groups of individuals with DS and mentally age-matched typically developing (TD) children were asked to carry out a spatial-simultaneous WM task in a single- and in two dual-task conditions. In the single condition, the participants were required to recall an increasing number of positions of red squares presented simultaneously in a matrix. In the dual-task conditions, together with the spatial-simultaneous WM task, the participants were asked to carry out an articulatory suppression task or a tapping task. As has already been shown in other studies, individuals with DS were found to be impaired in carrying out a spatial-simultaneous WM task and showed a worse performance with respect to the TD group in both the conditions. These findings indicate that individuals with DS use the same coding modality as TD children of the same mental age. Just as the TD children, they performed lower in the dual- than in the single-task condition and there was no difference between the verbal and visuospatial conditions.

New competition hits the U.S. electric industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hunter, M.

1993-01-01

Three case studies of competition in the United States electric industry are described which illustrate some of the most striking characteristics of the new competitive situation: utilities foraging in other service areas for long-term customers, customers playing one service-area's pricing against another to obtain better terms, and new generating entities being created with the option of seeking mandated transmission access. The trends illustrated by these studies indicate a move away from a regulated monopoly setting toward a market in which the price of bulk electricity is driven down toward the long-run marginal cost of the service. In New England, non-utility generation in 1992 accounted for 17% of electricity sales, up from essentially zero in 1980. Although increasing competition among electric utilities could lower electric power prices and improve industrial competitiveness, there are several concerns which may signify unpleasant outcomes for electric utilities. These concerns include inefficient investment, in which local utility grids are bypassed in favor of other generating units whose competitive advantage may be the result of arbitrary cost-shifting; the exit of large power users placing more of a fixed-cost burden on the remaining customers of a utility, resulting in a vicious spiral of more defections; and insecurities in purchasing power from a new supplier who may not be subject to the same legal obligations as a local utility. Recommendations are made for accommodating more competition without causing adverse effects, including proper pricing of transmission, helping utilities compete on generation, and avoiding non-electric mandates for utilities. 9 refs

Hematological abnormalities in adult patients with Down's syndrome.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

McLean, S

2012-02-01

BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of data regarding hematological abnormalities in adults with Down\\'s syndrome (DS). AIMS: We aimed to characterize hematological abnormalities in adult patients with DS and determine their long-term significance. METHODS: We retrospectively studied a cohort of nine DS patients referred to the adult hematology service in our institution between May 2001 and April 2008. Data collected were: full blood count (FBC), comorbidities, investigations performed, duration of follow-up and outcome to most recent follow-up. RESULTS: Median follow-up was 26 months (9-71). Of the nine patients, two had myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) at presentation. Of these, one progressed, with increasing marrow failure, and requiring support with transfusions and gCSF. The remaining eight patients, with a variety of hematological abnormalities including leukopenia, macrocytosis, and thrombocytopenia, had persistently abnormal FBCs. However there was no evidence of progression, and no patient has evolved to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). CONCLUSIONS: MDS is a complication of DS and may require supportive therapy. However, minor hematological abnormalities are common in adult DS patients, and may not signify underlying marrow disease.

Growth and development profile of Indian children with Down syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Koshy, Beena; Navamani, Kirubakaran; Oommen, Samuel Philip; Srivastava, Vivi M

2012-08-01

In this retrospective study, we describe the profile of 88 children with Down syndrome. The average BMI for children showed a progressive increase with age. Compared to the previously published development profile, there was a significant improvement in the language domain.

Implementation of marketing strategy: Factor of competitive advantage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krstić Ivan

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Primary objective of the company is to reach the business success. Competitors have the same objective. Only the companies that really meet the consumer's needs and demands survive in the competitive struggle. The company who succeeds in it, has the possibility to achieve the competitive advantage as well. The company has to have the adequate marketing strategy in order to fulfill the marketing objectives and achieve the competitive advantage. The marketing strategy should be flexible and properly implemented to fulfill the expected results. The best solution is developing the credible strategies. Researching of the strategic marketing literature, the authors have noted down that the greater attention is given to the formulation than the implementation of the marketing strategy. In this text, focus is on the research of the marketing strategy implementation as a significant factor of the competitive advantage. The traditional concept of the marketing strategy implementation is taken into consideration first, as well as the risks the enterprise is facing with in that case. Thereafter, the testing and developing of the credible marketing strategy is represented, as well as the problems the enterprise is facing with in the implementation. Finally, the executive skills and control are analyzed as important factors of the successful implementation of the marketing strategy. .

Disciplinary competitiveness analysis in international stomatology education.

Science.gov (United States)

Wen, Ping; Hong, Xiao; Zhu, Lu; Zhang, Linglin; Gu, Xuekui; Gao, Zhihua; Chen, Qianming

2013-11-01

With economic and cultural globalization, the trend of globalization of higher education becomes inevitable. Using the concept of competitiveness, the authors established a principal component analysis (PCA) model to examine disciplinary competitiveness in stomatology of various higher education institutions worldwide. A total of forty-four universities entered the final list according to these calculations. Possible reasons for their selection were explored and explained at macro and micro levels. The authors further accessed various sources of data and summarized several suggestions for enhancing disciplinary competitiveness for other universities in pursuit of promoting their position in the global spectrum.

Quantitative PET Imaging with Novel HER3 Targeted Peptides Selected by Phage Display to Predict Androgen Independent Prostate Cancer Progression

Science.gov (United States)

2017-08-01

Independent Prostate Cancer Progression PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Benjamin Larimer, PhD CONTRACTING ORGANIZATION: Massachusetts General Hospital Boston...3. DATES COVERED 1 Aug 2016 – 31 July 2017 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Cancer Progression 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER Quantitative PET Imaging with Novel HER3...Targeted Peptides Selected by Phage Display to Predict Androgen-Independent Prostate Cancer Progression 5b. GRANT NUMBER W81XWH-16-1-0447 5c

The integration of ecopolitical needs in communal competition politics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kraemer, L.

1993-01-01

Politically and institutionally the integration of ecopolitical needs in Communal competition politics has not progressed very far. In the domain of Article 85 trade-internal agreements and agreements for self-imposed moderation attain particular importance from the ecopolitical viewpoint. Protection of the environment as a task of common European interest cannot be realed solely or even in large part through market mechanisms. Therefore financial aids for the promotion of environment protection are principally both desirable and permissible. This is the starting point from which to assess effects of ecopolitical measures on competition. (orig./HSCH) [de

Gamma-ray spectrometry applied to down-hole logging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dumesnil, P.; Umiastowsky, K.

1983-11-01

Gamma-ray spectrometry permits to improve the accuracy of natural gamma, gamma-gamma and neutron-gamma geophysical measurements. The probe developed at Centre d'Etudes Nucleaires de Saclay allows down-hole gamma-ray spectrometry. Among others, this probe can be applied to the uranium content determination by selective natural gamma method, down-hole determination of the ash content in the coal by gamma-gamma selective method and elemental analysis by neutron-gamma method. For the calibration and an exact interpretation of the measurements it is important to know the gamma-ray and neutron characteristics of the different kinds of rocks considered as probabilistic variables

The genetic basis of traits regulating sperm competition and polyandry: can selection favour the evolution of good- and sexy-sperm?

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, Jonathan P; Simmons, Leigh W

2008-09-01

The good-sperm and sexy-sperm (GS-SS) hypotheses predict that female multiple mating (polyandry) can fuel sexual selection for heritable male traits that promote success in sperm competition. A major prediction generated by these models, therefore, is that polyandry will benefit females indirectly via their sons' enhanced fertilization success. Furthermore, like classic 'good genes' and 'sexy son' models for the evolution of female preferences, GS-SS processes predict a genetic correlation between genes for female mating frequency (analogous to the female preference) and those for traits influencing fertilization success (the sexually selected traits). We examine the premise for these predictions by exploring the genetic basis of traits thought to influence fertilization success and female mating frequency. We also highlight recent debates that stress the possible genetic constraints to evolution of traits influencing fertilization success via GS-SS processes, including sex-linked inheritance, nonadditive effects, interacting parental genotypes, and trade-offs between integrated ejaculate components. Despite these possible constraints, the available data suggest that male traits involved in sperm competition typically exhibit substantial additive genetic variance and rapid evolutionary responses to selection. Nevertheless, the limited data on the genetic variation in female mating frequency implicate strong genetic maternal effects, including X-linkage, which is inconsistent with GS-SS processes. Although the relative paucity of studies on the genetic basis of polyandry does not allow us to draw firm conclusions about the evolutionary origins of this trait, the emerging pattern of sex linkage in genes for polyandry is more consistent with an evolutionary history of antagonistic selection over mating frequency. We advocate further development of GS-SS theory to take account of the complex evolutionary dynamics imposed by sexual conflict over mating frequency.

5 CFR 330.503 - Assessment of compliance with competitive principles.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... principles. 330.503 Section 330.503 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT CIVIL SERVICE REGULATIONS RECRUITMENT, SELECTION, AND PLACEMENT (GENERAL) Restrictions To Protect Competitive Principles § 330.503 Assessment of compliance with competitive principles. As one factor in assessing an agency's...

Organizational matters of competition in electronic educational resources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ирина Карловна Войтович

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The article examines the experience of the Udmurt State University in conducting competitions of educational publications and electronic resources. The purpose of such competitions is to provide methodological support to educational process. The main focus is on competition of electronic educational resources. The technology of such contests is discussed through detailed analysis of the main stages of the contest. It is noted that the main task of the preparatory stage of the competition is related to the development of regulations on competition and the definition of criteria for selection of the submitted works. The paper also proposes a system of evaluation criteria of electronic educational resources developed by members of the contest organizing committee and jury members. The article emphasizes the importance of not only the preparatory stages of the competition, but also measures for its completion, aimed at training teachers create quality e-learning resources.

Sexual and social competition: broadening perspectives by defining female roles.

Science.gov (United States)

Rubenstein, Dustin R

2012-08-19

Males figured more prominently than females in Darwin's view of sexual selection. He considered female choice of secondary importance to male-male competition as a mechanism to explain the evolution of male ornaments and armaments. Fisher later demonstrated the importance of female choice in driving male trait evolution, but his ideas were largely ignored for decades. As sexual selection came to embrace the notions of parent-offspring and sexual conflict, and experimental tests of female choice showed promise, females began to feature more prominently in the framework of sexual selection theory. Recent debate over this theory has centred around the role of females, not only over the question of choice, but also over female-female competition. Whereas some have called for expanding the sexual selection framework to encompass all forms of female-female competition, others have called for subsuming sexual selection within a broader framework of social selection, or replacing it altogether. Still others have argued for linking sexual selection more clearly to other evolutionary theories such as kin selection. Rather than simply debating terminology, we must take a broader view of the general processes that lead to trait evolution in both sexes by clearly defining the roles that females play in the process, and by focusing on intra- and inter-sexual interactions in males and females.

Media Competition and Electoral Politics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Piolatto, A.; Schuett, F.

2013-01-01

Abstract: We build a framework linking competition in the media market to political participation, media slant, and selection of politicians. Media outlets report on the ability of candidates running for office and compete for audience through their choice of slant. Citizens derive utility from

K-selection, α-selection, effectiveness, and tolerance in competition ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

selection, effectiveness, and tolerance in ... Evolutionary Biology Laboratory, Evolutionary and Organismal Biology Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, P.O. Box No. 6436, Jakkur, Bangalore 560 064, India; Poornaprajna ...

THE EFFECT OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE AND HUMAN ADVANTAGE ON INDUSTRIAL COMPETITIVE STRATEGY (Case Study: SMIs in Gorontalo Province

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Trifandi Lasalewo

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Small and Medium Industries (SMIs have a strategic role in the Indonesian economy, as they earn 61.9 percent of the foreign exchange which goes to make up the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, and nationally they are able to absorb 97 percent of the workforce. The Global Competitiveness Report also notes that SMIs serve as the business units that affect every nation’s competitiveness. Considering this strategic role, the selection of a competitive strategy for these SMIs is absolutely necessary. Through an in-depth literature review, this study aims to explore what variables influence the competitive strategy of industries, particularly the SMIs. By using a Systematic Literature Review (SLR with a total of 31 main literature (articles, papers and books, this study has found two dominant factors that influence industrial competitive strategy: Competitive advantage and human advantage, which are subsequently developed into six independent variables (construct variables, i.e. cost, delivery, product quality, product variety, know-how and innovativeness, with a total of 44 indicators. The results of measurements of the sample of SMIs in Gorontalo Province, using Structural Equation Modeling, found that both competitive advantage and human advantage jointly influence 40.2 percent of the industrial competitive strategies. These results indicate that competitive strategies, such as creating products with unique features, on-time delivery, flexibility in production, and employee involvement in the innovations, are indispensable to SMIs in order for them to produce quality products and be able to maintain their advantage.

The Employees of Baby Boomers Generation, Generation X, Generation Y and Generation Z in Selected Czech Corporations as Conceivers of Development and Competitiveness in their Corporation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bejtkovský Jiří

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The corporations using the varied workforce can supply a greater variety of solutions to problems in service, sourcing, and allocation of their resources. The current labor market mentions four generations that are living and working today: the Baby boomers generation, the Generation X, the Generation Y and the Generation Z. The differences between generations can affect the way corporations recruit and develop teams, deal with change, motivate, stimulate and manage employees, and boost productivity, competitiveness and service effectiveness. A corporation’s success and competitiveness depend on its ability to embrace diversity and realize the competitive advantages and benefits. The aim of this paper is to present the current generation of employees (the employees of Baby Boomers Generation, Generation X, Generation Y and Generation Z in the labor market by secondary research and then to introduce the results of primary research that was implemented in selected corporations in the Czech Republic. The contribution presents a view of some of the results of quantitative and qualitative research conducted in selected corporations in the Czech Republic. These researches were conducted in 2015 on a sample of 3,364 respondents, and the results were analyzed. Two research hypotheses and one research question have been formulated. The verification or rejection of null research hypothesis was done through the statistical method of the Pearson’s Chi-square test. It was found that perception of the choice of superior from a particular generation does depend on the age of employees in selected corporations. It was also determined that there are statistically significant dependences between the preference for eterogeneous or homogeneous cooperation and the age of employees in selected corporations.

Sexually selected sex differences in competitiveness explain sex differences in changes in drinking game participation.

Science.gov (United States)

Hone, Liana S E; McCullough, Michael

2015-05-14

Drinking games are a risk factor for behavioral and health problems among university students. Previous cross-sectional research by Hone, Carter, and McCullough (2013) replicated well-established sex differences in drinking game behaviors (i.e., that men are more active drinking game participants than are women) and university drinking problems more generally. Hone et al. (2013) also found that these male-specific behavioral patterns are attributable in part to the fact that men's generally unrestricted sexual strategies, plus their social competitiveness, motivate them to participate in drinking games to display their fortitude and compete with same-sex rivals. Here, the authors conducted a study to evaluate with greater causal rigor whether sex differences in sexual restrictedness and social competitiveness-and sex differences in motivations for participating in drinking games in particular-are partially responsible for the sex differences in university students' drinking game behaviors and drinking problems. Sex differences in changes in frequency of drinking game participation were partially mediated by competitive motivations for participating in drinking games and by the effects of social competitiveness on competitive drinking game motivation. These findings lend additional support to the proposition that participation in drinking games is motivated in part by their suitability as a venue for sexual competition in university students' day-to-day lives.

Prenatal screening for Down syndrome: a survey of health care ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Down Syndrome (DS) is a common genetic disorder that is associated with high intrauterine lethality. Morbidity for the survivors includes congenital anomalies and Intellectual Disability (ID). Genetic screening for DS is an ever evolving field with remarkable progress made over the years. Health care workers ...

Competitive Advantaje Anatomy: from Methodological Holism to State Capture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cosmin Marinescu

2006-11-01

Full Text Available According to the orthodox theory of international trade, the argument of selective industrial policy means the state capability of identifying competitive advantages and to exploit them. In this approach, I want to emphasize the necessity of a critical reconsideration of the “competitive advantage” and “national competitiveness”, and also of the implications deriving from these concepts over public policy. First of all, I analyzed the scientifically basis of competitiveness: on the free market, the competitive advantage is given by the entrepreneurial ability, which so becomes the real source of the economic success. Being given any other conditions, meaning here a market affected by state’s interventionism, reaching “competitive advantages” derives from rent-seeking activities which attend to capture public policy.

Competitive Advantaje Anatomy: from Methodological Holism to State Capture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cosmin Marinescu

2006-09-01

Full Text Available According to the orthodox theory of international trade, the argument of selective industrial policy means the state capability of identifying competitive advantages and to exploit them. In this approach, I want to emphasize the necessity of a critical reconsideration of the “competitive advantage” and “national competitiveness”, and also of the implications deriving from these concepts over public policy. First of all, I analyzed the scientifically basis of competitiveness: on the free market, the competitive advantage is given by the entrepreneurial ability, which so becomes the real source of the economic success. Being given any other conditions, meaning here a market affected by state’s interventionism, reaching “competitive advantages” derives from rent-seeking activities which attend to capture public policy.

BMC Ecology Image Competition 2016: the winning images.

Science.gov (United States)

Simundza, Julia; Palmer, Matthew; Settele, Josef; Jacobus, Luke M; Hughes, David P; Mazzi, Dominique; Blanchet, Simon

2016-08-09

The 2016 BMC Ecology Image Competition marked another celebration of the astounding biodiversity, natural beauty, and biological interactions documented by talented ecologists worldwide. For our fourth annual competition, we welcomed guest judge Dr. Matthew Palmer of Columbia University, who chose the winning image from over 140 entries. In this editorial, we highlight the award winning images along with a selection of highly commended honorable mentions.

Reduced plant competition among kin can be explained by Jensen's inequality.

Science.gov (United States)

Simonsen, Anna K; Chow, Theresa; Stinchcombe, John R

2014-12-01

Plants often compete with closely related individuals due to limited dispersal, leading to two commonly invoked predictions on competitive outcomes. Kin selection, from evolutionary theory, predicts that competition between relatives will likely be weaker. The niche partitioning hypothesis, from ecological theory, predicts that competition between close relatives will likely be stronger. We tested for evidence consistent with either of these predictions by growing an annual legume in kin and nonkin groups in the greenhouse. We grew plant groups in treatments of symbiotic nitrogen fixing bacteria differing in strain identity and composition to determine if differences in the microbial environment can facilitate or obscure plant competition patterns consistent with kin selection or niche partitioning. Nonkin groups had lower fitness than expected, based on fitness estimates of the same genotypes grown among kin. Higher fitness among kin groups was observed in mixtures of N-fixing bacteria strains compared to single inoculations of bacteria strains present in the soil, which increased fitness differences between kin and nonkin groups. Lower fitness in nonkin groups was likely caused by increased competitive asymmetry in nonkin groups due to genetic differences in plant size combined with saturating relationships with plant size and fitness- i.e. Jensen's inequality. Our study suggests that microbial soil symbionts alter competitive dynamics among kin and nonkin. Our study also suggests that kin groups can have higher fitness, as predicted by kin selection theory, through a commonly heritable trait (plant size), without requiring kin recognition mechanisms.

CREATING COMPETITIVE ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY USING THE FUNNEL METHOD

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Lidija Stefanovska

2015-11-01

Full Text Available In the highly competitive environment of the 21st century, organizations must be able to effectively change through the application of effective strategies, quickly and in a way that the competitors will be unable to imitate. Therefore, the essential question in any organization is how to achieve and maintain competitive advantage. In this regard, strategic leaders should first logically consider what will bring a substantial advantage to the organization in a long-term, and then start with the process of creating the strategy. To achieve this, researchers in the field of managerial issues offer a concept of continuous process that begins by looking at the customers pattern, through defining the competitive environment and the place of business in it and finally categorizing several strategic business conditions, as a precondition for election and creation of a competitive strategy. This process can be presented as the “funnel for selection of competitive strategy”, in whose widest part we can put the customer matrix, in the middle part we can place definitions of the business outlook of the business and the position of the organization in those perspectives. In order to implement the "Funnel method" of strategic planning teams we need accurate, timely and relevant information based on which we can bring appropriate organizational strategy. The subject of this paper is displaying the Funnel method for selection of the competitive strategy, and presentation of the situation in some of the organizations in the Pelagonija region, related to the way and the information used to create organizational strategies through the Funnel method.

Cooperation, but not competition, improves 4-year-old children's reasoning about others' diverse desires.

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Xinyi; Li, Pengchao; He, Jie; Shen, Mowei

2017-05-01

Three experiments examined whether cooperation or competition affects 4-year-old children's reasoning about other people's desires-which differed from their own-in a gift selection task. Experiment 1 (N=72) found that children's performance in selecting an adult-preferred gift for an adult experimenter was enhanced by a short period of preceding cooperative, but not competitive or individualistic, play with the experimenter. Experiment 2 (N=24) ruled out the alternative explanation that children resisted satisfying their opponent after competition. Experiment 3 (N=48) replicated the cooperation advantage in selecting a gift for someone else, indicating that children's understanding of diverse desires was generally improved by cooperation but not competition. These findings support the constructivist view of social development and highlight the advantage of cooperation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dynamics in prevalence of Down syndrome in children with congenital heart disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Pfitzer, Constanze; Helm, Paul C; Rosenthal, Lisa-Maria; Berger, Felix; Bauer, Ulrike M M; Schmitt, Katharina Rl

2018-01-01

We assessed the dynamics in the prevalence of children with congenital heart disease (CHD) and Down syndrome in Germany with regard to phenotype, severity, and gender. Data from patients with CHD and Down syndrome born between 1980 and 2014 were analyzed, who are registered with the German National Register for Congenital Heart Defects. One thousand six hundred eighteen CHD patients with Down syndrome were identified. The prevalence of children born with both Down syndrome and CHD was constant from 2005 to 2009 but increased from 2010 to 2014. Regarding CHD groups, complex and simple lesions have become more equal since 2005. The number of simple lesions with shunt has a peak prevalence in the period of 2010-2014. Atrioventricular septal defect was the most common CHD phenotype, but temporal changes were found within the group of CHD phenotypes over the observation period. Our findings suggest a growing number of CHD and Down syndrome, which may be the result of improved medical management and progress in educational, social, and financial support. This development is noteworthy as it adds new aspects to present discussions in the media and political settings. What is known: • Congenital heart disease is regarded to be the most important clinical phenomenon in children with Down syndrome, due to its significant impact on morbidity and mortality. • New developments in prenatal diagnostic and therapy management of congenital heart disease continue to influence the number of patients diagnosed with congenital heart disease and Down syndrome. What is New: • This study provides essential data giving the first overview of the dynamics in the prevalence of congenital heart disease and Down syndrome over an extended length of time up to 2015 in a large patient cohort, taking recent developments into account. • Our data suggest a growing prevalence of congenital heart disease and Down syndrome, which may be the result of improved medical management for Down syndrome

78 FR 54255 - Single-Case Deviation From Competition Requirements: Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Bureau's...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-03

... Deviation From Competition Requirements: Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Bureau's Research Network on... practice over time (e.g., Preterm birth, Diabetes during pregnancy, Obesity, Nausea and vomiting of... disorders during pregnancy, Down syndrome); Studies that assess the maternal-child health workforce (e.g...

From resources to value and back: Competition between and within organizations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mol, J.M.; Wijnberg, N.M.

2011-01-01

Examining the relationship between the competitive processes between and within organizations, we use selection system theory to link resource value to product value. We identify three dimensions (in-selection, before-selection and after-selection) that facilitate determining the value of resources

Selective expression of long non-coding RNAs in a breast cancer cell progression model.

Science.gov (United States)

Tracy, Kirsten M; Tye, Coralee E; Page, Natalie A; Fritz, Andrew J; Stein, Janet L; Lian, Jane B; Stein, Gary S

2018-02-01

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are acknowledged as regulators of cancer biology and pathology. Our goal was to perform a stringent profiling of breast cancer cell lines that represent disease progression. We used the MCF-10 series, which includes the normal-like MCF-10A, HRAS-transformed MCF-10AT1 (pre-malignant), and MCF-10CA1a (malignant) cells, to perform transcriptome wide sequencing. From these data, we have identified 346 lncRNAs with dysregulated expression across the progression series. By comparing lncRNAs from these datasets to those from an additional set of cell lines that represent different disease stages and subtypes, MCF-7 (early stage, luminal), and MDA-MB-231 (late stage, basal), 61 lncRNAs that are associated with breast cancer progression were identified. Querying breast cancer patient data from The Cancer Genome Atlas, we selected a lncRNA, IGF-like family member 2 antisense RNA 1 (IGFL2-AS1), of potential clinical relevance for functional characterization. Among the 61 lncRNAs, IGFL2-AS1 was the most significantly decreased. Our results indicate that this lncRNA plays a role in downregulating its nearest neighbor, IGFL1, and affects migration of breast cancer cells. Furthermore, the lncRNAs we identified provide a valuable resource to mechanistically and clinically understand the contribution of lncRNAs in breast cancer progression. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Basis for NGNP Reactor Design Down-Selection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

L.E. Demick

2010-08-01

The purpose of this paper is to identify the extent of technology development, design and licensing maturity anticipated to be required to credibly identify differences that could make a technical choice practical between the prismatic and pebble bed reactor designs. This paper does not address a business decision based on the economics, business model and resulting business case since these will vary based on the reactor application. The selection of the type of reactor, the module ratings, the number of modules, the configuration of the balance of plant and other design selections will be made on the basis of optimizing the Business Case for the application. These are not decisions that can be made on a generic basis.

The "Hollywoodization" of Education Reform in "Won't Back Down"

Science.gov (United States)

Goering, Christian Z.; Witte, Shelbie; Jennings Davis, Jennifer; Ward, Peggy; Flammang, Brandon; Gerhardson, Ashley

2015-01-01

What happens when forces attempting to privatize education create and produce a Hollywood film with an education reform plot line? This essay explores "Won't Back Down" through cultural studies and progressive education lenses in an effort to unveil misrepresentations of education and education reform. Drawing on scholarship in these…

Improving Genomic Prediction in Cassava Field Experiments by Accounting for Interplot Competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Elias, Ani A; Rabbi, Ismail; Kulakow, Peter; Jannink, Jean-Luc

2018-03-02

Plants competing for available resources is an unavoidable phenomenon in a field. We conducted studies in cassava ( Manihot esculenta Crantz) in order to understand the pattern of this competition. Taking into account the competitive ability of genotypes while selecting parents for breeding advancement or commercialization can be very useful. We assumed that competition could occur at two levels: (i) the genotypic level, which we call interclonal, and (ii) the plot level irrespective of the type of genotype, which we call interplot competition or competition error. Modification in incidence matrices was applied in order to relate neighboring genotype/plot to the performance of a target genotype/plot with respect to its competitive ability. This was added into a genomic selection (GS) model to simultaneously predict the direct and competitive ability of a genotype. Predictability of the models was tested through a 10-fold cross-validation method repeated five times. The best model was chosen as the one with the lowest prediction root mean squared error (pRMSE) compared to that of the base model having no competitive component. Results from our real data studies indicated that value reached up to 25% with a GS-competition error model. We also found that the competitive influence of a cassava clone is not just limited to the adjacent neighbors but spreads beyond them. Through simulations, we found that a 26% increase of accuracy in estimating trait genotypic effect can be achieved even in the presence of high competitive variance. Copyright © 2018 Elias et al.

National and Regional Competitiveness in the Crisis Context. Successful Examples

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gina Cristina DIMIAN

2011-11-01

Full Text Available The paper addresses the issue of national and regional competitiveness in the context of socio-economic and financial crisis. Competitiveness is a complex concept which can be studied at both the firm and the local and national level.Thus, in economic terms the competitiveness is most often associated with the productivity or efficiency with which inputs are transformed into goods and services. As for the regional competitiveness it should be analyzed in terms of results (revenue, employment and in relation to its determinants: ranging from the classical production factors (capital, labour, technological progress to the “soft” factors (human capital, research and development, dissemination of knowledge.The current economic environment has revealed that countries such as China, India, Brazil and also the Czech Republic and Poland, following prudent economic policies, have managed to make from macroeconomic stability, investment in education and research some of their major drivers of economic growth.

Comparative analysis of tomato value chain competitiveness in selected areas of Malawi and Mozambique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nelson Mango

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses tomato value chain performance in Malawi and Mozambique using data collected from a market study commissioned by the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture as part of a regional research on conservation agriculture in maize-based farming systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. The results show that Malawi has a slightly higher competitive advantage in the production of tomato compared to Mozambique. Malawi’s relative competitiveness in tomato is mainly due to slightly higher productivity and the cost advantage in labor (low wages and irrigation costs. The paper proposes policy implications aimed at raising the productivity and trade competitiveness of tomato, as this will ensure the overall productivity of the maize-based smallholder farming systems in the two countries.

Career management: a competitive advantage in today's health care marketplace.

Science.gov (United States)

Bourbeau, J

2001-01-01

A valuable new tool to attract and retain new employees is being used by some of the most progressive companies in Michigan. It is called career management, and it is being used with great success by businesses of all types to give themselves a competitive advantage.

What progress has Germany made half way down the nuclear phase-out path?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kraev, Kamen

2017-01-01

The past year saw a number of anticipated developments related to Germany's policy of phasing out nuclear power by 2022. Ralf Gueldner, president of the German Atomic Forum (DAtF), spoke to NucNet about what has been accomplished and what remains to be done in Germany half way down the phaseout path.

What progress has Germany made half way down the nuclear phase-out path?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kraev, Kamen [NucNet, Brussels (Belgium). The Independent Global Nuclear News Agency

2017-08-15

The past year saw a number of anticipated developments related to Germany's policy of phasing out nuclear power by 2022. Ralf Gueldner, president of the German Atomic Forum (DAtF), spoke to NucNet about what has been accomplished and what remains to be done in Germany half way down the phaseout path.

Progressive sample processing of band selection for hyperspectral imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Keng-Hao; Chien, Hung-Chang; Chen, Shih-Yu

2017-10-01

Band selection (BS) is one of the most important topics in hyperspectral image (HSI) processing. The objective of BS is to find a set of representative bands that can represent the whole image with lower inter-band redundancy. Many types of BS algorithms were proposed in the past. However, most of them can be carried on in an off-line manner. It means that they can only be implemented on the pre-collected data. Those off-line based methods are sometime useless for those applications that are timeliness, particular in disaster prevention and target detection. To tackle this issue, a new concept, called progressive sample processing (PSP), was proposed recently. The PSP is an "on-line" framework where the specific type of algorithm can process the currently collected data during the data transmission under band-interleavedby-sample/pixel (BIS/BIP) protocol. This paper proposes an online BS method that integrates a sparse-based BS into PSP framework, called PSP-BS. In PSP-BS, the BS can be carried out by updating BS result recursively pixel by pixel in the same way that a Kalman filter does for updating data information in a recursive fashion. The sparse regression is solved by orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) algorithm, and the recursive equations of PSP-BS are derived by using matrix decomposition. The experiments conducted on a real hyperspectral image show that the PSP-BS can progressively output the BS status with very low computing time. The convergence of BS results during the transmission can be quickly achieved by using a rearranged pixel transmission sequence. This significant advantage allows BS to be implemented in a real time manner when the HSI data is transmitted pixel by pixel.

The capture of heritable variation for genetic quality through social competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Wolf, Jason B; Harris, W Edwin; Royle, Nick J

2008-09-01

In theory, females of many species choose mates based on traits that are indicators of male genetic quality. A fundamental question in evolutionary biology is why genetic variation for such indicator traits persists despite strong persistent selection imposed by female preference, which is known as the lek paradox. One potential solution to the lek paradox suggests that the traits that are targets of mate choice should evolve condition-dependent expression and that condition should have a large genetic variance. Condition is expected to exhibit high genetic variance because it is affected by a large number of physiological processes and hence, condition-dependent traits should 'capture' variation contributed by a large number of loci. We suggest that a potentially important cause of variation in condition is competition for limited resources. Here, we discuss a pair of models to analyze the evolutionary genetics of traits affected by success in social competition for resources. We show that competition can contribute to genetic variation of 'competition-dependent' traits that have fundamentally different evolutionary properties than other sources of variation. Competition dependence can make traits honest indicators of genetic quality by revealing the relative competitive ability of males, can provide a component of heritable variation that does not contribute to trait evolution, and can help maintain heritable variation under directional selection. Here we provide a general introduction to the concept of competition dependence and briefly introduce two models to demonstrate the potential evolutionary consequences of competition-dependent trait expression.

Impairment of circulating endothelial progenitors in Down syndrome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Costa Valerio

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Pathological angiogenesis represents a critical issue in the progression of many diseases. Down syndrome is postulated to be a systemic anti-angiogenesis disease model, possibly due to increased expression of anti-angiogenic regulators on chromosome 21. The aim of our study was to elucidate some features of circulating endothelial progenitor cells in the context of this syndrome. Methods Circulating endothelial progenitors of Down syndrome affected individuals were isolated, in vitro cultured and analyzed by confocal and transmission electron microscopy. ELISA was performed to measure SDF-1α plasma levels in Down syndrome and euploid individuals. Moreover, qRT-PCR was used to quantify expression levels of CXCL12 gene and of its receptor in progenitor cells. The functional impairment of Down progenitors was evaluated through their susceptibility to hydroperoxide-induced oxidative stress with BODIPY assay and the major vulnerability to the infection with human pathogens. The differential expression of crucial genes in Down progenitor cells was evaluated by microarray analysis. Results We detected a marked decrease of progenitors' number in young Down individuals compared to euploid, cell size increase and some major detrimental morphological changes. Moreover, Down syndrome patients also exhibited decreased SDF-1α plasma levels and their progenitors had a reduced expression of SDF-1α encoding gene and of its membrane receptor. We further demonstrated that their progenitor cells are more susceptible to hydroperoxide-induced oxidative stress and infection with Bartonella henselae. Further, we observed that most of the differentially expressed genes belong to angiogenesis, immune response and inflammation pathways, and that infected progenitors with trisomy 21 have a more pronounced perturbation of immune response genes than infected euploid cells. Conclusions Our data provide evidences for a reduced number and altered

Sourcing Strategies to Keep up with Competition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Antero, Michelle; Hedman, Jonas; Henningsson, Stefan

2014-01-01

the firm’s viability to survive competition in the marketplace. The study begins by positioning the Red Queen theory within the sourcing literature. It subsequently applies the framework to a case study of SAP AG to illustrate how sourcing strategies have changed over time in response to the logic...... are reflexive and over time develop competitive hysteresis which allows them to become stronger competitors. In the case of SAP AG, various sourcing arrangements were selected over its 40-year history to respond to technological and market changes....

The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Education Program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Robyn Ready

2011-12-31

The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Education Program conducted education and outreach activities and used the competition's technical goals and vehicle demonstrations as a means of attracting students and the public to learn more about advanced vehicle technologies, energy efficiency, climate change, alternative fuels, and the science and math behind efficient vehicle development. The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Education Program comprised three integrated components that were designed to educate the general public and create a multi-tiered initiative to engage students and showcase the 21st century skills students will need to compete in our global economy: teamwork, creativity, strong literacy, math and science skills, and innovative thinking. The elements included an Online Experience, a National Student Contest, and in person education events and activites. The project leveraged online connections, strategic partnerships, in-classroom, and beyond-the-classroom initiatives, as well as mainstream media. This education program supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) also funded the specification of vehicle telemetry and the full development and operation of an interactive online experience that allowed internet users to follow the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE vehicles as they performed in real-time during the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE competition events.

Alterations to multisensory and unisensory integration by stimulus competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Pluta, Scott R; Rowland, Benjamin A; Stanford, Terrence R; Stein, Barry E

2011-12-01

In environments containing sensory events at competing locations, selecting a target for orienting requires prioritization of stimulus values. Although the superior colliculus (SC) is causally linked to the stimulus selection process, the manner in which SC multisensory integration operates in a competitive stimulus environment is unknown. Here we examined how the activity of visual-auditory SC neurons is affected by placement of a competing target in the opposite hemifield, a stimulus configuration that would, in principle, promote interhemispheric competition for access to downstream motor circuitry. Competitive interactions between the targets were evident in how they altered unisensory and multisensory responses of individual neurons. Responses elicited by a cross-modal stimulus (multisensory responses) proved to be substantially more resistant to competitor-induced depression than were unisensory responses (evoked by the component modality-specific stimuli). Similarly, when a cross-modal stimulus served as the competitor, it exerted considerably more depression than did its individual component stimuli, in some cases producing more depression than predicted by their linear sum. These findings suggest that multisensory integration can help resolve competition among multiple targets by enhancing orientation to the location of cross-modal events while simultaneously suppressing orientation to events at alternate locations.

Down Syndrome = Sindrome de Down.

Science.gov (United States)

Pueschel, S. M.; Glasgow, R. E.

Presented both in English and Spanish, the brochure is primarily concerned with biological and developmental characteristics of the person with Down's syndrome. An emphasis is on the valuable humanizing influence these individuals have on society. Brief sections in the document discuss the delayed developmental aspects of Down's syndrome; the…

COMPETITIVENESS AS A FACTOR FOR CHOICE OF UKRAINIAN YOUTHRECEIVE HIGHER EDUCATION ABROAD1

OpenAIRE

ZUBCHYK OLEG ANATOLIIOVYCH

2017-01-01

The author compared the country’s competitiveness performance and competitiveness of higher education in the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum (Switzerland) and ranking of global competitiveness Management Institute (Switzerland). For comparison, selected countries whereResearch done withint here search theme of Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University “16 BF 041-01. Modernization of philosophy and political science education and science of Ukraine on thebasis of inter...

Quantitative PET Imaging with Novel HER3-Targeted Peptides Selected by Phage Display to Predict Androgen-Independent Prostate Cancer Progression

Science.gov (United States)

2017-12-01

Independent Prostate Cancer Progression PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Benjamin Larimer, PhD CONTRACTING ORGANIZATION: Massachusetts General Hospital Boston...TYPE Final 3. DATES COVERED 1 Aug 2016 – 19 August 2017 Selected by Phage Display to Predict Androgen-Independent Prostate Cancer Progression 5a...highly specific peptide that targets HER3 for prostate cancer imaging. The peptide was labeled with a PET imaging radionuclide and injected into mice

Municipal Competition for Inhabitants under Population Decrease. Zusammenfassung: Kommunale Konkurrenz um Einwohner bei Bevölkerungsrückgang

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Friedrich

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The shrinking population during the break-down, adaptation and recovery phase in Estonian social and political development enforces municipal competition among the municipalities. Competition for inhabitants is embedded in regional competition showing horizontal and vertical competition relations. Inhabitants’ competition prevails indirectly through municipal business promotion competition and directly through competition for inhabitants. The competition shows three phases. A phase concerns zoning and long-term planning; a second one refers to negotiations with settlement firms and short-term actions to attract inhabitants followed by a phase of revisions of zoning and measures. The oligopolistic industrial zoning model of business promotion policy points to the consequences of horizontal municipal competition also on population. Vertical influences on business promotion policy demonstrate a game-theoretic example of intergovernmental intervention from higher government on zoning. The negotiation phase in business promotion policy is modelled by a bilateral monopoly model between a municipality and a settlement firm. Horizontal regional competition highlights the implications on inhabitants’ competition. An oligopoly model of direct inhabitant competition concerns the zoning in particular for housing. Furthermore, a model of public enterprise service and fee formation and of horizontal public firm competition shows inhabitants’ competition in the second phase. Forms of inhabitant competition concerning suburbanisation and using public debt, revenues such as taxes, fees and expenditures are mentioned. Finally, follows a discussion of possible instruments to regulate inhabitant competition.

COMPETITIVENESS AND COMPETITIVE ORIENTATIONS: EVALUATION OF STUDENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Z. Efimova

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Education of a competitive student is a strategically significant problem of the system of higher education in modern social and economic conditions. Personal competitiveness and competitive orientations – priority quality of future expert for successful future professional experience.The aim of the present research is to study factors of competitive orientations formation and criteria for evaluation of competitiveness of student’s youth in the Russian society.Methodology and research methods. Results of theoretical researches of Russian and foreign researchers are generalized; secondary analysis of data based on results of sociological researches and analysis of official statistical data are carried out. The results of the sociological survey undertaken in 2017 on the basis of statistical methods were processed and studied by the instrumentality of IBM SPSS Statistics 23 program; 1196 students of institutions of higher and secondary vocational education of the Tyumen region took part.Results and scientific novelty. It is stated that senior students feel themselves more competitive. It is revealed that a quarter of students who took part in the survey, generally men, count themselves competitive. A continuous distance of goal-setting is recorded among these respondents; in every third case they have plans of professional growth for five and more years that allows them to build attractive competitive strategy.The level of the competitiveness is directly connected with such indicators as “social stratum”, “overall life satisfaction”, “self-esteem of health”, “tendency to lead a healthy lifestyle” and “the level of trust in the surrounding people”. Mostly the students oriented on competition look into the future with confidence and optimism.Respondents focused on the competitiveness were more tend to demonstrate their abilities and cause admiration, have a creative approach towards work, be ready for surprises

Factors influencing food choice of athletes at international competition events.

Science.gov (United States)

Pelly, Fiona E; Burkhart, Sarah J; Dunn, Peter

2018-02-01

Although the nutrient requirements and dietary intake of athletes have been thoroughly investigated, little is known about the influences on their food choice, particularly prior to and during competition. This study sought to investigate factors that influence food selection of athletes at two similar international competition events: the Melbourne 2006 and Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games. A secondary aim was to explore differences in these factors between at each event given the culturally diverse locations. A survey developed for this study was distributed to athletes in the village dining hall at both events. Athletes scored a selection of factors influencing food choice on a scale of 1 (not important) to 5 (very important). A total of 769 individuals completed the questionnaire in total, with 351 (46%) from Delhi and 418 (54%) from Melbourne. Overall, athletes rated nutrient composition (M = 4.22), stage of competition (M = 4.09), time of day (M = 4.02) and familiarity of the food (M = 4.07) higher than sensory properties (smell M = 3.88; visual appearance M = 3.22) when making a food selection. Visual appearance (p = 0.01), stage of competition (p food (p motives for food section of athletes from a range of sports and cultures is warranted. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Explaining gender differences in competitiveness: Gender-task stereotypes

OpenAIRE

Große, Niels Daniel; Riener, Gerhard

2010-01-01

Gender-specific patterns of self-selection into competitive and cooperative environments may have multiple reasons. One of the most prominent explanations to this point is, that there are inherent differences between men and women when it comes to preferences regarding competition. We take a different point of view and claim that gender-task stereotypes are able to explain a large part of the under-representation of women in tournament like environments. We conduct an experiment with a quanti...

Judgments under competition and uncertainty : empirical evidence from online poker

OpenAIRE

Engelbergs, Jörg

2010-01-01

Playing poker has many aspects in common with the making of business decisions. Agents act in a strategically rich, dynamic environment, where they are repeatedly facing competition under uncertain prospects. Their main goal is to maximize their resources. However simple this goal is put down, it is difficult to fulfill. As vast and rich research has shown, heuristics and biases affect human decision-making. This work adds to these findings by providing empirical evidence for behavioral patte...

A Firm-Level Innovation Management Framework and Assessment Tool for Increasing Competitiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sorin Cohn

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Innovation depends on much more than just technology and R&D. It is a means to an end – competitive success and higher market value – and it needs to be managed strategically and methodically for tangible corporate performance where it matters: in the market. This article introduces a comprehensive corporate innovation management framework (v-CIM and a targeted competitiveness assessment tool (i-TCA. Properly used by corporate leaders, this framework and its associated tool enable innovation managers to decide on priorities for competitive development, adopt appropriate innovation strategies to meet corporate goals, monitor progress, make adjustments, and help create and maintain a culture of innovation that is aligned with business goals.

Stem cells are units of natural selection for tissue formation, for germline development, and in cancer development.

Science.gov (United States)

Weissman, Irving L

2015-07-21

It is obvious that natural selection operates at the level of individuals and collections of individuals. Nearly two decades ago we showed that in multi-individual colonies of protochordate colonial tunicates sharing a blood circulation, there exists an exchange of somatic stem cells and germline stem cells, resulting in somatic chimeras and stem cell competitions for gonadal niches. Stem cells are unlike other cells in the body in that they alone self-renew, so that they form clones that are perpetuated for the life of the organism. Stem cell competitions have allowed the emergence of competitive somatic and germline stem cell clones. Highly successful germline stem cells usually outcompete less successful competitors both in the gonads of the genotype partner from which they arise and in the gonads of the natural parabiotic partners. Therefore, natural selection also operates at the level of germline stem cell clones. In the colonial tunicate Botryllus schlosseri the formation of natural parabionts is prevented by a single-locus highly polymorphic histocompatibility gene called Botryllus histocompatibility factor. This limits germline stem cell predation to kin, as the locus has hundreds of alleles. We show that in mice germline stem cells compete for gonad niches, and in mice and humans, blood-forming stem cells also compete for bone marrow niches. We show that the clonal progression from blood-forming stem cells to acute leukemias by successive genetic and epigenetic events in blood stem cells also involves competition and selection between clones and propose that this is a general theme in cancer.

Epigenomic maintenance through dietary intervention can facilitate DNA repair process to slow down the progress of premature aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghosh, Shampa; Sinha, Jitendra Kumar; Raghunath, Manchala

2016-09-01

DNA damage caused by various sources remains one of the most researched topics in the area of aging and neurodegeneration. Increased DNA damage causes premature aging. Aging is plastic and is characterised by the decline in the ability of a cell/organism to maintain genomic stability. Lifespan can be modulated by various interventions like calorie restriction, a balanced diet of macro and micronutrients or supplementation with nutrients/nutrient formulations such as Amalaki rasayana, docosahexaenoic acid, resveratrol, curcumin, etc. Increased levels of DNA damage in the form of double stranded and single stranded breaks are associated with decreased longevity in animal models like WNIN/Ob obese rats. Erroneous DNA repair can result in accumulation of DNA damage products, which in turn result in premature aging disorders such as Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome. Epigenomic studies of the aging process have opened a completely new arena for research and development of drugs and therapeutic agents. We propose here that agents or interventions that can maintain epigenomic stability and facilitate the DNA repair process can slow down the progress of premature aging, if not completely prevent it. © 2016 IUBMB Life, 68(9):717-721, 2016. © 2016 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Sexually Selected Sex Differences in Competitiveness Explain Sex Differences in Changes in Drinking Game Participation

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Liana S. E. Hone

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Drinking games are a risk factor for behavioral and health problems among university students. Previous cross-sectional research by Hone, Carter, and McCullough (2013 replicated well-established sex differences in drinking game behaviors (i.e., that men are more active drinking game participants than are women and university drinking problems more generally. Hone et al. (2013 also found that these male-specific behavioral patterns are attributable in part to the fact that men's generally unrestricted sexual strategies, plus their social competitiveness, motivate them to participate in drinking games to display their fortitude and compete with same-sex rivals. Here, the authors conducted a study to evaluate with greater causal rigor whether sex differences in sexual restrictedness and social competitiveness—and sex differences in motivations for participating in drinking games in particular—are partially responsible for the sex differences in university students' drinking game behaviors and drinking problems. Sex differences in changes in frequency of drinking game participation were partially mediated by competitive motivations for participating in drinking games and by the effects of social competitiveness on competitive drinking game motivation. These findings lend additional support to the proposition that participation in drinking games is motivated in part by their suitability as a venue for sexual competition in university students' day-to-day lives.

The competitive advantage of sanctioning institutions.

Science.gov (United States)

Gürerk, Ozgür; Irlenbusch, Bernd; Rockenbach, Bettina

2006-04-07

Understanding the fundamental patterns and determinants of human cooperation and the maintenance of social order in human societies is a challenge across disciplines. The existing empirical evidence for the higher levels of cooperation when altruistic punishment is present versus when it is absent systematically ignores the institutional competition inherent in human societies. Whether punishment would be deliberately adopted and would similarly enhance cooperation when directly competing with nonpunishment institutions is highly controversial in light of recent findings on the detrimental effects of punishment. We show experimentally that a sanctioning institution is the undisputed winner in a competition with a sanction-free institution. Despite initial aversion, the entire population migrates successively to the sanctioning institution and strongly cooperates, whereas the sanction-free society becomes fully depopulated. The findings demonstrate the competitive advantage of sanctioning institutions and exemplify the emergence and manifestation of social order driven by institutional selection.

Milia-like idiopathic calcinosis cutis in a child with Down syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Piyush; Savant, Sushil S; Nimisha, Esther; Das, Anupam; Debbarman, Panchami

2016-05-15

Idiopathic calcinosis cutis refers to progressive deposition of crystals of calcium phosphate in the skin and other areas of the body, in the absence of any inciting factor. Idiopathic calcinosis cutis may sometimes take the form of small, milia-like lesions. Most commonly, such milia like lesions are seen in the setting of Down syndrome. Herein, we report a 5-year-old girl with multiple asymptomatic discrete milia-like firm papules distributed over the face and extremities. A diagnosis of milia-like idiopathic calcinosis cutis associated with Down Syndrome was provisionally made and was confirmed by histopathology and karyotyping.

How magazines could remain competitive in the transition from print to digital media

OpenAIRE

Stange, Olof

2015-01-01

During the past decades, the world has seen a fast development in information technology. This has led to significant changes in many different industries including the media industry. The transformation is in progress and is unceasingly changing the game rules for media companies. Many magazines are struggling in the new competitive media landscape since existing business models in the print industry are hard to apply to the digital industry. In order for magazines to remain competitive they...

Computation-aware algorithm selection approach for interlaced-to-progressive conversion

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Sang-Jun; Jeon, Gwanggil; Jeong, Jechang

2010-05-01

We discuss deinterlacing results in a computationally constrained and varied environment. The proposed computation-aware algorithm selection approach (CASA) for fast interlaced to progressive conversion algorithm consists of three methods: the line-averaging (LA) method for plain regions, the modified edge-based line-averaging (MELA) method for medium regions, and the proposed covariance-based adaptive deinterlacing (CAD) method for complex regions. The proposed CASA uses two criteria, mean-squared error (MSE) and CPU time, for assigning the method. We proposed a CAD method. The principle idea of CAD is based on the correspondence between the high and low-resolution covariances. We estimated the local covariance coefficients from an interlaced image using Wiener filtering theory and then used these optimal minimum MSE interpolation coefficients to obtain a deinterlaced image. The CAD method, though more robust than most known methods, was not found to be very fast compared to the others. To alleviate this issue, we proposed an adaptive selection approach using a fast deinterlacing algorithm rather than using only one CAD algorithm. The proposed hybrid approach of switching between the conventional schemes (LA and MELA) and our CAD was proposed to reduce the overall computational load. A reliable condition to be used for switching the schemes was presented after a wide set of initial training processes. The results of computer simulations showed that the proposed methods outperformed a number of methods presented in the literature.

Heart rate variability and pre-competitive anxiety in BMX discipline.

Science.gov (United States)

Mateo, Manuel; Blasco-Lafarga, Cristina; Martínez-Navarro, Ignacio; Guzmán, José F; Zabala, Mikel

2012-01-01

Altered neural mechanisms implying autonomic functioning have been described related to anxiety. Pre-competitive stress may be considered as an anxiety-state associated with disorders (i.e. somatic and cognitive alterations, and self-confidence worsening) that severely impair sport performance, conditioning short-lasting strength-related disciplines like BMX. From the psychological perspective, coaches use questionnaires like CSAI-2R to identify these alterations. However, with the emergence of psycho-physiological and non-linear approaches, recent studies suggest that HRV analysis provides a non-invasive tool to assess them. Hence, our purpose was to analyze how BMX competition affects subjective perception of anxiety, and if this emotional alteration is reflected in HR dynamics, analyzed both linear and nonlinearly, exploring the evolution of this relationship in a 2-day competition. Eleven male athletes from the BMX Spanish National Team were assessed from baseline HRV the morning of a training session (rT) and on two successive days of competition (rC1 and rC2), repeating HRV recording with CSAI-2R 20 min prior to training (aT) and competition (pre-competitive: aC1 and aC2). Repeated measures MANOVA showed significant vagal slow-down responses in aC1 and aC2 comparing not only with aT, but also comparing with rT, rC1 and rC2, coinciding with significant greater scores for the somatic and cognitive anxiety (SA and CA) in aC1 and aC2 versus aT. Pearson analysis showed a large and positive correlation between α1 and SA in C1, and close to it between SampEn and CA in aC2; both were confirmed by Bland-Altman chart analysis. Our results confirm that HRV analysis provide a complementary tool to assess competitive pressure.

BDS thin film damage competition

Science.gov (United States)

Stolz, Christopher J.; Thomas, Michael D.; Griffin, Andrew J.

2008-10-01

A laser damage competition was held at the 2008 Boulder Damage Symposium in order to determine the current status of thin film laser resistance within the private, academic, and government sectors. This damage competition allows a direct comparison of the current state-of-the-art of high laser resistance coatings since they are all tested using the same damage test setup and the same protocol. A normal incidence high reflector multilayer coating was selected at a wavelength of 1064 nm. The substrates were provided by the submitters. A double blind test assured sample and submitter anonymity so only a summary of the results are presented here. In addition to the laser resistance results, details of deposition processes, coating materials, and layer count will also be shared.

A comprehensive test of evolutionarily increased competitive ability in a highly invasive plant species

Science.gov (United States)

Joshi, Srijana; Gruntman, Michal; Bilton, Mark; Seifan, Merav; Tielbörger, Katja

2014-01-01

Background and Aims A common hypothesis to explain plants' invasive success is that release from natural enemies in the introduced range selects for reduced allocation to resistance traits and a subsequent increase in resources available for growth and competitive ability (evolution of increased competitive ability, EICA). However, studies that have investigated this hypothesis have been incomplete as they either did not test for all aspects of competitive ability or did not select appropriate competitors. Methods Here, the prediction of increased competitive ability was examined with the invasive plant Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife) in a set of common-garden experiments that addressed these aspects by carefully distinguishing between competitive effect and response of invasive and native plants, and by using both intraspecific and interspecific competition settings with a highly vigorous neighbour, Urtica dioica (stinging nettle), which occurs in both ranges. Key Results While the intraspecific competition results showed no differences in competitive effect or response between native and invasive plants, the interspecific competition experiment revealed greater competitive response and effect of invasive plants in both biomass and seed production. Conclusions The use of both intra- and interspecific competition experiments in this study revealed opposing results. While the first experiment refutes the EICA hypothesis, the second shows strong support for it, suggesting evolutionarily increased competitive ability in invasive populations of L. salicaria. It is suggested that the use of naturally co-occurring heterospecifics, rather than conspecifics, may provide a better evaluation of the possible evolutionary shift towards greater competitive ability. PMID:25301818

Bottom-up vs. top-down effects on terrestrial insect herbivores: a meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Vidal, Mayra C; Murphy, Shannon M

2018-01-01

Primary consumers are under strong selection from resource ('bottom-up') and consumer ('top-down') controls, but the relative importance of these selective forces is unknown. We performed a meta-analysis to compare the strength of top-down and bottom-up forces on consumer fitness, considering multiple predictors that can modulate these effects: diet breadth, feeding guild, habitat/environment, type of bottom-up effects, type of top-down effects and how consumer fitness effects are measured. We focused our analyses on the most diverse group of primary consumers, herbivorous insects, and found that in general top-down forces were stronger than bottom-up forces. Notably, chewing, sucking and gall-making herbivores were more affected by top-down than bottom-up forces, top-down forces were stronger than bottom-up in both natural and controlled (cultivated) environments, and parasitoids and predators had equally strong top-down effects on insect herbivores. Future studies should broaden the scope of focal consumers, particularly in understudied terrestrial systems, guilds, taxonomic groups and top-down controls (e.g. pathogens), and test for more complex indirect community interactions. Our results demonstrate the surprising strength of forces exerted by natural enemies on herbivorous insects, and thus the necessity of using a tri-trophic approach when studying insect-plant interactions. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

[Effect of habitat and interspecific competition on Apis cerana cerana colony distribution].

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Linsheng; Han, Shengming

2003-04-01

Habitat change and interspecific competition were the main factors affecting, Apis cerana cerana colony distribution among Wannan and Wanxi Dabie mountainous areas, Jianghuai area and Huaibei plain. Wannan and Wanxi Dabie mountainous areas were the ideal places for Apis cerana cerana' habitation and propogation, in which, there were integrated natural vegetation, fine ecological condition, abundant nectariferous plants, and Apis cerana cerana had large colony size, wide distribution, high density, no disturbances of natural mating, and was dominant interspecific competition. In Jianghuai area and Huaibei plain, there were small covering of natural vegetation, different degree of degradation of ecological balance, few kinds of nectariferous plants with almost the same blooming periods, natural mating perturbed by Apis mellifera ligustica for Apis cerana cerana, and which was inferior in interspecific competition, colony size sharply decreased, distribution area reduced, and density cut down to a great extent. In Huaibei plain, the negative factors were more conspicuous.

Technical Efficiency and Port Competition: Revisiting the Bohai Economic Rim, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grace Wang

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The Bohai Economic Rim plays an important role in supporting China’s economic growth. For this research, we selected nine main ports in the region to study whether intra-port competition or corporatization would improve efficiency. Using a panel fixed effect model and stochastic frontier model, we found that the technical efficiency of selected ports is significantly influenced by the time of the initial public offering than by regional competition. The results are supportive and encouraging for policy makers to move toward the decentralized port governance in China.

Design of Offshore Wind Turbine Support Structures: Selected topics in the field of geotechnical engineering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bakmar, Christian LeBlanc

.D. thesis was to enable low-cost and low-risk support structures to be designed in order to improve the economic feasibility of future offshore wind farms. The research work was divided in the following four selected research topics in the field of geotechnical engineering, relating to the monopile......Breaking the dependence on fossil fuels offers many opportunities for strengthened competitiveness, technological development and progress. Offshore wind power is a domestic, sustainable and largely untapped energy resource that provides an alternative to fossil fuels, reduces carbon emissions......, and decreases the economic and supply risks associated with reliance on imported fuels. Today, the modern offshore wind turbine offers competitive production prices for renewable energy and is therefore a key technology in achieving the energy and climate goals of the future. The overall aim of this Ph...

Is Nocturnal Foraging in a Tropical Bee an Escape From Interference Competition?

OpenAIRE

Smith, Adam R.; Kitchen, Shannon M.; Toney, Ryan M.; Ziegler, Christian

2017-01-01

Temporal niche partitioning may result from interference competition if animals shift their activity patterns to avoid aggressive competitors. If doing so also shifts food sources, it is difficult to distinguish the effects of interference and consumptive competition in selecting for temporal niche shift. Bees compete for pollen and nectar from flowers through both interference and consumptive competition, and some species of bees have evolved nocturnality. Here, we use tropical forest canopy...

New competitive dendrimer-based and highly selective immunosensor for determination of atrazine in environmental, feed and food samples: the importance of antibody selectivity for discrimination among related triazinic metabolites.

Science.gov (United States)

Giannetto, Marco; Umiltà, Eleonora; Careri, Maria

2014-01-02

A new voltammetric competitive immunosensor selective for atrazine, based on the immobilization of a conjugate atrazine-bovine serum albumine on a nanostructured gold substrate previously functionalized with poliamidoaminic dendrimers, was realized, characterized, and validated in different real samples of environmental and food concern. Response of the sensor was reliable, highly selective and suitable for the detection and quantification of atrazine at trace levels in complex matrices such as territorial waters, corn-cultivated soils, corn-containing poultry and bovine feeds and corn flakes for human use. Selectivity studies were focused on desethylatrazine, the principal metabolite generated by long-term microbiological degradation of atrazine, terbutylazine-2-hydroxy and simazine as potential interferents. The response of the developed immunosensor for atrazine was explored over the 10(-2)-10(3) ng mL(-1) range. Good sensitivity was proved, as limit of detection and limit of quantitation of 1.2 and 5 ng mL(-1), respectively, were estimated for atrazine. RSD values <5% over the entire explored range attested a good precision of the device. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Revisiting the Competitiveness of Romanian Manufacturing Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ovidiu RUJAN

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Since the early 1990s the Romanian manufacturing industry has improved in many ways. This headway concerns the labour-intensive sector rather than the technology-intensive one. Apart from local entrepreneurship, foreign direct investments (FDI have been instrumental in enhancing industrial competitiveness. TheLisbon Agenda revival and Romania’s EU accession will be further inducements for Western businesses to shift production here to fight back both low-cost producers (typically from emerging Asia and more quality-oriented producers (typically from OECD countries. Hopefully, the FDI spillover effects will send positive vibrationsacross the economy, and tone down the asymmetry at the core of the manufacturing industry.

GLOBAL LOGISTICS , COMPETITIVENESS AND THE NEW INCOTERMS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Popa Ioan

2013-07-01

The category of global firms should not include just the large transnational corporations, but also the medium and small enterprises that operate exclusively or mainly on the global market. Within this plan there can be created and developed competitive advantages which are primarily based on the reaction speed to the changes in progress, the capacity to adapt to new things and the availability for intercultural communication. These last conditions represent characteristics of the Romanian business approach.

A normative model for assessing competitive strategy

OpenAIRE

Ungerer, Gerard David; Cayzer, Steve

2016-01-01

The hyper-competitive nature of e-business has raised the need for a generic way to appraise the merit of a developed business strategy. Although progress has been made in the domain of strategy evaluation, the established literature differs over the ‘tests’ that a strategy must pass to be considered well-constructed. This paper therefore investigates the existing strategy-evaluation literature to propose a more integrated and comprehensive normative strategic assessment that can be used to e...

Evolution of increased competitiveness in cows trades off with reduced milk yield, fertility and more masculine morphology.

Science.gov (United States)

Sartori, Cristina; Mazza, Serena; Guzzo, Nadia; Mantovani, Roberto

2015-08-01

In some species females compete for food, foraging territories, mating, and nesting sites. Competing females can exhibit morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptations typical of males, which are commonly considered as secondary sexual traits. Competition and the development of traits increasing competitiveness require much energy and may exert adverse effects on fecundity and survival. From an evolutionary perspective, positive selection for increased competitiveness would then result in evolution of reduced values for traits related to fitness such as fecundity and survival. There is recent evidence for such evolutionary trade-offs involving male competition, but no study has considered competing females so far. Using data from competitions for dominance in cows (Bos taurus), we found negative genetic correlations between traits providing success in competition, that is, fighting ability and fitness traits related to milk production and with fertility (the inverse of parity-conception interval). Fighting ability also showed low but positive genetic correlations with "masculine" morphological traits, and negative correlations with "feminine" traits. A genetic change in traits over time has occurred due to selection on competitiveness, corresponding to an evolutionary process of "masculinization" counteracting the official selection for milk yield. Similar evolutionary trade-off between success in competition and fitness components may be present in various species experiencing female competition. © 2015 The Author(s). Evolution © 2015 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Competitive balance in national European soccer competitions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Haan, M.A.; Koning, R.H.; van Witteloostuijn, A.; Albert, Jim; Koning, Ruud H.

2007-01-01

According to popular belief, competitive balance in national soccer competitions in Europe has decreased due to the Bosman ruling and the introduction of the Champions League. We test this hypothesis using data from 7 national competitions, for a host of indicators. We find some evidence for

Competition rules and health care players: principles and consequences.

Science.gov (United States)

Fornaciari, Diego; Callens, Stefaan

2012-01-01

Competition rules maximise consumer welfare by promoting efficient use of scarce resource and thus high output, low prices, high quality, varied services, innovation, production and distribution. European courts consider doctors and hospital staff as undertakings (any entity that performs economic activities), so that if they enter into agreements then they have to comply with competition rules. This paper's objective is to determine whether competition law, which applies to undertakings, can in fact be applied to different healthcare-sector players and whether specific rules are needed regarding competition between healthcare undertakings. Data were selected from relevant European and national case law, European institution legal documents (such as regulations, guidelines and communications) and healthcare competition law literature, and then examined. The paper finds that competition rules are applicable to healthcare players considering the consequences if competition rules are applied to the healthcare market. For market processes to result in the appropriate cost, quality and output, competition law must be proactive. In other words, quality must be fully factored into the competitive mix, allowing consumers to weigh healthcare price and non-price characteristics. Countries have different healthcare system and competition rules (although similar), competition rule impact is different for each country. Some healthcare systems are more regulated and there will be less opportunity for healthcare players to compete. Efficiently applying competition law to healthcare players means that several challenges need facing, such as healthcare quality complexity and court scepticism. This article points out the challenges when competition law is applied to the healthcare sector and how these challenges are faced in certain countries such as The Netherlands.

FY2014 Fuel & Lubricant Technologies Annual Progress Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stork, Kevin [Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Washington, DC (United States)

2016-02-01

Annual progress report for Fuel & Lubricant Technologies. The Fuel & Lubricant Technologies Program supports fuels and lubricants research and development (R&D) to provide vehicle manufacturers and users with cost-competitive options that enable high fuel economy with low emissions, and contribute to petroleum displacement.

Sourcing strategies to keep up with competition: the case of SAP

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michelle Antero

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper applies the Red Queen theory to explain how organizations utilize various sourcing arrangements in order to compete in an evolutionary arms race where only the strongest competitors will survive. The case study incorporates competition, and views sourcing strategies as a means to improve the firm’s viability to survive competition in the marketplace. The study begins by positioning the Red Queen theory within the sourcing literature. It subsequently applies the framework to a case study of SAP AG to illustrate how sourcing strategies have changed over time in response to the logic of competition. The case study reveals that (a organizations are adaptive systems and capable of learning to make strategic changes pertaining to sourcing arrangements; (b organizations select the terms on which they want to compete by developing certain capabilities within the firm; (c organizations are reflexive and over time develop competitive hysteresis which allows them to become stronger competitors. In the case of SAP AG, various sourcing arrangements were selected over its 40-year history to respond to technological and market changes.

Habitat selection of two gobies (Microgobius gulosus, Gobiosoma robustum): influence of structural complexity, competitive interactions and presence of a predator

Science.gov (United States)

Schofield, P.J.

2003-01-01

Herein I compare the relative importance of preference for structurally complex habitat against avoidance of competitors and predators in two benthic fishes common in the Gulf of Mexico. The code goby Gobiosoma robustum Ginsburg and clown goby Microgobius gulosus (Girard) are common, ecologically similar fishes found throughout the Gulf of Mexico and in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean. In Florida Bay, these fishes exhibit habitat partitioning: G. robustum is most abundant in seagrass-dominated areas while M. gulosus is most abundant in sparsely vegetated habitats. In a small-scale field survey, I documented the microhabitat use of these species where their distributions overlap. In a series of laboratory experiments, I presented each species with structured (artificial seagrass) versus nonstructured (bare sand) habitats and measured their frequency of choosing either habitat type. I then examined the use of structured versus nonstructured habitats when the two species were placed together in a mixed group. Finally, I placed a predator (Opsanus beta) in the experimental aquaria to determine how its presence influenced habitat selection. In the field, G. robustum was more abundant in seagrass and M. gulosus was more abundant in bare mud. In the laboratory, both species selected grass over sand in allopatry. However, in sympatry, M. gulosus occupied sand more often when paired with G. robustum than when alone. G. robustum appears to directly influence the habitat choice of M. gulosus: It seems that M. gulosus is pushed out of the structured habitat that is the preferred habitat of G. robustum. Thus, competition appears to modify the habitat selection of these species when they occur in sympatry. Additionally, the presence of the toadfish was a sufficient stimulus to provoke both M. gulosus and G. robustum to increase their selection for sand (compared to single-species treatments). Distribution patterns of M. gulosus and G. robustum

Selection, de-selection and progression in German football talent promotion.

Science.gov (United States)

Güllich, Arne

2014-01-01

This study explored to which extent the development of German professional football players is based on early talent identification (TID) and long-term nurture in talent promotion (TP) programmes or on their emergence in the course of repeated procedures of player selection and de-selection in these programmes through childhood and youth. The annual turnover of squad members in national junior teams (2001-2013) and youth elite academies was calculated; national U-team members were followed up with regard to nominations through subsequent seasons and to their success level eventually achieved at senior age; and all current Bundesliga players were analysed retrospectively regarding their earlier involvement in TID/TP programmes. Analyses revealed that the mean annual turnover of squad members was 24.5% (youth academies) and 41.0% (national U-teams), respectively. At any age, the probability of persisting in the programme three years later was <50%. Among current Bundesliga players, the age of recruitment into the TID/TP programme was widely evenly distributed across childhood and youth, respectively. Accordingly, the number of (future) Bundesliga players who were involved in TID/TP was built up continuously through all age categories. The observations suggest that the collective of professional players emerged from repeated procedures of selection and de-selection through childhood and youth rather than from early selection and long-term continuous nurture in TID/TP programmes. The findings are discussed with regard to the uncertainty of TID and of interventions applied to the selected players, and they are related to the individualistic and collectivistic approach in TP.

The Efficacy of Rehearsal Strategy on Auditory Short-Term Memory of Educable 5 to 8 Years Old Children with Down Syndrome

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Esmaeil Esmaieli

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Objective: One of the problems of children with Down syndrome is their low performance on retention of information and its recall in the memory. The present study aimed to determine the efficacy of rehearsal strategy on auditory short-term memory of educable 5 to 8 years old children with Down syndrome. Materials & Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 24 children (14 boys and 10 girls were selected in convenience from Iranian Down Syndrome Charity Association and evaluated by Raven’s Intelligence Progressive Matrices. Then, children were assigned into two experimental and control groups randomly (each contained 12 individuals. Experimental group participated in 8 group sessions (two sessions per week, each lasting 30 minutes and trained by rehearsal strategy. All subjects were evaluated by Expressive-Auditory Memory Sequence Test before and after intervention sessions. Data were analyzed by multiple analysis of covariance.  Results: The results of analysis of covariance showed that rehearsal strategy have led to increase of digit span, word span and auditory short-term memory (P<0.01 in experimental group compared to control group. Conclusion: It can be concluded that rehearsal strategy training is an effective method on promotion of digit span, word span and auditory short-term memory of children with Down syndrome and implies important consequences for their education.

A comprehensive test of evolutionarily increased competitive ability in a highly invasive plant species.

Science.gov (United States)

Joshi, Srijana; Gruntman, Michal; Bilton, Mark; Seifan, Merav; Tielbörger, Katja

2014-12-01

A common hypothesis to explain plants' invasive success is that release from natural enemies in the introduced range selects for reduced allocation to resistance traits and a subsequent increase in resources available for growth and competitive ability (evolution of increased competitive ability, EICA). However, studies that have investigated this hypothesis have been incomplete as they either did not test for all aspects of competitive ability or did not select appropriate competitors. Here, the prediction of increased competitive ability was examined with the invasive plant Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife) in a set of common-garden experiments that addressed these aspects by carefully distinguishing between competitive effect and response of invasive and native plants, and by using both intraspecific and interspecific competition settings with a highly vigorous neighbour, Urtica dioica (stinging nettle), which occurs in both ranges. While the intraspecific competition results showed no differences in competitive effect or response between native and invasive plants, the interspecific competition experiment revealed greater competitive response and effect of invasive plants in both biomass and seed production. The use of both intra- and interspecific competition experiments in this study revealed opposing results. While the first experiment refutes the EICA hypothesis, the second shows strong support for it, suggesting evolutionarily increased competitive ability in invasive populations of L. salicaria. It is suggested that the use of naturally co-occurring heterospecifics, rather than conspecifics, may provide a better evaluation of the possible evolutionary shift towards greater competitive ability. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Managing risk selection incentives in health sector reforms.

Science.gov (United States)

Puig-Junoy, J

1999-01-01

The object of the paper is to review theoretical and empirical contributions to the optimal management of risk selection incentives ('cream skimming') in health sector reforms. The trade-off between efficiency and risk selection is fostered in health sector reforms by the introduction of competitive mechanisms such as price competition or prospective payment systems. The effects of two main forms of competition in health sector reforms are observed when health insurance is mandatory: competition in the market for health insurance, and in the market for health services. Market and government failures contribute to the assessment of the different forms of risk selection employed by insurers and providers, as the effects of selection incentives on efficiency and their proposed remedies to reduce the impact of these perverse incentives. Two European (Netherlands and Spain) and two Latin American (Chile and Colombia) case studies of health sector reforms are examined in order to observe selection incentives, their effects on efficiency and costs in the health system, and regulation policies implemented in each country to mitigate incentives to 'cream skim' good risks.

Competition for transparency as a carrier of competition. Transparency needs in the European wholesale electricity markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jong, Hanneke de; Hakvoort, Rudi

2005-01-01

This paper analyses different transparency aspects regarding European wholesale electricity markets and discusses transparency issues to be solved. In Europe, currently some progress has been made with respect to market transparency but transparency issues related to transmission, system operation and regulation have received little attention so far. Transmission system operators (TSOs) and regulatory authorities need certain market information in order to secure efficient competition. However, TSOs and regulatory authorities need to communicate themselves in order to facilitate competition and decrease uncertainty among market participants. Furthermore, considering ongoing market integration both TSOs and regulatory authorities must exchange information amongst themselves in order to facilitate coordination and monitoring activities. The effect of a higher level of transparency on effective competition is depended on two categories of transparency aspects: aspects that are related to transparency in the sense of open and adequate communication (perspicuity) and aspects that are related to the easiness to understand (clarity). Transparency includes both aspects. Pursuing overall harmonization of the European transparency level is important to fully profit from a higher level of (international) harmonization. Effective harmonization requires harmonization on all communication aspects. For Europe, with its many immature markets, the dilemma remains whether it is preferable to have less transparency with a high level of harmonization or to have a higher level of transparency but a lower level of harmonization. (Author)

Reflections on Competition, Competition Regulation and the Current Crises

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buch-Hansen, Hubert; Wigger, Angela

2013-01-01

competition came to enjoy such an exalted status in Europe and then challenges conventional wisdom by bringing into focus the downsides of competition. It argues that excessive competition and neoliberal competition regulation have contributed to intensify the economic, political, social and environmental...

Knowledge economy readiness, innovativeness and competitiveness of the Western Balkan countries

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Cvetanović Slobodan

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The Western Balkan countries have set themselves the goal to join the European Union as soon as possible. Accordingly, they must adjust the key components of their development policies to the Europe 2020 strategy, focusing on key priorities such as smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. This paper explores the relationship among knowledge economy readiness, innovativeness, and competitiveness of six Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, and Montenegro and the group of six selected neighboring EU countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Romania, and Slovenia. The paper relies on the data obtained from the Knowledge Economy Index of the World Bank Institute, INSEAD's Global Innovation Index and the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum for 2013. Obtained data from all three sources indicated significantly lower readiness for the development of economy based on knowledge, innovation and competitiveness in the Western Balkans countries in comparison to the selected EU countries. The analysis of the interdependence of the aforementioned variables points to: a statistically significant correlation between the indicator knowledge economy index and the global innovation index for both groups of countries; b statistically significant linear correlation between innovativeness and innovation efficiency ratio for the Western Balkan countries. Conversely, no respective correlation has been registered for the group of selected EU countries; c no statistically significant correlation between the global innovation index and the global competitiveness index in the Western Balkan countries, while in respect of the group of selected EU countries, the existence of significant linear correlation between these variables has been revealed.

Down Syndrome

Science.gov (United States)

... Down syndrome increases as a woman gets older. Down syndrome cannot be cured. Early treatment programs can help improve skills. They may include ... occupational, and/or educational therapy. With support and treatment, many ... Down syndrome live happy, productive lives. NIH: National Institute of ...

COMP-1 promotes competitive advantage of nematode sperm.

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, Jody M; Chavez, Daniela R; Stanfield, Gillian M

2015-03-19

Competition among sperm to fertilize oocytes is a ubiquitous feature of sexual reproduction as well as a profoundly important aspect of sexual selection. However, little is known about the cellular mechanisms sperm use to gain competitive advantage or how these mechanisms are regulated genetically. In this study, we utilize a forward genetic screen in Caenorhabditis elegans to identify a gene, comp-1, whose function is specifically required in competitive contexts. We show that comp-1 functions in sperm to modulate their migration through and localization within the reproductive tract, thereby promoting their access to oocytes. Contrary to previously described models, comp-1 mutant sperm show no defects in size or velocity, thereby defining a novel pathway for preferential usage. Our results indicate not only that sperm functional traits can influence the outcome of sperm competition, but also that these traits can be modulated in a context-dependent manner depending on the presence of competing sperm.

Planning the amount of construction work by modelling the industry competitive field

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Panteleeva Margarita

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article gives the author’s interpretation of concepts such as the model of competitive field and competitive market conditions in the field, and shows how to quantify the competitive field provided adequate statistical base for the operation of enterprises in market competition. The authors offer a competitively construction company with a model of the competitive field, which gives the following definition: a model of a competitive field is a graph crossing function of the life cycle of concrete products construction companies. However, the model cannot afford to manage the process, it only helps to visualize the situation. To control you need to select a specific element of the model, which can be quantified. The authors make it through the competitive field, which is defined as a closed path created by the intersection of functions depending on the market price of the construction product by product positioning in the market of the time. For a quantitative analysis of the competitive field size must use the main economic-mathematical methods and types of statistical analysis of competition.

Transgenic Parasites Stably Expressing Full-Length Plasmodium falciparum Circumsporozoite Protein as a Model for Vaccine Down-Selection in Mice Using Sterile Protection as an Endpoint

Science.gov (United States)

Porter, Michael D.; Nicki, Jennifer; Pool, Christopher D.; DeBot, Margot; Illam, Ratish M.; Brando, Clara; Bozick, Brooke; De La Vega, Patricia; Angra, Divya; Spaccapelo, Roberta; Crisanti, Andrea; Murphy, Jittawadee R.; Bennett, Jason W.; Schwenk, Robert J.; Ockenhouse, Christian F.

2013-01-01

Circumsporozoite protein (CSP) of Plasmodium falciparum is a protective human malaria vaccine candidate. There is an urgent need for models that can rapidly down-select novel CSP-based vaccine candidates. In the present study, the mouse-mosquito transmission cycle of a transgenic Plasmodium berghei malaria parasite stably expressing a functional full-length P. falciparum CSP was optimized to consistently produce infective sporozoites for protection studies. A minimal sporozoite challenge dose was established, and protection was defined as the absence of blood-stage parasites 14 days after intravenous challenge. The specificity of protection was confirmed by vaccinating mice with multiple CSP constructs of differing lengths and compositions. Constructs that induced high NANP repeat-specific antibody titers in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were protective, and the degree of protection was dependent on the antigen dose. There was a positive correlation between antibody avidity and protection. The antibodies in the protected mice recognized the native CSP on the parasites and showed sporozoite invasion inhibitory activity. Passive transfer of anti-CSP antibodies into naive mice also induced protection. Thus, we have demonstrated the utility of a mouse efficacy model to down-select human CSP-based vaccine formulations. PMID:23536694

Improving Memory and Cognition in Individuals with Down Syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Rafii, Michael S

2016-07-01

Down syndrome (DS), often due to trisomy 21, is the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability (ID). In addition, virtually all individuals with DS develop the neuropathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) by the age of 40 years and almost 60 % will manifest symptoms of AD dementia by the age of 65 years. Currently, there are no pharmacological treatments available for ID in individuals with DS and only limited symptomatic treatments for AD dementia. Advances in our understanding in both the molecular basis of ID and the pathogenesis of AD have created opportunities to study potential therapeutic targets. Recent studies in animal models of DS continue to provide a rational basis for translating specific compounds into human clinical trials. However, target and compound selection are only initial steps in the drug development pathway. Other necessary considerations include appropriate study designs to assess efficacy in the DS population, as well as operational aspects specifically tailored to assess cognition in this population. We discuss recent progress in the development of compounds for both ID and AD in individuals with DS, as well as concepts for the design and conduct of clinical trials with such compounds.

Environmental structure and competitive scoring advantages in team competitions

Science.gov (United States)

Merritt, Sears; Clauset, Aaron

2013-10-01

In most professional sports, playing field structure is kept neutral so that scoring imbalances may be attributed to differences in team skill. It thus remains unknown what impact environmental heterogeneities can have on scoring dynamics or competitive advantages. Applying a novel generative model of scoring dynamics to roughly 10 million team competitions drawn from an online game, we quantify the relationship between the structure within a competition and its scoring dynamics, while controlling the impact of chance. Despite wide structural variations, we observe a common three-phase pattern in the tempo of events. Tempo and balance are highly predictable from a competition's structural features alone and teams exploit environmental heterogeneities for sustained competitive advantage. Surprisingly, the most balanced competitions are associated with specific environmental heterogeneities, not from equally skilled teams. These results shed new light on the design principles of balanced competition, and illustrate the potential of online game data for investigating social dynamics and competition.

Dendrimer-Based Selective Proteostasis-Inhibition Strategy to Control NSCLC Growth and Progression.

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Kyla Walworth

-DDN. Moreover, we confirmed by clonogenic-assay that DDNDBeQ treatment significantly (p<0.001 inhibits H1299 colony-formation as compared to control/DDN. Overall, encapsulation of potent VCP-inhibitor DBeQ into a dendrimer allows selective VCP-mediated proteostasis-inhibition for controlling NSCLC-tumor growth and progression to allow tumor-targeted sustained drug delivery.

Shark scavenging behavior in the presence of competition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shannon P. GERRY, Andrea J. SCOTT

2010-02-01

Full Text Available The distribution of organisms within a community can often be determined by the degree of plasticity or degree of specialization of resource acquisition. Resource acquisition is often based on the morphology of an organism, behavior, or a combination of both. Performance tests of feeding can identify the possible interactions that allow one species to better exploit a prey item. Scavenging behaviors in the presence or absence of a competitor were investigated by quantifying prey selection in a trophic generalist, spiny dogfish Squalus acanthias, and a trophic specialist, smooth-hounds Mustelus canis, in order to determine if each shark scavenged according to its jaw morphology. The diet of dogfish consists of small fishes, squid, ctenophores, and bivalves; they are expected to be nonselective predators. Smooth-hounds primarily feed on crustaceans; therefore, they are predicted to select crabs over other prey types. Prey selection was quantified by ranking each prey item according to the order it was consumed. Dietary shifts were analyzed by comparing the percentage of each prey item selected during solitary versus competitive scavenging. When scavenging alone, dogfish prefer herring and squid, which are easily handled by the cutting dentition of dogfish. Dogfish shift their diet to include a greater number of prey types when scavenging with a competitor. Smooth-hounds scavenge on squid, herring, and shrimp when alone, but increase the number of crabs in the diet when scavenging competitively. Competition causes smooth-hounds to scavenge according to their jaw morphology and locomotor abilities, which enables them to feed on a specialized resource [Current Zoology 56 (1: 100–108 2010].

Study on severe fuel damage and in-vessel melt progression

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Hee Dong; Kim, Sang Baik; Lee, Gyu Jung

1992-06-01

In-vessel core melt progression describes the progression of the state of a reactor core from core uncovery up to reactor vessel melt through in uncovered accidents or through temperature stabilization in accidents recovered by core reflooding. Melt progression can be thought as two parts; early melt progression and late melt progression. Early phase of core melt progression includes the progression of core material melting and relocation, which mostly consist of metallic materials. On the other hand, the late phase of core melt progression involves ceramic material melt and relocation to the lower plenum and heat-up the reactor vessel lower head. A large number of information are available for the early melt progression through experiments such as SFD, DF, FLHT test and utilized in the severe accident analysis codes. However, understanding of the late phase melt progression phenomenology is based primary on TMI-2 core examinations and not much experimental information is available. Especilally, the great uncertainties exist in vessel failure mode, melt composition, mass, and temperature. Further research is planned to perform to reduce the uncertainties in understanding of core melt down accidents as parts of long term melt progression research program. A study on the core melt progression at KAERI has been being performed through the Severe Accident Research Program with USNRC. KAERI staff had participated in the PBF SFD experiments at INEL and analyses of experiments were performed using SCDAP code. Experiments of core melt program have not been carried out at KAERI yet. It is planned that further research on core melt down accidents will be performed, which is related to design of future generations of nuclear reactors as parts of long-term project for improvement of nuclear reactor safety. (Author)

Sibling competition arena: selfing and a competition arena can combine to constitute a barrier to gene flow in sympatry.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, A K; Hood, M E; Giraud, T

2012-06-01

Closely related species coexisting in sympatry provide critical insight into the mechanisms underlying speciation and the maintenance of genetic divergence. Selfing may promote reproductive isolation by facilitating local adaptation, causing reduced hybrid fitness in parental environments. Here, we propose a novel mechanism by which selfing can further impair interspecific gene flow: selfing may act to ensure that nonhybrid progeny systematically co-occur whenever hybrid genotypes are produced. Under a competition arena, the fitness differentials between nonhybrid and hybrid progeny are then magnified, preventing development of interspecific hybrids. We investigate whether this "sibling competition arena" can explain the coexistence in sympatry of closely related species of the plant fungal pathogens (Microbotryum) causing anther-smut disease. The probabilities of intrapromycelial mating (automixis), outcrossing, and sibling competition were manipulated in artificial inoculations to evaluate their contribution to reproductive isolation. We report that both intrapromycelial selfing and sibling competition significantly reduced rates of hybrid infection beyond that expected based solely upon selfing rates and noncompetitive fitness differentials between hybrid and nonhybrid progeny. Our results thus suggest that selfing and a sibling competition arena can combine to constitute a barrier to gene flow and diminish selection for additional barriers to gene flow in sympatry. © 2012 The Author(s). Evolution © 2012 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

47 CFR 54.603 - Competitive bid requirements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... requester cannot obtain toll-free access to an Internet service provider; (iv) The requested service or... be sold, resold or transferred in consideration of money or any other thing of value; and (vi) If the.... (a) Competitive bidding requirement. To select the telecommunications carriers that will provide...

Endorsing cellular competitiveness in aberrant epithelium of oral submucous fibrosis progression: neighbourhood analysis of immunohistochemical attributes.

Science.gov (United States)

Anura, Anji; Kazi, Anees; Pal, Mousumi; Paul, Ranjan Rashmi; Sengupta, Sanghamitra; Chatterjee, Jyotirmoy

2018-04-23

Epithelial abnormality during the transformation of oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) into oral squamous cell carcinoma has been well studied and documented. However, the differential contribution of atrophy and hyperplasia for malignant potentiality of OSF is yet to be resolved. Existing diagnostic conjectures lack precise diagnostic attributes which may be effectively resolved by substantiation of specific molecular pathology signatures. Present study elucidates existence of cellular competitiveness in OSF conditions using computer-assisted neighbourhood analysis in quantitative immunohistochemistry (IHC) framework. The concept of field cancerization was contributory in finding correspondence among neighbouring cells of epithelial layers with reference to differential expression of cardinal cancer-related genes [c-Myc (oncogene), p53 (tumour suppressor), and HIF-1α (hypoxia regulator)] which are known to be important sensors in recognizing cellular competitive interface. Our analyses indicate that different states of OSF condition may be associated with different forms of competitiveness within epithelial neighbouring cells which might be responsible to shape the present and future of the pre-malignant condition. Analytical findings indicated association of atrophic epithelium with stress-driven competitive environment having low c-Myc, high-p53, and stable HIF-1α (the looser cells) which undergo apoptosis. Whereas, the cells with high c-Myc + (winner cells) give rise to hyperplastic epithelium via possible mutation in p53. The epithelial dysplasia plausibly occurs due to clonal expansion of c-Myc and p53 positive supercompetitor cells. Present study proposes quantitative IHC along with neighbourhood analysis which might help us to dig deeper on to the interaction among epithelial cell population to provide a better understanding of field cancerization and malignant transformation of pre-malignancy.

Technological progress and the energy challenges. The role of natural gas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rasmusen, H.J.

1999-01-01

Since the beginning of the industrial evolution, progress in technology development for the energy industry has been guided by economy and choice of fuel. For the last decades 'Energy Crisis' and 'Greenhouse effect' issues have supplemented the driving forces. (Improved Efficiency' is not of the strongest marketing issues when dealing with appliances for energy conversion. The trends of the development of today are towards smaller decentralized units and mass production. This is in contradiction to conventional wisdom of minimizing costs by use of centralized large-scale units. The future of energy conversion of power and heat production will be dominated by small-scale units, which produce heat and power simultaneously. Lower energy prices will slow down the transition to more efficient conversion technologies, but in the open and de-regulated market this will be opposed by competition between companies. To gain market shares and maintain customers, energy companies will have to use 'efficient appliances' as a market parameter. Use of more efficient technology always improves the environmental efficiency but conversion to natural gas from another fossil fuel will by itself lead to radical environmental improvements. (author)

Applying mathematical finance tools to the competitive Nordic electricity market

OpenAIRE

Vehviläinen, Iivo

2004-01-01

This thesis models competitive electricity markets using the methods of mathematical finance. Fundamental problems of finance are market price modelling, derivative pricing, and optimal portfolio selection. The same questions arise in competitive electricity markets. The thesis presents an electricity spot price model based on the fundamental stochastic factors that affect electricity prices. The resulting price model has sound economic foundations, is able to explain spot market price mo...

Competitive foods and beverages available for purchase in secondary schools--selected sites, United States, 2006.

Science.gov (United States)

2008-08-29

Schools are in a unique position to help improve youth dietary behaviors and prevent and reduce obesity. In most schools, foods and beverages are made available to students through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) school meal programs and the sale of competitive foods, which are any foods and beverages sold at a school separately from the USDA school meal programs. Foods and beverages sold through the USDA school meal programs must meet federal nutrition requirements. Competitive foods are not subject to any federal nutrition standards unless they are sold inside the food service area during mealtimes. A 2007 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report concluded that schools should limit the availability of less nutritious competitive foods or include more nutritious foods and beverages if they make competitive foods available. To identify the types of competitive foods and beverages available for purchase from vending machines or at school stores, canteens, or snack bars, CDC analyzed data from the 2006 School Health Profiles for public secondary schools in 36 states and 12 large urban school districts. CDC also compared 2004 and 2006 data among 24 states and nine large urban school districts. This report summarizes the results of these analyses, which indicated that, from 2004 to 2006, the median percentage of secondary schools across states allowing students to purchase chocolate candy and salty snacks that are not low in fat decreased; however, in 2006, secondary schools still offered less nutritious foods and beverages that compete with school meals. School and public health officials should work together with families to provide foods and beverages at school that follow the IOM recommendations.

Recent progress in medical imaging technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Endo, Masahiro

2004-01-01

Medical imaging is name of methods for diagnosis and therapy, which make visible with physical media such as X-ray, structures and functions of man's inside those are usually invisible. These methods are classified by the physical media into ultrasound imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine imaging and X-ray imaging etc. Having characteristics different from one another, these are used complementarily in medical fields though in some case being competitive. Medical imaging is supported by highly progressed technology, which is called medical imaging technology. This paper describes a survey of recent progress of medical imaging technology in magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine imaging and X-ray imaging. (author)

Do Voters Affect Policies? Within-Coalition Competition in the Chilean Electoral System

OpenAIRE

Argote, Pablo; Navia, Patricio

2018-01-01

It has been argued that close elections lead to policy convergence, as legislators elected by a small margin are more likely to adopt moderate policy positions (Downs 1957). However, Lee, Moretti, and Butler (2004) find that electoral competition does not affect legislators’ policy preferences in the United States, questioning the median voter paradigm. To help to discern this paradox, we estimate the effect of close elections on legislators’ subsequent policy positions under different electo...

Distinct Patterns of Brain Activity Characterise Lexical Activation and Competition in Spoken Word Production

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Piai, V.; Roelofs, A.P.A.; Jensen, O.; Schoffelen, J.M.; Bonnefond, M.

2014-01-01

According to a prominent theory of language production, concepts activate multiple associated words in memory, which enter into competition for selection. However, only a few electrophysiological studies have identified brain responses reflecting competition. Here, we report a magnetoencephalography

Progress on the national low level radioactive waste repository and national intermediate level waste store

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perkins, C.

2001-01-01

Over the last few years, significant progress has been made towards siting national, purpose-built facilities for Australian radioactive waste. In 2001, after an eight year search, a preferred site and two alternatives were identified in central-north South Australia for a near-surface repository for Australian low level (low level and short-lived intermediate level) radioactive waste. Site 52a at Everts Field West on the Woomera Prohibited Area was selected as the preferred site as it performs best against the selection criteria, particularly with respect to geology, ground water, transport and security. Two alternative sites, Site 45a and Site 40a, east of the Woomera-Roxby Downs Road, were also found to be highly suitable for the siting of the national repository. A project has commenced to site a national store for intermediate (long-lived intermediate level) radioactive waste on Commonwealth land for waste produced by Commonwealth agencies. Public input has been sought on relevant selection criteria

Drinking Games as a Venue for Sexual Competition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liana S. E. Hone

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Based on sexual selection theory, we hypothesized that sex differences in mating effort and social competitiveness—and subsequent sex differences in sexual and competitive motivations for participating in drinking games—are responsible for the well-documented sex differences in college students' drinking game behaviors. Participants in a cross-sectional study were 351 women and 336 men aged 17 to 26. In a mediation model, we tested sex differences in mating effort, social competitiveness, sexual and competitive motivations for participating in drinking games, drinking game behaviors, and alcohol-related problems. Men participated in drinking games more frequently, consumed more alcohol while participating in drinking games, and experienced more problems associated with drinking. These sex differences appeared to be partially mediated by mating effort, social competitiveness, and sexual and competitive motivations for participating in drinking games. Drinking games are a major venue in which college students engage in heavy episodic drinking, which is a risk factor for college students' behavioral and health problems. Thus, the functional perspective we used to analyze them here may help to inform public health and university interventions and enable better identification of at-risk students.

Retail competition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-01-01

Retail competition as the cornerstone of a competitive electricity marketplace was the subject of the seventh in the series of policy discussion papers developed at the Market Design Conference. Concern was expressed that because of the complexities involved in market design and technical implementation, the retail competition may lag behind other elements of the implementation of the new market design. A variety of key issues were debated, including the role of physical versus financial contracts, the form of retail competition and financial settlement systems in the short term, the requirement to separate 'competitive' (metering, billing, maintenance, consumer education) from non-competitive' (the transmission wires) services and the role of municipal electric utilities. It was agreed that the IMO should play an important role in defining and enforcing the separation of services, and that as a general rule, the development of policy in this area should be guided by the principle of maximizing the potential for competition

ADMINISTRATIVE INSTRUMENTS IN IMPLEMENTING FUNCTIONAL STRATEGIES COMPETITIVENESS MANAGEMENT

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Iryna Stankovska

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The article explores the use of  аdministrative instruments in implementing functional strategies competitiveness management. Due to providing strategic financial management competitiveness the use of administrative levers of control in the formulation and implementation of financial strategies were investigated. System of financial policies forming by individual policies of  general financial strategy, which is an administrative levers of influence on implementation strategies, was proposed. Structure strategic alternatives of financial and investment strategy implementation based on the decomposition and decision tree was formed. To select strategic alternatives, to identify strategic gaps and evaluate deviations from specified target markers in the implementation of financial policies using GAP-analysis that is a tool of management analysis was proposed. Key words: functional strategy, financial strategy, competitiveness management, financial policy, administrative instruments, GAP-analysis.

Competition for Export Markets and the Allocation of Foreign Aid

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barthel, Fabian; Neumeyer, Erich; Nunnenkamp, Peter

We account for the competition for export markets among the donor countries of foreign aid by analyzing spatial dependence in aid allocation. We employ sector-specific aid data, distinguishing between first and second stage decisions on the selection of recipient countries and the amount of aid...... allocated to selected recipients. We find that the five largest donors react to aid giving by other donors with whom they compete in terms of exporting goods and services to a specific recipient country at both stages of their allocation of aid for economic infrastructure and productive sectors. By contrast......, evidence for export competition driving aid allocation is lacking for more altruistic donors and for aid in social infrastructure....

Resource-Based View of Information Systems: Sustainable and Transient Competitive Advantage Perspectives

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Gaurav Gupta

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The resource-based view (RBV, or resource-based theory, is one of the oldest and most influential theories in the field of information systems. This paper contends that it is timely to revisit, reflect on, and reposition RBV to ensure its continued disciplinary relevance and progress. In doing so, this paper (i provides a succinct and sharp evaluation of the conventional RBV of information systems that firms use to establish sustainable competitive advantage, and (ii makes an original contribution by introducing a contemporary RBV of information systems that firms can use to establish transient competitive advantage. Both these contributions should advance the current and future understanding of information systems as (a an internal firm resource, (b a source of competitive advantage, and (c a driver of firm performance.

Competitive intelligence as an enabler for firm competitiveness: An overview

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Maune

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to provide an overview, from literature, about how competitive intelligence can be an enabler towards a firm’s competitiveness. This overview is done under the background of intense global competition that firms are currently experiencing. This paper used a qualitative content analysis as a data collection methodology on all identified journal articles on competitive intelligence and firm competitiveness. To identify relevant literature, academic databases and search engines were used. Moreover, a review of references in related studies led to more relevant sources, the references of which were further reviewed and analysed. To ensure reliability and trustworthiness, peer-reviewed journal articles and triangulation were used. The paper found that competitive intelligence is an important enabler of firm competitiveness. The findings from this paper will assist business managers to understand and improve their outlook of competitive intelligence as an enabler of firm competitiveness and will be of great academic value.

To be selected or not to be selected : a modeling and behavioral study of the mechanisms underlying stimulus-driven and top-down visual attention

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Voort van der Kleij, van der Gwendid T.

2007-01-01

This thesis investigates the mechanisms of stimulus-driven visual attention (global saliency), the mechanisms of top-down visual attention, and the interaction between these mechanisms, in visual search. Following the outline of an existing model of top-down visual attention, namely the Closed-Loop

Bringing the environment down to earth.

Science.gov (United States)

Reinhardt, F L

1999-01-01

The debate on business and the environment has typically been framed in simple yes-or-no terms: "Does it pay to be green?" But the environment, like other business issues, requires a more complex approach--one that demands more than such all-or-nothing thinking. Managers need to ask instead, "Under what circumstances do particular kinds of environmental investments deliver returns to shareholders?" This article presents five approaches that managers can take to identify those circumstances and integrate the environment into their business thinking. These approaches will enable companies with the right industry structure, competitive position, and managerial skills to reconcile their responsibility to shareholders with the pressure to be faithful stewards of the earth's resources. Some companies can distance themselves from competitors by differentiating their products and commanding higher prices for them. Others may be able to "manage" their competitors by imposing a set of private regulations or by helping to shape the rules written by government officials. Still others may be able to cut costs and help the environment simultaneously. Almost all can learn to improve their management of risk and thus reduce the outlays associated with accidents, lawsuits, and boycotts. And some companies may even be able to make systemic changes that will redefine competition in their markets. All five approaches can help managers bring the environment down to earth. And that means bringing the environment back into the fold of business problems and determining when it really pays to be green.

Do hair-crested drongos reduce prospective territory competition by dismantling their nest after breeding?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lv, Lei; Li, Jianqiang; Kingma, Sjouke A.; Gao, Chang; Wang, Yong; Komdeur, Jan; Zhang, Zhengwang

Animals that breed seasonally often use the same territory where they successfully produced young previously. Intra-specific competition may be intense for these high-quality territories, and therefore, natural selection should favour behaviour of territory owners to reduce such competition.

Selection on plant male function genes identifies candidates for reproductive isolation of yellow monkeyflowers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan E Aagaard

Full Text Available Understanding the genetic basis of reproductive isolation promises insight into speciation and the origins of biological diversity. While progress has been made in identifying genes underlying barriers to reproduction that function after fertilization (post-zygotic isolation, we know much less about earlier acting pre-zygotic barriers. Of particular interest are barriers involved in mating and fertilization that can evolve extremely rapidly under sexual selection, suggesting they may play a prominent role in the initial stages of reproductive isolation. A significant challenge to the field of speciation genetics is developing new approaches for identification of candidate genes underlying these barriers, particularly among non-traditional model systems. We employ powerful proteomic and genomic strategies to study the genetic basis of conspecific pollen precedence, an important component of pre-zygotic reproductive isolation among yellow monkeyflowers (Mimulus spp. resulting from male pollen competition. We use isotopic labeling in combination with shotgun proteomics to identify more than 2,000 male function (pollen tube proteins within maternal reproductive structures (styles of M. guttatus flowers where pollen competition occurs. We then sequence array-captured pollen tube exomes from a large outcrossing population of M. guttatus, and identify those genes with evidence of selective sweeps or balancing selection consistent with their role in pollen competition. We also test for evidence of positive selection on these genes more broadly across yellow monkeyflowers, because a signal of adaptive divergence is a common feature of genes causing reproductive isolation. Together the molecular evolution studies identify 159 pollen tube proteins that are candidate genes for conspecific pollen precedence. Our work demonstrates how powerful proteomic and genomic tools can be readily adapted to non-traditional model systems, allowing for genome-wide screens

Language competition in a population of migrating agents

Science.gov (United States)

Lipowska, Dorota; Lipowski, Adam

2017-05-01

Influencing various aspects of human activity, migration is associated also with language formation. To examine the mutual interaction of these processes, we study a Naming Game with migrating agents. The dynamics of the model leads to formation of low-mobility clusters, which turns out to break the symmetry of the model: although the Naming Game remains symmetric, low-mobility languages are favored. High-mobility languages are gradually eliminated from the system, and the dynamics of language formation considerably slows down. Our model is too simple to explain in detail language competition of migrating human communities, but it certainly shows that languages of settlers are favored over nomadic ones.

Levelling vs competition – political trend reversal in the German healthcare system?

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Sascha Wolf

2014-12-01

Full Text Available For almost 20 years, the German federal government has declared that competition is the key to ensuring the financial sustainability of the healthcare system. The aim of this paper is to investigate if German government indeed has followed a direct path to enhancing competition. For this purpose, a qualitative analysis of the most important healthcare reform acts has been conducted. In conclusion, especially since the introduction of the Health Fund in 2009, a clear trend towards more levelling and regulation can be observed. This trend is confirmed by the most recent healthcare reform act in June 2014. The abolishment of flat-rate premiums is the expression of the government’s fear that competitive pressure could endanger the solvency and viability of sickness funds (statutory health insurance funds. In contrast, on the market for selective contracts, an ambivalent picture emerges. On the one hand, several possibilities for establishing new forms of healthcare and strengthening competition have been introduced. On the other hand, sickness funds as well as service providers are often reluctant to enter into selective contracts.

Order of arrival affects competition in two reef fishes.

Science.gov (United States)

Geange, Shane W; Stier, Adrian C

2009-10-01

Many communities experience repeated periods of colonization due to seasonally regenerating habitats or pulsed arrival of young-of-year. When an individual's persistence in a community depends upon the strength of competitive interactions, changes in the timing of arrival relative to the arrival of a competitor can modify competitive strength and, ultimately, establishment in the community. We investigated whether the strength of intracohort competitive interactions between recent settlers of the reef fishes Thalassoma hardwicke and T. quinquevittatum are dependent on the sequence and temporal separation of their arrival into communities. To achieve this, we manipulated the sequence and timing of arrival of each species onto experimental patch reefs by simulating settlement pulses and monitoring survival and aggressive interactions. Both species survived best in the absence of competitors, but when competitors were present, they did best when they arrived at the same time. Survival declined as each species entered the community progressively later than its competitor and as aggression by its competitor increased. Intraspecific effects of resident T. hardwicke were similar to interspecific effects. This study shows that the strength of competition depends not only on the identity of competitors, but also on the sequence and timing of their interactions, suggesting that when examining interaction strengths, it is important to identify temporal variability in the direction and magnitude of their effects. Furthermore, our findings provide empirical evidence for the importance of competitive lotteries in the maintenance of species diversity in demographically open marine systems.

Experimental evolution of protozoan traits in response to interspecific competition.

Science.gov (United States)

terHorst, C P

2011-01-01

Decades of experiments have demonstrated the ecological effect of competition, but experimental evidence for competitive effects on trait evolution is rare. I measured the evolution of six protozoan traits in response to competitors from the inquiline community of pitcher plants. Replicate populations of Colpoda, a ciliated protozoan, were allowed to evolve in response to intra- and interspecific competition for 20 days (approximately 100 generations), before traits were measured in two common garden environments. Populations that evolved with interspecific competition had smaller cell sizes, produced fewer cysts and had higher population growth rates relative to populations grown in monoculture. The presence of interspecific competitors led to differential lineage sorting, most likely by increasing the strength of selection. These results are the first to demonstrate protozoan evolution in response to competition and may have implications for species coexistence in this system. © 2010 The Author. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2010 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

Temporal dynamics and neural architecture of action selection

OpenAIRE

Buc Calderon, Cristian

2016-01-01

In this thesis we pitted two views of action selection. On the one hand, a traditional view suggesting that action selection emerges from a sequential process whereby perception, cognition and action proceed serially and are subtended by distinct brain areas. On the other hand, an ecological view (formalized in the affordance competition hypothesis) advocating that action selection stems from the parallel implementation of potential action plans. In parallel, the competition between these act...

Potent and long-acting corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) receptor 2 selective peptide competitive antagonists.

Science.gov (United States)

Rivier, J; Gulyas, J; Kirby, D; Low, W; Perrin, M H; Kunitake, K; DiGruccio, M; Vaughan, J; Reubi, J C; Waser, B; Koerber, S C; Martinez, V; Wang, L; Taché, Y; Vale, W

2002-10-10

We present evidence that members of the corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) family assume distinct structures when interacting with the CRF(1) and CRF(2) receptors. Predictive methods, physicochemical measurements, and structure-activity relationship studies have suggested that CRF, its family members, and competitive antagonists such as astressin [cyclo(30-33)[DPhe(12),Nle(21),Glu(30),Lys(33),Nle(38)]hCRF((12-41))] assume an alpha-helical conformation when interacting with their receptors. We had shown that alpha-helical CRF((9-41)) and sauvagine showed some selectivity for CRF receptors other than that responsible for ACTH secretion(1) and later for CRF2.(2) More recently, we suggested the possibility of a helix-turn-helix motif around a turn encompassing residues 30-33(3) that would confer high affinity for both CRF(1) and CRF(2)(2,4) in agonists and antagonists of all members of the CRF family.(3) On the other hand, the substitutions that conferred ca. 100-fold CRF(2) selectivity to the antagonist antisauvagine-30 [[DPhe(11),His(12)]sauvagine((11-40))] did not confer such property to the corresponding N-terminally extended agonists. We find here that a Glu(32)-Lys(35) side chain to side chain covalent lactam constraint in hCRF and the corresponding Glu(31)-Lys(34) side chain to side chain covalent lactam constraint in sauvagine yield potent ligands that are selective for CRF(2). Additionally, we introduced deletions and substitutions known to increase duration of action to yield antagonists such as cyclo(31-34)[DPhe(11),His(12),C(alpha)MeLeu(13,39),Nle(17),Glu(31),Lys(34)]Ac-sauvagine((8-40)) (astressin(2)-B) with CRF(2) selectivities greater than 100-fold. CRF receptor autoradiography was performed in rat tissue known to express CRF(2) and CRF(1) in order to confirm that astressin(2)-B could indeed bind to established CRF(2) but not CRF(1) receptor-expressing tissues. Extended duration of action of astressin(2)-B vs that of antisauvagine-30 is demonstrated in

Exploring reaction mechanisms and their competition in 58Ni+48Ca collisions at E = 25 AMeV

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francalanza L.

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Latest results concerning the study of central collisions in 58Ni+48Ca reactions at Elab(Ni=25 AMeV are presented. The experimental data, collected with the CHIMERA 4π device, have been analyzed in order to investigate the competition among different reaction mechanisms for central collisions in the Fermi energy domain. The method adopted to perform the centrality selection refers to the global variable “flow angle”, that is related to the event shape in momentum space, as it is determined by the eigenvectors of the experimental kinetic-energy tensor. The main features of the reaction products were explored by using different constraints on some of the relevant observables, such as mass and velocity distributions and their correlations. Much emphasis was devoted to the competition between fusion-evaporation processes with subsequent identification of a heavy residue and a prompt multifragmentation mechanism. The reaction mechanism was simulated in the framework of transport theories (dynamical stochastic BNV calculations, followed by sequential SIMON code and further comparison with dynamical calculations from transport model (QMD, CoMD are in progress. Moreover, an extension of this study taking into account for the light particles has been envisaged.

Ecological interactions and the fitness effect of water-use efficiency: Competition and drought alter the impact of natural MPK12 alleles in Arabidopsis.

Science.gov (United States)

Campitelli, Brandon E; Des Marais, David L; Juenger, Thomas E

2016-04-01

The presence of substantial genetic variation for water-use efficiency (WUE) suggests that natural selection plays a role in maintaining alleles that affect WUE. Soil water deficit can reduce plant survival, and is likely to impose selection to increase WUE, whereas competition for resources may select for decreased WUE to ensure water acquisition. We tested the fitness consequences of natural allelic variation in a single gene (MPK12) that influences WUE in Arabidopsis, using transgenic lines contrasting in MPK12 alleles, under four treatments; drought/competition, drought/no competition, well-watered/competition, well-watered/no competition. Results revealed an allele × environment interaction: Low WUE plants performed better in competition, resulting from increased resource consumption. Contrastingly, high WUE individuals performed better in no competition, irrespective of water availability, presumably from enhanced water conservation and nitrogen acquisition. Our findings suggest that selection can influence MPK12 evolution, and represents the first assessment of plant fitness resulting from natural allelic variation at a single locus affecting WUE. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

Competitive Intelligence.

Science.gov (United States)

Bergeron, Pierrette; Hiller, Christine A.

2002-01-01

Reviews the evolution of competitive intelligence since 1994, including terminology and definitions and analytical techniques. Addresses the issue of ethics; explores how information technology supports the competitive intelligence process; and discusses education and training opportunities for competitive intelligence, including core competencies…

Top-down inputs enhance orientation selectivity in neurons of the primary visual cortex during perceptual learning.

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Samat Moldakarimov

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Perceptual learning has been used to probe the mechanisms of cortical plasticity in the adult brain. Feedback projections are ubiquitous in the cortex, but little is known about their role in cortical plasticity. Here we explore the hypothesis that learning visual orientation discrimination involves learning-dependent plasticity of top-down feedback inputs from higher cortical areas, serving a different function from plasticity due to changes in recurrent connections within a cortical area. In a Hodgkin-Huxley-based spiking neural network model of visual cortex, we show that modulation of feedback inputs to V1 from higher cortical areas results in shunting inhibition in V1 neurons, which changes the response properties of V1 neurons. The orientation selectivity of V1 neurons is enhanced without changing orientation preference, preserving the topographic organizations in V1. These results provide new insights to the mechanisms of plasticity in the adult brain, reconciling apparently inconsistent experiments and providing a new hypothesis for a functional role of the feedback connections.

CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS A MECHANISM TO TURN INNOVATION INTO COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

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GRAȚIELA MIHAELA FERARU

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Corporate Entrepreneurship creates the environment where preparation (engaged employees that own knowhow and resources meets opportunity (generated by the current business environment where corporations perform their activities. The current paper aims to identify to what extent corporate entrepreneurship enables the pursuit and exploitation of business opportunities in order to maintain competitive position by focusing on the main implications and risks. During current times, the competitive landscape challenges corporations to focus on new initiatives in order to gain and maintain competitive advantage. Intense competition, as much as rapid technological progress, leads to industry-wide restructuring, challenging big companies to adapt. Corporations that seek quick wins realized that neither cost cutting nor mergers are enough to achieve short term goals or even to play the game. Not adapting generates the switch to an unintentional strategic decision to be out of business. Volatility of current environment has highlighted the need for companies to become entrepreneurial in order to capture (identify and value the business opportunities. The need for innovation is not only a priority for start-ups; it is also a strategic goal for large companies. Creating new businesses within corporations is the challenge of the day in order to maintain a competitive position and to grow.

Healthy Competition and Unsound Comparison: Reforming Educational Competition in Singapore

Science.gov (United States)

Christensen, Søren

2015-01-01

It is frequently claimed that the "competition state" responds to external competition by making competition increasingly central to its internal processes as well. This article discusses education reform in Singapore as departing from the opposite position. In Singapore "excessive" competition in education is now targeted by…

Speciation of Co(II) and Ni(II) in anaerobic bioreactors measured by competitive ligand exchange - adsorptive stripping voltammetry

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jansen, S.; Steffen, F.; Threels, W.F.; Leeuwen, van H.P.

2005-01-01

Competitive ligand exchange-adsorptive stripping voltammetry is applied to speciation analysis of dissolved Ni(II) and Co(II) in an anaerobic bioreactor and similar batch media. Co and Ni speciation in these media can be measured down to concentration levels of ca. 1 nM. Sulfide interference is

Human Resources as a Competitive Advantage of Travel Agencies in Montenegro

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Aleksa Vučetić

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Human resources in travel agencies represent an especially valuable resource, which possesses the multidisciplinary and highly specialized knowledge and skills in the field of selective tourism. Human resources enable the agencies to create the services and products of superior value for the consumers within market niches, and thereby significantly contribute to increase in profitability of agencies, thereby becoming an important factor in competitive advantage of the agencies. Research results enable identification of the relation between human resources and servicing of travel agencies market niches. The paper presents an analysis of travel agencies’ human resources from the aspect of competitive advantage, with a special overview of their role in the domain of offer development and servicing of consumers in various types of selective tourism. The goal of the research is to prove, on a scientific basis, that the human resources represent a very important factor of competitive advantage of travel agencies.

Improving the competitiveness of catering enterprises through innovative food

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O. G. Stukalo

2017-01-01

Full Text Available To date, the problem of increase of competitiveness of the enterprise is becoming increasingly important. The market situation depends largely on the status and results of competition. The restaurant business today is developing rapidly. Restaurateurs understand how important it is to plan a strategy for long-term survival and adapt to a rapidly changing environment. In this article the concept of competitiveness, given the types of competition, also examines the factors influencing competitiveness of the enterprise. The proposed way to increase the competitiveness of catering enterprises through innovation in a particular product. The concept of innovation and describes its types. In our case, product innovation is the introduction of gluten-free foods in the menu of public catering enterprises. The need for diet and preventive products due to the overall health status of the population. In the country are progressing alimentary-dependent diseases, which arise from the imbalance of the diet. Conducted marketing study revealed the acute problem of import dependence for gluten-free products on the consumer market. Was investigated the technological aspects of replacement of wheat flour in which gluten, linseed and rice flour in the production of muffins functional orientation. The formula has been developed free cupcake “Flax-rice”, which is presented in the article. On the catering market is a small number of institutions have in their menu gluten-free options, and they are mainly concentrated in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In other Russian regions this niche is free. The article presents the way of distribution of products and the calculation of the basic indicators of efficiency of production of gluten-free cupcakes with a capacity.

Hospital competition, resource allocation and quality of care

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Zwanziger Jack

2002-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background A variety of approaches have been used to contain escalating hospital costs. One approach is intensifying price competition. The increase in price based competition, which changes the incentives hospitals face, coupled with the fact that consumers can more easily evaluate the quality of hotel services compared with the quality of clinical care, may lead hospitals to allocate more resources into hotel rather than clinical services. Methods To test this hypothesis we studied hospitals in California in 1982 and 1989, comparing resource allocations prior to and following selective contracting, a period during which the focus of competition changed from quality to price. We estimated the relationship between clinical outcomes, measured as risk-adjusted-mortality rates, and resources. Results In 1989, higher competition was associated with lower clinical expenditures levels compared with 1982. The trend was stronger for non-profit hospitals. Lower clinical resource use was associated with worse risk adjusted mortality outcomes. Conclusions This study raises concerns that cost reductions may be associated with increased mortality.

COMP-1 promotes competitive advantage of nematode sperm

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, Jody M; Chavez, Daniela R; Stanfield, Gillian M

2015-01-01

Competition among sperm to fertilize oocytes is a ubiquitous feature of sexual reproduction as well as a profoundly important aspect of sexual selection. However, little is known about the cellular mechanisms sperm use to gain competitive advantage or how these mechanisms are regulated genetically. In this study, we utilize a forward genetic screen in Caenorhabditis elegans to identify a gene, comp-1, whose function is specifically required in competitive contexts. We show that comp-1 functions in sperm to modulate their migration through and localization within the reproductive tract, thereby promoting their access to oocytes. Contrary to previously described models, comp-1 mutant sperm show no defects in size or velocity, thereby defining a novel pathway for preferential usage. Our results indicate not only that sperm functional traits can influence the outcome of sperm competition, but also that these traits can be modulated in a context-dependent manner depending on the presence of competing sperm. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05423.001 PMID:25789512

The research progress of genomic selection in livestock.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Hong-wei; Wang, Rui-jun; Wang, Zhi-ying; Li, Xue-wu; Wang, Zhen-yu; Yanjun, Zhang; Rui, Su; Zhihong, Liu; Jinquan, Li

2017-05-20

With the development of gene chip and breeding technology, genomic selection in plants and animals has become research hotspots in recent years. Genomic selection has been extensively applied to all kinds of economic livestock, due to its high accuracy, short generation intervals and low breeding costs. In this review, we summarize genotyping technology and the methods for genomic breeding value estimation, the latter including the least square method, RR-BLUP, GBLUP, ssGBLUP, BayesA and BayesB. We also cover basic principles of genomic selection and compare their genetic marker ranges, genomic selection accuracy and operational speed. In addition, we list common indicators, methods and influencing factors that are related to genomic selection accuracy. Lastly, we discuss latest applications and the current problems of genomic selection at home and abroad. Importantly, we envision future status of genomic selection research, including multi-trait and multi-population genomic selection, as well as impact of whole genome sequencing and dominant effects on genomic selection. This review will provide some venues for other breeders to further understand genome selection.

Debt Contracts, Collapse and Regulation as Competition Phenomena

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gersbach, H.; Uhlig, H.F.H.V.S.

1998-01-01

We study a credit market with adverse selection and moral hazard where sufficient sorting is impossible. The crucial novel feature is the competition between lenders in their choice of contracts offered. Qualities of investment projects are not observable by banks and investment decisions of

Study on the Coordination of Supply Chain Based on Carbon Emissions Trading Considering the Retailers’ Competition

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Wang Daoping

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper studies the coordination of supply chain in the context of carbon emissions trading mechanism, which considering the competition between retailers. Centralized and decentralized supply chain models were constructed to discuss the price of product, to avoid the losses of profit from the decentralized decision-making, the revenue-sharing contract was introduced to coordinate the supply chain. Research shows that the carbon emissions trading reduce emissions effectively, but the higher price of carbon emissions trading cut down the total profit of supply chain; The competition between retailers upgrades the supply chain members’ profit; Coordination was achieved by introducing the revenue-sharing contract. Finally, numerical example was given to illustrate the validity of the revenue-sharing contract, and the sensitivity analysis of parameters such as the price of the emissions trading and the retailers’ competition were presented.

EDITORIAL: Physics competitions Physics competitions

Science.gov (United States)

Jordens, H.; Mathelitsch, L.

2010-07-01

This editorial opens the second special section on physics competitions in European Journal of Physics. In the first section last year, we asked for feedback on the idea of such a section and on the content of the articles. We received no answer whatsoever, which can be interpreted in two ways: the section is not interesting enough to raise motivation for feedback, or the reader is satisfied. Having no indication which scenario is the correct one, we are optimistic and favour the second. The section at hand contains three articles. Again, as last year, the organizer of the annual Olympiad reports on tasks and outcomes of this competition. The Olympiad took place in Merida, Mexico, and was by far the largest event with 316 contestants from 68 countries. Again, the predominance of Asian/Chinese students was manifest, showing how serious the training is taken by both their authorities and students. Unfortunately, the winners of the last International Young Physicists' Tournament (IYPT), the team from Korea, did not accept the offer to report on their prize-winning contribution. We are thankful that two students from Austria, who achieved second place with their team, took over and reported on the task which they presented in the finals of the competition. It connects the fields of sport and physics and explains a special move in skateboarding. The third contribution introduces a different competition, 'International Conference of Young Scientists'. On one hand, as in the Olympiad, it addresses individuals, not teams. On the other, as in the IYPT, students have several months to prepare and also the quality of the presentation is an important element of the judgment. In fact, this competition comes closer to real scientific research compared to the other events. Finally and again, we hope that this section will serve several purposes: To show the competitions as a very important tool in the support of gifted students. To raise awareness amongst university teachers, and

CERN, World's largest particle physics lab, selects Progress SonicMQ

CERN Document Server

2007-01-01

"Progress Software Corporation (NADAQ: PRGS), a global supplier of application insfrastructure software used to develop, deploy, integrate and manage business applications, today announced that CERN the world's largest physis laboratory and particle accelerator, has chosen Progress® SonicMQ® for mission-critical message delivery." (1 page)

Some Competition Programming Problems as the Beginning of Artificial Intelligence

OpenAIRE

Boris MELNIKOV; Elena MELNIKOVA

2007-01-01

We consider in this paper some programming competition problems (which are near to some problems of ACM competitions) of the following subjects: we can make their solution using both Prolog and a classical procedure-oriented language. Moreover, the considered problems are selected that their solution in Prolog and in a classical procedure-oriented language are similar - i.e., in other words, they use the same working mechanism, the same approach to constructing recursive functions etc. Howeve...

Evaluating the Competitive Ability of Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L. Cultivars against Tumble Pigweed (Amaranthus albus L. in Birjand Region

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mohammad javad babaie zarch

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Introduction Using crop species and cultivars with high competitive ability against weeds is one of the effective strategies for sustainable weed management. Emergence rate, rapid root growth, seed vigor, development rate of leaves, rapid root and shoot biomass accumulation, rapid canopy closure and plant height are important traits in relation to the competitiveness between different cultivars of crops. Competitive ability is measured using two indices including the weed growth prevention ability or weed biomass reduction index and crop tolerance to weed or yield reduction preventing index. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the competitive ability of six oilseed sunflower (Helianthus annuus L. cultivars and also introducing the most important morpho-physiological attributes affecting their competitive ability with tumble pigweed (Amaranthus albus L. in Birjand. Materials and methods This experiment was carried out as factorial layout based on randomized complete block design with three replications at the Agricultural Research Station, University of Birjand in 2012. Treatments were included six sunflower oilseed cultivars (Azargol, Jame esfehan, Farrokh, Syrna, Progress, Euroflor and tumble pigweed densities in four levels (zero (control, 5, 10 and 15 plants per square meter. The number of days and cumulative degree days were recorded from sowing to emergence. Plant height, leaf area and dry matter were recorded at four stages from emergence to 75 days after it. Sunflower seeds were harvested after physiological maturity. Preventing indices were used to evaluate the competitive ability of cultivars, competitive tolerance (Watson et al., 2002 and weed biomass. Data were analyzed with the SAS software and cluster analysis was performed using SPSS software. FLSD test was employed for comparison of the means at the 5% significance level. The graphs were prepared by Excel. Results and Discussion Analysis of variance showed that there was a

Power market competition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kelly, J.

1998-01-01

In the Unites States the prospect of greater competition in wholesale power market was immediately eclipsed by talk of retail competition. Attempts to move to retail competition have been costly and complex. Prudent public policy and economic analyses suggest that retail competition not be implemented until it can first be demonstrated that effective competition exists in wholesale power markets [it

Lunabotics Mining Competition

Science.gov (United States)

Mueller, Rob; Murphy, Gloria

2010-01-01

This slide presentation describes a competition to design a lunar robot (lunabot) that can be controlled either remotely or autonomously, isolated from the operator, and is designed to mine a lunar aggregate simulant. The competition is part of a systems engineering curriculum. The 2010 competition winners in five areas of the competition were acknowledged, and the 2011 competition was announced.

Interspecific competition between entomopathogenic nematodes (Steinernema is modified by their bacterial symbionts (Xenorhabdus

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Pages Sylvie

2006-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Symbioses between invertebrates and prokaryotes are biological systems of particular interest in order to study the evolution of mutualism. The symbioses between the entomopathogenic nematodes Steinernema and their bacterial symbiont Xenorhabdus are very tractable model systems. Previous studies demonstrated (i a highly specialized relationship between each strain of nematodes and its naturally associated bacterial strain and (ii that mutualism plays a role in several important life history traits of each partner such as access to insect host resources, dispersal and protection against various biotic and abiotic factors. The goal of the present study was to address the question of the impact of Xenorhabdus symbionts on the progression and outcome of interspecific competition between individuals belonging to different Steinernema species. For this, we monitored experimental interspecific competition between (i two nematode species: S. carpocapsae and S. scapterisci and (ii their respective symbionts: X. nematophila and X. innexi within an experimental insect-host (Galleria mellonella. Three conditions of competition between nematodes were tested: (i infection of insects with aposymbiotic IJs (i.e. without symbiont of both species (ii infection of insects with aposymbiotic IJs of both species in presence of variable proportion of their two Xenorhabdus symbionts and (iii infection of insects with symbiotic IJs (i.e. naturally associated with their symbionts of both species. Results We found that both the progression and the outcome of interspecific competition between entomopathogenic nematodes were influenced by their bacterial symbionts. Thus, the results obtained with aposymbiotic nematodes were totally opposite to those obtained with symbiotic nematodes. Moreover, the experimental introduction of different ratios of Xenorhabdus symbionts in the insect-host during competition between Steinernema modified the proportion of

Male crickets adjust ejaculate quality with both risk and intensity of sperm competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Simmons, Leigh W; Denholm, Amy; Jackson, Chantelle; Levy, Esther; Madon, Ewa

2007-10-22

Sperm competition theory predicts that males should increase their expenditure on the ejaculate with increasing risk of sperm competition, but decrease their expenditure with increasing intensity. There is accumulating evidence for sperm competition theory, based on examinations of testes size and/or the numbers of sperm ejaculated. However, recent studies suggest that ejaculate quality can also be subject to selection by sperm competition. We used experimental manipulations of the risk and intensity of sperm competition in the cricket, Teleogryllus oceanicus. We found that males produced ejaculates with a greater percentage of live sperm when they had encountered a rival male prior to mating. However, when mating with a female that presented a high intensity of sperm competition, males did not respond to risk, but produced ejaculates with a reduced percentage of live sperm. Our data suggest that males exhibit a fine-tuned hierarchy of responses to these cues of sperm competition.

Modern trends of development of the world economy and financial competitiveness of enterprises

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Volkova Nadezhda

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article considers modern trends in the development of the global economy, the dynamics of the activity of the domestic economy. The statistical data of the share of loss-making enterprises on the domestic market are analyzed. The importance of competitiveness and financial stability of enterprises in modern conditions is considered, the relationship between competitiveness and financial stability is indicated. The notion of financial competitiveness is formulated. Financial competitiveness is analyzed from the point of view of enterprise management and on the parameters for assessing the financial stability of enterprises. Methods for assessing the financial competitiveness of enterprises have been identified. The primary calculation of financial competitiveness indicators for PJSC “SF Almaz” was carried out based on the selected methods. The analysis of the obtained calculation results is carried out. Methods are proposed to ensure financial competitiveness of Russian companies.

Prebiotic Competition between Information Variants, With Low Error Catastrophe Risks

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Radu Popa

2015-07-01

Full Text Available During competition for resources in primitive networks increased fitness of an information variant does not necessarily equate with successful elimination of its competitors. If variability is added fast to a system, speedy replacement of pre-existing and less-efficient forms of order is required as novel information variants arrive. Otherwise, the information capacity of the system fills up with information variants (an effect referred as “error catastrophe”. As the cost for managing the system’s exceeding complexity increases, the correlation between performance capabilities of information variants and their competitive success decreases, and evolution of such systems toward increased efficiency slows down. This impasse impedes the understanding of evolution in prebiotic networks. We used the simulation platform Biotic Abstract Dual Automata (BiADA to analyze how information variants compete in a resource-limited space. We analyzed the effect of energy-related features (differences in autocatalytic efficiency, energy cost of order, energy availability, transformation rates and stability of order on this competition. We discuss circumstances and controllers allowing primitive networks acquire novel information with minimal “error catastrophe” risks. We present a primitive mechanism for maximization of energy flux in dynamic networks. This work helps evaluate controllers of evolution in prebiotic networks and other systems where information variants compete.

Dining atmospherics and food and service quality as predictors of customer satisfaction at sit-down restaurants

OpenAIRE

Petzer, Daniel; Mackay, Nedia

2014-01-01

South African sit-down restaurants operate in a fiercely competitive environment and customer satisfaction has proven critical for survival in this and other service industries. A satisfied customer spreads positive word-of-mouth, returns, and contributes to profitability. Extant literature indicates that customer satisfaction is in turn impacted by product and service quality, and also by the atmospheric elements present in the servicescape. It is, however, important to determine the extent ...

The Role for Competition Policy in Economic Development

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

promoted by major donors and international organisations as part of the ... ownership and control in the South African economy. The new ... The effects of competition policy in South Africa, and selected .... costs and multiproduct firms. ..... While consistent with profit maximisation, import parity pricing is inefficient in terms.

Competitive Moves over Time

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Antero, Michelle; Hedman, Jonas; Henningsson, Stefan

2014-01-01

its viability to survive in the marketplace. The study begins with a review of sourcing literature to position the Red Queen theory within the sourcing literature. It subsequently applies the framework to a case study of SAP AG to illustrate how sourcing strategies changed over time in response...... the firm; (c) organizations are reflexive and over time develop competitive hysteresis which allows them to become stronger competitors. In the case of SAP AG, various sourcing arrangements were selected over its 40-year history to respond to technological and market changes....

Thin film femtosecond laser damage competition

Science.gov (United States)

Stolz, Christopher J.; Ristau, Detlev; Turowski, Marcus; Blaschke, Holger

2009-10-01

In order to determine the current status of thin film laser resistance within the private, academic, and government sectors, a damage competition was started at the 2008 Boulder Damage Symposium. This damage competition allows a direct comparison of the current state of the art of high laser resistance coatings since they are tested using the same damage test setup and the same protocol. In 2009 a high reflector coating was selected at a wavelength of 786 nm at normal incidence at a pulse length of 180 femtoseconds. A double blind test assured sample and submitter anonymity so only a summary of the results are presented here. In addition to the laser resistance results, details of deposition processes, coating materials and layer count, and spectral results will also be shared.

Infectious diseases in competitive sports.

Science.gov (United States)

Goodman, R A; Thacker, S B; Solomon, S L; Osterholm, M T; Hughes, J M

1994-03-16

Participation in competitive sports is popular and widely encouraged throughout the United States. Reports of infectious disease outbreaks among competitive athletes and recent publicity regarding infectious disease concerns in sports underscore the need to better characterize the occurrence of these problems. To identify reports of infectious diseases in sports, we performed a comprehensive search of the medical literature (MEDLINE) and newspaper databases in two on-line services (NEXIS and DIALOG PAPERS). Articles selected from the literature review included those describing cases or outbreaks of disease in which exposure to an infectious agent was likely to have occurred during training for competitive sports or during actual competition. Articles from the newspaper review included reports of outbreaks, exposures, or preventive measures that directly or indirectly involved teams or spectators. The literature review identified 38 reports of infectious disease outbreaks or other instances of transmission through person-to-person (24 reports), common-source (nine reports), or airborne (five reports) routes; the newspaper search identified 28 reports. Infectious agents included predominantly viruses but also a variety of fungi and gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Our findings indicate that strategies to prevent transmission of infectious diseases in sports must recognize risks at three levels: the individual athlete, the team, and spectators or others who may become exposed to infectious diseases as a result of sports-related activities. Team physicians and others who are responsible for the health of athletes should be especially familiar with the features of infectious diseases that occur in sports and measures for the prevention of these problems.

Alternative paths to success in a parasite community: within-host competition can favor higher virulence or direct interference.

Science.gov (United States)

Bashey, Farrah; Hawlena, Hadas; Lively, Curtis M

2013-03-01

Selection imposed by coinfection may vary with the mechanism of within-host competition between parasites. Exploitative competition is predicted to favor more virulent parasites, whereas interference competition may result in lower virulence. Here, we examine whether exploitative or interference competition determines the outcome of competition between two nematode species (Steinernema spp.), which in combination with their bacterial symbionts (Xenorhabdus spp.), infect and kill insect hosts. Multiple isolates of each nematode species, carrying their naturally associated bacteria, were characterized by (1) the rate at which they killed insect hosts, and by (2) the ability of their bacteria to interfere with each other's growth via bacteriocidal toxins called "bacteriocins." We found that both exploitative and interference abilities were important in predicting which species had a selective advantage in pairwise competition experiments. When nematodes carried bacteria that did not interact via bacteriocins, the faster killing isolate had a competitive advantage. Alternatively, nematodes could gain a competitive advantage when they carried bacteria able to inhibit the bacteria of their competitor. Thus, the combination of nematode/bacterial traits that led to competitive success depended on which isolates were paired, suggesting that variation in competitive interactions may be important for maintaining species diversity in this community. © 2012 The Author(s). Evolution© 2012 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Peer review and competition in the Art Exhibition Game.

Science.gov (United States)

Balietti, Stefano; Goldstone, Robert L; Helbing, Dirk

2016-07-26

To investigate the effect of competitive incentives under peer review, we designed a novel experimental setup called the Art Exhibition Game. We present experimental evidence of how competition introduces both positive and negative effects when creative artifacts are evaluated and selected by peer review. Competition proved to be a double-edged sword: on the one hand, it fosters innovation and product diversity, but on the other hand, it also leads to more unfair reviews and to a lower level of agreement between reviewers. Moreover, an external validation of the quality of peer reviews during the laboratory experiment, based on 23,627 online evaluations on Amazon Mechanical Turk, shows that competition does not significantly increase the level of creativity. Furthermore, the higher rejection rate under competitive conditions does not improve the average quality of published contributions, because more high-quality work is also rejected. Overall, our results could explain why many ground-breaking studies in science end up in lower-tier journals. Differences and similarities between the Art Exhibition Game and scholarly peer review are discussed and the implications for the design of new incentive systems for scientists are explained.

Competition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bridoux, F.; Vodosek, M.; Den Hartog, D.N.; McNett, J.M.

2014-01-01

Competition traditionally refers to the actions that firms take in a product market to outperform rivals in attracting customers and generating revenues. Yet, competition extends beyond product markets to other arenas such as factor markets, where firms compete for resources, and the political

Product competitiveness analysis for e-commerce platform of special agricultural products

Science.gov (United States)

Wan, Fucheng; Ma, Ning; Yang, Dongwei; Xiong, Zhangyuan

2017-09-01

On the basis of analyzing the influence factors of the product competitiveness of the e-commerce platform of the special agricultural products and the characteristics of the analytical methods for the competitiveness of the special agricultural products, the price, the sales volume, the postage included service, the store reputation, the popularity, etc. were selected in this paper as the dimensionality for analyzing the competitiveness of the agricultural products, and the principal component factor analysis was taken as the competitiveness analysis method. Specifically, the web crawler was adopted to capture the information of various special agricultural products in the e-commerce platform ---- chi.taobao.com. Then, the original data captured thereby were preprocessed and MYSQL database was adopted to establish the information library for the special agricultural products. Then, the principal component factor analysis method was adopted to establish the analysis model for the competitiveness of the special agricultural products, and SPSS was adopted in the principal component factor analysis process to obtain the competitiveness evaluation factor system (support degree factor, price factor, service factor and evaluation factor) of the special agricultural products. Then, the linear regression method was adopted to establish the competitiveness index equation of the special agricultural products for estimating the competitiveness of the special agricultural products.

Results and Interpretation of the WFRD ELS Distillation Down-Select Test Data

Science.gov (United States)

Delzeit, Lance Dean; Flynn, Michael; Carter, Layne; Long, David A.

2010-01-01

Testing of the Wiped-film Rotating-disk (WFRD) evaporator was conducted in support of the Exploration Life Support Distillation Down-Select Test. The WFRD was constructed at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) and tested at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The WFRD was delivered to MSFC in September 2009, and testing of solution #1 and solution #2 immediately following. Solution #1 was composed of humidity condensate and urine, including flush water and pretreatment chemicals. Solution #2 was composed of hygiene water, humidity condensate, and urine, including flush water and pretreatment chemicals. During the testing, the operational parameters of the WFRD were recorded and samples of the feed, brine, and product were collected and analyzed. The steady-state results of processing 414L of feed solution #1 and 1283L of feed solution #2 demonstrated that running the WFRD at a brine temperature of 50 C gave an average production rate of 16.7 L/hr. The specific energy consumption was 80.5W-hr/L. Data Analysis shows that the water recovery rates were 94% and 91%, respectively. The total mass of the WFRD as delivered to MSFC was 300 Kg. The volume of the tests stand rack was 1m width x 0.7m depth x 1.9m height or 1.5 cu m of which about half of the total volume is occupied by equipment. Chemical analysis of the distillate showed an average TOC of 20ppm, a pH of 3.5, and a conductivity of 98 mho/cm. The conductivity of the distillate, compared to the feed, decreased by 98.9%., the total ion concentration decreased by 99.6%, the total organics decreased 98.6%, and the metals were at or below detection limits

Using David Lack's Observations of Finch Beak Size to Teach Natural Selection & the Nature of Science

Science.gov (United States)

Bierema, Andrea M.-K.; Rudge, David W.

2014-01-01

One of the key aspects of natural selection is competition, yet the concept of competition is not necessarily emphasized in explanations of natural selection. Because of this, we developed an activity for our class that focuses on competition and provides an example of the effects of competition on natural selection. This hands-on activity models…

Competition in Japan

OpenAIRE

Michael E. Porter; Mariko Sakakibara

2004-01-01

This article examines competition in Japan and its link to postwar economic prosperity. While Japan's industrial structure and competition policy seem to indicate that competition in Japan has been less intense, the empirical evidence does not support this conclusion. The sectors in which competition was restricted prove to be those where Japan was not internationally successful. In the internationally successful sectors, internal competition in Japan was invariably fierce. While the level of...

Competitive bidding in Medicare: who benefits from competition?

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Zirui; Landrum, Mary Beth; Chernew, Michael E

2012-09-01

To conduct the first empirical study of competitive bidding in Medicare. We analyzed 2006-2010 Medicare Advantage data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services using longitudinal models adjusted for market and plan characteristics. A $1 increase in Medicare's payment to health maintenance organization (HMO) plans led to a $0.49 (P service plans included, higher Medicare payments increased bids less ($0.33 per dollar), suggesting more competition among these latter plans. As a market-based alternative to cost control through administrative pricing, competitive bidding relies on private insurance plans proposing prices they are willing to accept for insuring a beneficiary. However, competition is imperfect in the Medicare bidding market. As much as half of every dollar in increased plan payment went to higher bids rather than to beneficiaries. While having more insurers in a market lowered bids, the design of any bidding system for Medicare should recognize this shortcoming of competition.

Economic Selection Theory

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, Thorbjørn

2003-01-01

principles of variation, continuity and selection, it is argued that economic selection theory should mimic the causal structure of neo-Darwinian theory. Two of the most influential explanations of economic evolution, Alchian's and Nelson and Winter's, are used to illustrate how this could be achieved.......The present article provides a minimal description of the causal structure of economic selection theory and outlines how the internal selection dynamics of business organisations can be reconciled with selection in competitive markets. In addition to generic similarity in terms of the Darwinian...

Competitive Priorities and Competitive Advantage in Jordanian Manufacturing

OpenAIRE

Awwad, Abdulkareem S.; Al Khattab, Adel A.; Anchor, J.R

2013-01-01

The purpose of this research was to explore and predict the relationship between the competitive priorities (quality, cost, flexibility and delivery) and the competitive advantage of firms in the Jordanian Industrial Sector. A population of 88 Jordanian manufacturing firms, registered on the Amman Stock Exchange, was targeted using a cross-sectional survey employing a questionnaire method of data collection. The results of the data analysis indicate a significant relationship between competit...

Competitive advantage of a dengue 4 virus when co-infecting the mosquito Aedes aegypti with a dengue 1 virus.

Science.gov (United States)

Vazeille, Marie; Gaborit, Pascal; Mousson, Laurence; Girod, Romain; Failloux, Anna-Bella

2016-07-08

Dengue viruses (DENV) are comprised in four related serotypes (DENV-1 to 4) and are critically important arboviral pathogens affecting human populations in the tropics. South American countries have seen the reemergence of DENV since the 1970's associated with the progressive re-infestation by the mosquito vector, Aedes aegypti. In French Guiana, DENV is now endemic with the co-circulation of different serotypes resulting in viral epidemics. Between 2009 and 2010, a predominant serotype change occurred from DENV-1 to DENV-4 suggesting a competitive displacement. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the potential role of the mosquito in the selection of the new epidemic serotype. To test this hypothesis of competitive displacement of one serotype by another in the mosquito vector, we performed mono- and co-infections of local Ae. aegypti collected during the inter-epidemic period with both viral autochthonous epidemic serotypes and compared infection, dissemination and transmission rates. We performed oral artificial infections of F1 populations in BSL-3 conditions and analyzed infection, dissemination and transmission rates. When two populations of Ae. aegypti from French Guiana were infected with either serotype, no significant differences in dissemination and transmission were observed between DENV-1 and DENV-4. However, in co-infection experiments, a strong competitive advantage for DENV-4 was seen at the midgut level leading to a much higher dissemination of this serotype. Furthermore only DENV-4 was present in Ae. aegypti saliva and therefore able to be transmitted. In an endemic context, mosquito vectors may be infected by several DENV serotypes. Our results suggest a possible competition between serotypes at the midgut level in co-infected mosquitoes leading to a drastically different transmission potential and, in this case, favoring the competitive displacement of DENV-1 by DENV-4. This phenomenon was observed despite a similar replicative fitness

Selective oxoanion separation using a tripodal ligand

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Custelcean, Radu; Moyer, Bruce A.; Rajbanshi, Arbin

2016-02-16

The present invention relates to urea-functionalized crystalline capsules self-assembled by sodium or potassium cation coordination and by hydrogen-bonding water bridges to selectively encapsulate tetrahedral divalent oxoanions from highly competitive aqueous alkaline solutions and methods using this system for selective anion separations from industrial solutions. The method involves competitive crystallizations using a tripodal tris(urea) functionalized ligand and, in particular, provides a viable approach to sulfate separation from nuclear wastes.

Cytogenetic responses to ionizing radiation exposure of human fibroblasts with knocked-down expressions of various DNA damage signaling genes

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ye; Rohde, Larry; Wu, Honglu

Changes of gene expression profile are one of the most important biological responses in living cells after ionizing radiation (IR) exposure. Although some studies have demonstrated that genes with up-regulated expression induced by IR may play important roles in DNA damage sensing, cell cycle checkpoint and chromosomal repair, the relationship between the regulation of gene expression by IR and its impact on cytogenetic responses to ionizing radiation has not been systematically studied. Here, the expression of 25 genes selected based on their transcriptional changes in response to IR or from their known DNA repair roles were individually knocked down by siRNA transfection in human fibroblast cells. Chromosome aberrations (CA) and micronuclei (MN) formation were measured as the cytogenetic endpoints. Our results showed that the yields of MN and/or CA formation were significantly increased by suppressed expression of some of the selected genes in DSB and other DNA repair pathways. Knocked-down expression of other genes showed significant impact on cell cycle progression, possibly because of severe impairment of DNA damage repair. Of these 11 genes that affected the cytogenetic response, 9 were up-regulated in the cells exposed to gamma radiation, suggesting that genes transcriptionally modulated by IR were critical to regulating the biological consequences after IR. Failure to express these IR-responsive genes, such as by gene mutation, could seriously change the outcome of the post IR scenario and lead to carcinogenesis.

Computer Self-Efficacy, Competitive Anxiety and Flow State: Escaping from Firing Online Game

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Jon-Chao; Pei-Yu, Chiu; Shih, Hsiao-Feng; Lin, Pei-Shin; Hong, Jon-Chao

2012-01-01

Flow state in game playing affected by computer self-efficacy and game competitive anxiety was studied. In order to examine the effect of those constructs with high competition, this study select "Escaping from firing online game" which require college students to escape from fire and rescue people and eliminate the fire damage along the way of…

Do Women Shy Away From Competition? Do Men Compete Too Much?

OpenAIRE

Muriel Niederle; Lise Vesterlund

2005-01-01

Competitive high ranking positions are largely occupied by men, and women remain scarce in engineering and sciences. Explanations for these occupational differences focus on discrimination and preferences for work hours and field of study. We examine if absent these factors gender differences in occupations may still occur. Specifically we explore whether women and men, on a leveled playing field, differ in their selection into competitive environments. Men and women in a laboratory experimen...

The Literature Review of a New Form of Competitiveness Called City Competitiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Osman EROĞLU

2014-06-01

Full Text Available With globalization, the rapid development of information technologies and the rapid changes in the economic structure, the country’s borders at a time increasingly depreciate and the importance of city competitiveness reveals. Although it is an ongoing debate around the world whether cities compete with each other, city competitiveness is a new form of competitiveness. Cities compete with each other to increase their competitiveness. City competitiveness is defined as having better values compared to other cities. In this study, a new form of competitiveness called city competitiveness is examined.

In silico panning for a non-competitive peptide inhibitor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ikebukuro Kazunori

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Peptide ligands have tremendous therapeutic potential as efficacious drugs. Currently, more than 40 peptides are available in the market for a drug. However, since costly and time-consuming synthesis procedures represent a problem for high-throughput screening, novel procedures to reduce the time and labor involved in screening peptide ligands are required. We propose the novel approach of 'in silico panning' which consists of a two-stage screening, involving affinity selection by docking simulation and evolution of the peptide ligand using genetic algorithms (GAs. In silico panning was successfully applied to the selection of peptide inhibitor for water-soluble quinoprotein glucose dehydrogenase (PQQGDH. Results The evolution of peptide ligands for a target enzyme was achieved by combining a docking simulation with evolution of the peptide ligand using genetic algorithms (GAs, which mimic Darwinian evolution. Designation of the target area as next to the substrate-binding site of the enzyme in the docking simulation enabled the selection of a non-competitive inhibitor. In all, four rounds of selection were carried out on the computer; the distribution of the docking energy decreased gradually for each generation and improvements in the docking energy were observed over the four rounds of selection. One of the top three selected peptides with the lowest docking energy, 'SERG' showed an inhibitory effect with Ki value of 20 μM. PQQGDH activity, in terms of the Vmax value, was 3-fold lower than that of the wild-type enzyme in the presence of this peptide. The mechanism of the SERG blockage of the enzyme was identified as non-competitive inhibition. We confirmed the specific binding of the peptide, and its equilibrium dissociation constant (KD value was calculated as 60 μM by surface plasmon resonance (SPR analysis. Conclusion We demonstrate an effective methodology of in silico panning for the selection of a non-competitive

Virginia Space Grant Consortium Management of National General Aviation Design Competition

Science.gov (United States)

2002-01-01

, more than 785 students and 60 faculty members have participated in the Competition. A review panel comprised of general aviation experts from the FAA, EAA, NASA and industry representatives reviewed the design packages and selected the winners. The VSGC coordinated marketing of the competition to a mailing list which included selected deans and department chairs from ABET-accredited institutions, Space Grant affiliates, faculty who had previously participated in or expressed interest in the Competition, and others.

Incidence and outcome of renal anomalies in children with down syndrome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Osama Y Safdar

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Background Down syndrome is one of the most common occurring chromosomal disorders, which involves multiple systems. Renal and urinary tract anomalies have been reported to occur at increased frequency among this population. Aims This study aims to estimate the prevalence of renal anomalies in Down syndrome patients, as well as to evaluate their outcome. Methods A retrospective study was conducted in the tertiary hospital, KAUH, from the period of August to October 2016. Files and medical records of 261 patients diagnosed with Down syndrome were reviewed and retrieved from the years 2005–2016. Results Out of the 241 patients, 113 (46.9 per cent were screened by ultrasound imaging. Renal abnormalities were detected in 51 (21.2 per cent patients. Of whom 20 (39.2 per cent were females and 31 (60.8 per cent males. Abnormalities detected on imaging consisted of: hydronephrosis, vesicoureteral reflux, obstruction, malpositioned kidney, renovascular anomalies and others. The outcomes of the patients with renal involvement were as following: five patients (9.8 per cent developed chronic kidney disease, eight (15.7 per cent died due to different causes: (DIC, multiple organ failure, Respiratory arrest, sepsis, and unspecified, and 38 (74.5 per cent showed no progression of the renal disease. Conclusion The prevalence of renal abnormalities in Down syndrome was found to be high so early screening for Down syndrome patients is recommended to help diagnose them earlier. Further studies are recommended to follow up Down syndrome patients with renal abnormalities.

Cooperativeness and competitiveness as two distinct constructs: validating the Cooperative and Competitive Personality Scale in a social dilemma context.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Su; Au, Wing-Tung; Jiang, Feng; Xie, Xiaofei; Yam, Paton

2013-01-01

The present research validated the construct and criterion validities of the Cooperative and Competitive Personality Scale (CCPS) in a social dilemma context. The results from three studies supported the notion that cooperativeness and competitiveness are two independent dimensions, challenging the traditional view that they are two ends of a single continuum. First, confirmatory factor analyses revealed that a two-factor structure fit the data significantly better than a one-factor structure. Moreover, cooperativeness and competitiveness were either not significantly correlated (Studies 1 and 3) or only moderately positively correlated (Study 2). Second, cooperativeness and competitiveness were differentially associated with Schwartz's Personal Values. These results further supported the idea that cooperativeness and competitiveness are two distinct constructs. Specifically, the individuals who were highly cooperative emphasized self-transcendent values (i.e., universalism and benevolence) more, whereas the individuals who were highly competitive emphasized self-enhancement values (i.e., power and achievement) more. Finally, the CCPS, which adheres to the trait perspective of personality, was found to be a useful supplement to more prevalent social motive measures (i.e., social value orientation) in predicting cooperative behaviors. Specifically, in Study 2, when social value orientation was controlled for, the CCPS significantly predicted cooperative behaviors in a public goods dilemma (individuals who score higher on cooperativeness scale contributed more to the public goods). In Study 3, when social value orientation was controlled for, the CCPS significantly predicted cooperative behaviors in commons dilemmas (individuals who score higher on cooperativeness scale requested fewer resources from the common resource pool). The practical implications of the CCPS in conflict resolution, as well as in recruitment and selection settings, are discussed.

The interaction of lexical semantics and cohort competition in spoken word recognition: an fMRI study.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhuang, Jie; Randall, Billi; Stamatakis, Emmanuel A; Marslen-Wilson, William D; Tyler, Lorraine K

2011-12-01

Spoken word recognition involves the activation of multiple word candidates on the basis of the initial speech input--the "cohort"--and selection among these competitors. Selection may be driven primarily by bottom-up acoustic-phonetic inputs or it may be modulated by other aspects of lexical representation, such as a word's meaning [Marslen-Wilson, W. D. Functional parallelism in spoken word-recognition. Cognition, 25, 71-102, 1987]. We examined these potential interactions in an fMRI study by presenting participants with words and pseudowords for lexical decision. In a factorial design, we manipulated (a) cohort competition (high/low competitive cohorts which vary the number of competing word candidates) and (b) the word's semantic properties (high/low imageability). A previous behavioral study [Tyler, L. K., Voice, J. K., & Moss, H. E. The interaction of meaning and sound in spoken word recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 7, 320-326, 2000] showed that imageability facilitated word recognition but only for words in high competition cohorts. Here we found greater activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 45, 47) and the right inferior frontal gyrus (BA 47) with increased cohort competition, an imageability effect in the left posterior middle temporal gyrus/angular gyrus (BA 39), and a significant interaction between imageability and cohort competition in the left posterior superior temporal gyrus/middle temporal gyrus (BA 21, 22). In words with high competition cohorts, high imageability words generated stronger activity than low imageability words, indicating a facilitatory role of imageability in a highly competitive cohort context. For words in low competition cohorts, there was no effect of imageability. These results support the behavioral data in showing that selection processes do not rely solely on bottom-up acoustic-phonetic cues but rather that the semantic properties of candidate words facilitate discrimination between competitors.

Binocular Rivalry in a Competitive Neural Network with Synaptic Depression

KAUST Repository

Kilpatrick, Zachary P.; Bressloff, Paul C.

2010-01-01

We study binocular rivalry in a competitive neural network with synaptic depression. In particular, we consider two coupled hypercolums within primary visual cortex (V1), representing orientation selective cells responding to either left or right

BMC Ecology image competition 2014: the winning images.

Science.gov (United States)

Harold, Simon; Henderson, Caspar; Baguette, Michel; Bonsall, Michael B; Hughes, David; Settele, Josef

2014-08-29

BMC Ecology showcases the winning entries from its second Ecology Image Competition. More than 300 individual images were submitted from an international array of research scientists, depicting life on every continent on earth. The journal's Editorial Board and guest judge Caspar Henderson outline why their winning selections demonstrated high levels of technical skill and aesthetic sense in depicting the science of ecology, and we also highlight a small selection of highly commended images that we simply couldn't let you miss out on.

The role of nuclear power in the new competitive era

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pryor, C.W.

1998-01-01

As power generators around the world grapple with the challenges of deregulation and competition, there are those who suggest that ownership of an operating nuclear power plant may prove to be a liability. This is not the case for most plants. On the contrary, nuclear facilities that perform well will be important assets in competitive markets, whether as sources of competitively priced electricity, or as strategic factors in mergers and acquisitions. And, as the world focuses renewed attention on global climate change and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear power's significant environmental benefits further enhances its continued viability. The emergence of competitive markets will create a period of tremendous opportunity and enhanced value for nuclear plants. Nuclear plants, large coal plants, and hydro are the only types that can produce power at the bus bar with production costs close to one cent per kilowatt-hour. The challenge for all nuclear plants is to reduce costs and improve performance in order to improve their net earnings stream. Prospects for dramatic reductions are very high. In recent years, average nuclear plant performance figures worldwide have improved rapidly and substantially, and average costs are dropping. How will nuclear plants compare with alternative energy sources in an era of heightened competition? To evaluate nuclear plants in a competitive environment, this paper will look at three key areas: capital costs; operation and maintenance costs; and fuel costs, including spent fuel issues. The paper will examine innovative strategies to deal with capital or 'sunk costs' such as write-downs through securitization and regional operating companies, and will also focus on best practices in O and M and fuel where all nuclear plants have the potential to move to 'best in class'. The lessons that every nuclear plant can learn from other plants can contribute significantly to the performance improvement process. What has been

No time for candy: passionfruit (Passiflora edulis) plants down-regulate damage-induced extra floral nectar production in response to light signals of competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Izaguirre, Miriam M; Mazza, Carlos A; Astigueta, María S; Ciarla, Ana M; Ballaré, Carlos L

2013-09-01

Plant fitness is often defined by the combined effects of herbivory and competition, and plants must strike a delicate balance between their ability to capture limiting resources and defend against herbivore attack. Many plants use indirect defenses, such as volatile compounds and extra floral nectaries (EFN), to attract canopy arthropods that are natural enemies of herbivorous organisms. While recent evidence suggests that upon perception of low red to far-red (R:FR) ratios, which signal the proximity of competitors, plants down-regulate resource allocation to direct chemical defenses, it is unknown if a similar phytochrome-mediated response occurs for indirect defenses. We evaluated the interactive effects of R:FR ratio and simulated herbivory on nectar production by EFNs of passion fruit (Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa). The activity of petiolar EFNs dramatically increased in response to simulated herbivory and hormonal treatment with methyl jasmonate (MeJA). Low R:FR ratios, which induced a classic "shade-avoidance" repertoire of increased stem elongation in P. edulis, strongly suppressed the EFN response triggered by simulated herbivory or MeJA application. Strikingly, the EFN response to wounding and light quality was localized to the branches that received the treatments. In vines like P. edulis, a local response would allow the plants to precisely adjust their light harvesting and defense phenotypes to the local conditions encountered by individual branches when foraging for resources in patchy canopies. Consistent with the emerging paradigm that phytochrome regulation of jasmonate signaling is a central modulator of adaptive phenotypic plasticity, our results demonstrate that light quality is a strong regulator of indirect defenses.

Single stage reduction and stabilization of basilar invagination after failed prior fusion surgery in children with Down's syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Hedequist, Daniel; Bekelis, Kimon; Emans, John; Proctor, Mark R

2010-02-15

We describe an innovative single-stage reduction and stabilization technique using modern cervical instrumentation. We hypothesis modern instrumentation has made more aggressive surgical corrections possible and has reduced the need for transoral resection of the odontoid and traction reduction in children with basilar invagination. Craniocervical junction abnormalities, including atlantoaxial instability and progressive basilar invagination, are relatively common phenomenon in Down's syndrome patients, and can lead to chronic progressive neurologic deficits, catastrophic injury, and death. This patient population also can be a difficult one in which to perform successful stabilization and fusion. We reviewed the records and films on 2 children with Down's syndrome and atlantoaxial instability who had undergone prior occipital-cervical fusion and then presented with symptomatic progressive basilar invagination due to atlantoaxial displacement. In both cases, the children had progressive symptoms of spinal cord and brain stem compression. Multiple approaches for surgical correction, including preoperative traction and transoral odontoid resection, were considered, but ultimately it was elected to perform a single stage posterior operation. In both patients, we performed fusion takedown, intraoperative realignment with reduction of the basilar invagination, and stabilization using modern occipito-cervical instrumentation. In both children, excellent cranio-cervical realignment was achieved; along with successful fusion and improvement in clinical symptoms. In this article we will discuss the clinical cases and review the background of craniocervical junction abnormalities in Down's syndrome patients. We hypothesis modern instrumentation has made more aggressive surgical corrections possible and has reduced the need for transoral resection of the odontoid and traction reduction in children with basilar invagination.

Salivary Hormones Response to Preparation and Pre-competitive Training of World-class Level Athletes

Science.gov (United States)

Guilhem, Gaël; Hanon, Christine; Gendreau, Nicolas; Bonneau, Dominique; Guével, Arnaud; Chennaoui, Mounir

2015-01-01

This study aimed to compare the response of salivary hormones of track and field athletes induced by preparation and pre-competitive training periods in an attempt to comment on the physiological effects consistent with the responses of each of the proteins measured. Salivary testosterone, cortisol, alpha-amylase, immunoglobulin A (IgA), chromogranin A, blood creatine kinase activity, and profile of mood state were assessed at rest in 24 world-class level athletes during preparation (3 times in 3 months) and pre-competitive (5 times in 5 weeks) training periods. Total mood disturbance and fatigue perception were reduced, while IgA (+61%) and creatine kinase activity (+43%) increased, and chromogranin A decreased (−27%) during pre-competitive compared to preparation period. A significant increase in salivary testosterone (+9 to +15%) and a decrease in testosterone/cortisol ratio were associated with a progressive reduction in training load during pre-competitive period (P athletics training. PMID:26635619

Indian power industry: role of private sector in future progress

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dua, T.R.

1997-01-01

This document discusses about the current scenario of power sectors in the country. It deals with the present power policy to encourage the private sector investment. Recommendations of the long-term pricing policy are laid down to meet the financial resources and energy demands. In general the reforms should be guided by the objective of introducing competition wherever possible, so as to minimise the cost to the consumer and improve the quality and services

Improvement of Long-Jump Performance During Competition Using a Plyometric Exercise.

Science.gov (United States)

Bogdanis, Gregory C; Tsoukos, Athanasios; Veligekas, Panagiotis

2017-02-01

To examine the acute effects of a conditioning plyometric exercise on long-jump performance during a simulated long-jump competition. Eight national-level track and field decathletes performed 6 long-jump attempts with a full approach run separated by 10-min recoveries. In the experimental condition subjects performed 3 rebound vertical jumps with maximal effort 3 min before the last 5 attempts, while the 1st attempt served as baseline. In the control condition the participants performed 6 long jumps without executing the conditioning exercise. Compared with baseline, long-jump performance progressively increased only in the experimental condition, from 3.0%, or 17.5 cm, in the 3rd attempt (P = .046, d = 0.56), to 4.8%, or 28.2 cm, in the 6th attempt (P = .0001, d = 0.84). The improvement in long-jump performance was due to a gradual increase in vertical takeoff velocity from the 3rd (by 8.7%, P = .0001, d = 1.82) to the 6th jump (by 17.7%, P = .0001, d = 4.38). Horizontal-approach velocity, takeoff duration, and horizontal velocity at takeoff were similar at all long-jump attempts in both conditions (P = .80, P = .36, and P = .15, respectively). Long-jump performance progressively improved during a simulated competition when a plyometric conditioning exercise was executed 3 min before each attempt. This improvement was due to a progressive increase in vertical velocity of takeoff, while there was no effect on the horizontal velocity.

Culture as a Determinant of Competitive Advantage in Trade

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dekuwmini Mornah

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Culture plays a role in international trade much as it does in any other human activity. Attitudes and ways of life do matter even when a lucrative business opportunity exists, especially across national borders. This paper examines which aspects of culture give countries competitive edge in terms of bilateral trade performances. Specifically, do relatively higher scores in certain cultural dimensions have a deterministic effect on bilateral trade performance (terms of trade or bilateral trade balance? Methodology: We adopt empirical econometric estimation methods on trade data covering 59 countries and 29 years combined with the nine "Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE" culture dimensions, Our estimations were based on Robust Regression Analysis and Ordinary Least Squares methods. Findings: We find that indeed, certain aspects of culture enhance bilateral trade performance/competitiveness. Performance Orientation, Future Orientation, Institutional Collectivism, Gender Egalitarianism, Power Distance and Uncertainty Avoidance improve bilateral trade performance while Assertiveness, Humane Orientation and In-Group Collectivism impair it. Research limitations: Direct measures of international competitiveness are not readily available. So we had to adopt proxies for measuring international competitiveness. Implications: Many countries want to boost international competitiveness. However, in the current world order with multilateral trade agreements under the WTO and increased transferability of technology, governments are clipped in terms of available trade policy options. By understanding which aspects of culture promote bilateral competitiveness and performance, governments could take steps to maximize their competitiveness. For instance, when negotiating trade treaties, policy makers may benefit from the knowledge of culture's impact on competitive advantage when selecting partners. Originality/value: To

Productive and Unproductive Competition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Guerra, Alice; Luppi, Barbara; Parisi, Francesco

Conventional theories of competition classify contests as being either “productive,” when the competitive efforts generate a surplus for society, or “unproductive,” when competition generates no social surplus and merely distributes already existing resources. These two discrete categories of com...... and socially optimal levels of competition in the full range of intermediate cases, as well as in the extremum cases of destructive and super-productive competition.......Conventional theories of competition classify contests as being either “productive,” when the competitive efforts generate a surplus for society, or “unproductive,” when competition generates no social surplus and merely distributes already existing resources. These two discrete categories...... of competition create a division of real-world situations into analytical categories that fails to recognize the entire spectrum of competitive activities. Taking the existing models of productive and unproductive competition as benchmark idealizations, this paper explores the relationship between the privately...

Lyon is preparing the launching of competition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guillot, A.

2005-01-01

In the framework of the 6. national energy sittings, which took place in Grenoble from February 1 to February 3, 2005, A. Guilhot, head of the 'energy management service' of Lyon city, presents in this article a testimony of her experience in energy purchase in the context of opening of energy markets to competition. The approach followed is, first, the creation of a working group gathering all technical directions and services of the city concerned by electricity purchase and cost saving, and a transverse approach with a progressive analysis of each parameter: contracts, tariffs, consumptions, forecasting, invoices, internal procedures etc.. (J.S.)

Mixing, entropy and competition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klimenko, A Y

2012-01-01

Non-traditional thermodynamics, applied to random behaviour associated with turbulence, mixing and competition, is reviewed and analysed. Competitive mixing represents a general framework for the study of generic properties of competitive systems and can be used to model a wide class of non-equilibrium phenomena ranging from turbulent premixed flames and invasion waves to complex competitive systems. We demonstrate consistency of the general principles of competition with thermodynamic description, review and analyse the related entropy concepts and introduce the corresponding competitive H-theorem. A competitive system can be characterized by a thermodynamic quantity—competitive potential—which determines the likely direction of evolution of the system. Contested resources tend to move between systems from lower to higher values of the competitive potential. There is, however, an important difference between conventional thermodynamics and competitive thermodynamics. While conventional thermodynamics is constrained by its zeroth law and is fundamentally transitive, the transitivity of competitive thermodynamics depends on the transitivity of the competition rules. Intransitivities are common in the real world and are responsible for complex behaviour in competitive systems. This work follows ideas and methods that have originated from the analysis of turbulent combustion, but reviews a much broader scope of issues linked to mixing and competition, including thermodynamic characterization of complex competitive systems with self-organization. The approach presented here is interdisciplinary and is addressed to the general educated readers, whereas the mathematical details can be found in the appendices. (comment)

Exercise and disease progression in multiple sclerosis: can exercise slow down the progression of multiple sclerosis?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dalgas, Ulrik; Stenager, Egon

2012-01-01

studies evaluating the effects on clinical outcome measures, (2) cross-sectional studies evaluating the relationship between fitness status and MRI findings, (3) cross-sectional and longitudinal studies evaluating the relationship between exercise/physical activity and disability/relapse rate and, finally......, (4) longitudinal exercise studies applying the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) animal model of MS. Data from intervention studies evaluating disease progression by clinical measures (1) do not support a disease-modifying effect of exercise; however, MRI data (2), patient-reported data...... (3) and data from the EAE model (4) indicate a possible disease-modifying effect of exercise, but the strength of the evidence limits definite conclusions. It was concluded that some evidence supports the possibility of a disease-modifying potential of exercise (or physical activity) in MS patients...

REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AND COMPETITION POLICY. CASE STUDY: EU, ASEAN AND NAFTA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fora Andreea-Florina

2014-07-01

of competition policy at the regional level and there is now considerable progress in this regard.

Competitive biosorption of thorium and uranium by Micrococcus luteus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakajima, A.; Tsuruta, T.

2004-01-01

Eighteen species of bacteria were screened for abilities to adsorb thorium and uranium. High adsorption capacity was observed for thorium by Arthrobacter nicotianae and Micrococcus luteus, and for uranium by Arthrobacter nicotianae. The adsorption of both thorium and uranium by Micrococcus luteus cells was rapid, was affected by the solution pH, and obeyed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm for binary systems in a competitive manner taking the ionic charge of the metal ion into account. The thorium selectivity in the competitive adsorption is assumed to be caused by the faster adsorption and the slower desorption rates of thorium than those of uranium. (author)

The recognition of autism in children with Down syndrome--implications for intervention and some speculations about pathology.

Science.gov (United States)

Howlin, P; Wing, L; Gould, J

1995-05-01

Although autism can occur in conjunction with a range of other conditions, the association with Down syndrome is generally considered to be relatively rare. Four young boys with Down syndrome are described who were also autistic. All children clearly fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for autism required by the ICD-10 or DSM-III-R, but in each case the parents had faced considerable difficulties in obtaining this diagnosis. Instead, the children's problems had been attributed to their cognitive delays, despite the fact that their behaviour and general progress differed from other children with Down syndrome in many important aspects. The implications, for both families and children, of the failure to diagnose autism when it co-occurs with other conditions such as Down syndrome are discussed. Some speculations about possible pathological associations are also presented.

Competitive intelligence: An instrument to enhance South Africa’s competitiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wilma Viviers

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The case for Competitive Intelligence (CI as an instrument that can enhance the competitiveness of South African companies and South Africa as a country is strong. Various global competitive rankings measurements have indicated over a number of years the areas in which competitiveness is lacking. Moreover, these rankings have indicated that South Africa has failed to improve its position year on year. The fact that the world is becoming increasingly competitive for South African entities is undisputed. Coupled with a fluctuating exchange rate and the country’s geographical proximity, this poses unique challenges facing South African managers who have to deal with various regulations and legislative matters. In order to create and sustain an effective knowledge economy and to enhance global competitiveness, South Africa however has to put appropriate strategies/measures in place to stimulate, encourage and grow knowledge practices. Competitive Intelligence (CI as a means of making more sense of the competitive business environment and to identify opportunities and risks in time to act upon can be effectively used as a means to enhance competitiveness. Valuable lessons from successful CI practices in the business sector and government can be learnt from elsewhere in the world. CI should be investigated and adapted for South Africa’s business environment. It is therefore the aim of this article to first attempt to describe the role of CI in enhancing competitiveness, specifically in South Africa and secondly, to stimulate thought on how to secure momentum in enhancing CI as an academic field by developing relevant CI courses as well as demonstrating the value of CI to companies in South Africa through research and collaboration between academics and the private and public sectors.

LncRNA MT1JP functions as a ceRNA in regulating FBXW7 through competitively binding to miR-92a-3p in gastric cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Gang; Li, Shuwei; Lu, Jiafei; Ge, Yuqiu; Wang, Qiaoyan; Ma, Gaoxiang; Zhao, Qinghong; Wu, Dongdong; Gong, Weida; Du, Mulong; Chu, Haiyan; Wang, Meilin; Zhang, Aihua; Zhang, Zhengdong

2018-05-02

Emerging evidence has shown that dysregulation function of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) implicated in gastric cancer (GC). However, the role of the differentially expressed lncRNAs in GC has not fully explained. LncRNA expression profiles were determined by lncRNA microarray in five pairs of normal and GC tissues, further validated in another 75 paired tissues by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Overexpression of lncRNA MT1JP was conducted to assess the effect of MT1JP in vitro and in vivo. The biological functions were demonstrated by luciferase reporter assay, western blotting and rescue experiments. LncRNA MT1JP was significantly lower in GC tissues than adjacent normal tissues, and higher MT1JP was remarkably related to lymph node metastasis and advance stage. Besides, GC patients with higher MT1JP expression had a well survival. Functionally, overexpression of lncRNA MT1JP inhibited cell proliferation, migration, invasion and promoted cell apoptosis in vitro, and inhibited tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. Functional analysis showed that lncRNA MT1JP regulated FBXW7 expression by competitively binding to miR-92a-3p. MiR-92a-3p and down-regulated FBXW7 reversed cell phenotypes caused by lncRNA MT1JP by rescue analysis. MT1JP, a down-regulated lncRNA in GC, was associated with malignant tumor phenotypes and survival of GC. MT1JP regulated the progression of GC by functioning as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) to competitively bind to miR-92a-3p and regulate FBXW7 expression. Our study provided new insight into the post-transcriptional regulation mechanism of lncRNA MT1JP, and suggested that MT1JP may act as a potential therapeutic target and prognosis biomarker for GC.

COMPETITIVENESS THROUGH INFORMATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raluca Daniela RIZEA

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Intelligence competitiveness has already started to build its road in the company’s long term strategies. Nonetheless, business executives continue to look for ways to apply information technology strategically to their businesses. Using information managers manage to communicate, to convey their knowledge about markets, competitors, products, services and operations. Even if data and information are all over there are few amounts of managers that realize the importance of them to the success of the business. This article will review competitive forces and competitive information systems strategies for gaining competitive advantages, explain concepts of value chain, value co-opetition (competition and cooperation, and discuss innovation strategy. Co-opetition is a strategy whereby companies cooperate and compete at the same time with their competitors, complementors (i.e. hardware and software businesses, customers, suppliers. The article discuss an important dimension of information system, identifies competitive advantages and enhancing competitive strategies thought information systems.

Salivary hormones and anxiety in winners and losers of an international judo competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Papacosta, Elena; Nassis, George P; Gleeson, Michael

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the responses of salivary hormones and salivary secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) and anxiety in winners and losers during an international judo competition. Twenty-three trained, male, national-level judo athletes provided three saliva samples during a competition day: morning, in anticipation of competition after an overnight fast, mid-competition, and post-competition within 15 min post-fight for determination of salivary cortisol, salivary testosterone, salivary testosterone/cortisol ratio, SIgA absolute concentrations, SIgA secretion rate and saliva flow rate. The competitive state anxiety inventory questionnaire was completed by the athletes (n = 12) after the first saliva collection for determination of somatic anxiety, cognitive anxiety and self-confidence. Winners were considered 1-3 ranking place (n = 12) and losers (n = 11) below third place in each weight category. Winners presented higher anticipatory salivary cortisol concentrations (p = 0.03) and a lower mid-competition salivary testosterone/cortisol ratio (p = 0.003) compared with losers with no differences for salivary testosterone. Winners tended to have higher SIgA secretion rates (p = 0.07) and higher saliva flow rates (p = 0.009) at mid-competition. Higher levels of cognitive anxiety (p = 0.02) were observed in the winners, without differences according to the outcome in somatic anxiety and self-confidence. The results suggest that winners experienced higher levels of physiological arousal and better psychological preparedness in the morning, and as the competition progressed, the winners were able to control their stress response better.

Putting competition into perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, L. III.

1993-01-01

This paper examines the current level of competition in the electric industry in the context of the history of the industry and the development of electric markets in other counties. The topics of the paper include competition in the history of the American electric industry, the current state of competition, the competitive situation in Texas, competition in other electric markets, and competitive changes in the US market

Strategies for Revitalizing Organizations: Regaining the Competitive Edge

Science.gov (United States)

Nysmith, C. Robert

1987-01-01

During the last decade, the United States has lost competitive stature in the world. Challenged daily by a technically sophisticated and vitalized global economy, industry and Government are examining quality and productivity initiatives with which to meet the foreign competitive challenge. At stake are our quality of life and our standard of living for the remainder of this century and beyond. Being competitive is an ongoing process, tuned to an awareness and understanding of the dynamics of the world marketplace and to the changing nature of the work environment. Solutions to America's quality and productivity problems do not exist independently within any organization or industry or at any given level of society. Success depends on commitment, partnership, meshing of goals and responsibilities, mutual respect and understanding, and a desire to be first. A change in organizational management culture is required. Traditional authoritarian management practices must give way to enlightened leadership initiatives that stress employee involvement and participation. There must be a lessening of adversarial relationships between management and labor and between industry and Government. Quality and productivity are understood to be the end result of an integrated process which begins with vigorous, committed leadership and ends with a satisfied customer. The essential elements in the revitalization process are organized in this report into seven strategies which represent the major findings of the Second NASA Symposium on Quality and Productivity. Each strategy is then broken down into its principal themes which are presented as recommendations. No one strategy can stand apart from any other; all are interrelated and work together.

BMC Ecology image competition 2014: the winning images

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

BMC Ecology showcases the winning entries from its second Ecology Image Competition. More than 300 individual images were submitted from an international array of research scientists, depicting life on every continent on earth. The journal’s Editorial Board and guest judge Caspar Henderson outline why their winning selections demonstrated high levels of technical skill and aesthetic sense in depicting the science of ecology, and we also highlight a small selection of highly commended images that we simply couldn’t let you miss out on. PMID:25178017

Apparatus for servicing a jet pump hold down beam in a nuclear reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Howell, D.A.; Hydeman, J.E.; Slater, J.L.; Bodnar, R.J.; Golick, L.R.; Sckera, R.S.; Roth, C.H. Jr.

1991-01-01

This patent describes an apparatus for replacing the hold down beam of a fluid circulating jet pump mounted in a nuclear reactor, the hold down beam having a beam body, a pair of opposed beam tabs and a pair of opposed beam positioning trunnions extending outwardly from the beam body. It comprises a housing having a lower surface configured to be positionable over the body of the hold down beam; means coupled to the housing for engaging the beam trunnions and securing the beam body against the lower surface of the housing; means coupled to the housing for depressing the beam tabs while the beam body is secured against the lower surface of the housing; means coupled to the trunnion engaging means and the beam tab depressing means for selectively actuating the trunnion engaging means and the beam tab depressing means from a position remote from the nuclear reactor; and means connectable to the housing for selectively changing the directional orientation of the beam

Competitive solvent extraction of alkaline-earth cations into chloroform by lipophilic acyclic polyether dicarboxylic acids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kang, S.I.; Czech, A.; Czech, B.P.; Stewart, L.E.; Bartsch, R.A.

1985-01-01

Competitive solvent extraction of alkaline-earth cations from aqueous solutions into chloroform by a series of lipophilic acyclic polyether dicarboxylic acids is reported. The influence of polyether chain length and of terminal carboxylic acid group variation upon extraction selectivity and efficiency is assessed. In the competitive extraction of concentrated magnesium, calcium, strontium and barium chloride solutions, one complexing agent exhibits pronounced selectivity for barium with Ba 2+ /S 2+ = 50, Ba 2+ /Ca 2+ = 250, and no detectable Mg 2+ extraction. 20 references, 3 figures, 1 table

Experimental Evidence Shows the Importance of Behavioural Plasticity and Body Size under Competition in Waterfowl

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yong; Prins, Herbert H. T.; Versluijs, Martijn; Wessels, Rick; Cao, Lei; de Boer, Willem Frederik

2016-01-01

When differently sized species feed on the same resources, interference competition may occur, which may negatively affect their food intake rate. It is expected that competition between species also alters behaviour and feeding patch selection. To assess these changes in behaviour and patch selection, we applied an experimental approach using captive birds of three differently sized Anatidae species: wigeon (Anas penelope) (~600 g), swan goose (Anser cygnoides) (~2700 g) and bean goose (Anser fabalis) (~3200 g). We quantified the functional response for each species and then recorded their behaviour and patch selection with and without potential competitors, using different species combinations. Our results showed that all three species acquired the highest nitrogen intake at relatively tall swards (6, 9 cm) when foraging in single species flocks in the functional response experiment. Goose species were offered foraging patches differing in sward height with and without competitors, and we tested for the effect of competition on foraging behaviour. The mean percentage of time spent feeding and being vigilant did not change under competition for all species. However, all species utilized strategies that increased their peck rate on patches across different sward heights, resulting in the same instantaneous and nitrogen intake rate. Our results suggest that variation in peck rate over different swards height permits Anatidae herbivores to compensate for the loss of intake under competition, illustrating the importance of behavioural plasticity in heterogeneous environments when competing with other species for resources. PMID:27727315

FIGHT ZONE WITH POINTS OF THE SHOTOKAN KARATE FEMALE COMPETITION

OpenAIRE

Nelson Kautzner Marques Junior

2014-01-01

The objective of the study was to determine the fight zone with point during the female kumite of competition. This study used a quantitative research for identify the fight zone with point (ippon or waza-ari) or not during the female kumite of competition. Were selected on the Internet several championship of kumite of the JKA and of the ITKF. The study detected a high probability of point in the zone 7 and in the zone 2. The study determined that the most points at the corner occurred when ...

Multinationals and Institutional Competitiveness

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hull Kristensen, Peer; Morgan, Glenn

This article discusses how institutional competitiveness and multinationals are mutually enriching concepts. Seen from the perspective of Multinationals, institutional competitiveness becomes expressed at two levels. At the level of corporate HQs institutional competitiveness proves itself...... competitiveness of Liberal Market Economies and Coordinated Markets Economies under the current competitive regime....

Contrasting impacts of competition on ecological and social trait evolution in songbirds.

Science.gov (United States)

Drury, Jonathan P; Tobias, Joseph A; Burns, Kevin J; Mason, Nicholas A; Shultz, Allison J; Morlon, Hélène

2018-01-01

Competition between closely related species has long been viewed as a powerful selective force that drives trait diversification, thereby generating phenotypic diversity over macroevolutionary timescales. However, although the impact of interspecific competition has been documented in a handful of iconic insular radiations, most previous studies have focused on traits involved in resource use, and few have examined the role of competition across large, continental radiations. Thus, the extent to which broad-scale patterns of phenotypic diversity are shaped by competition remain largely unclear, particularly for social traits. Here, we estimate the effect of competition between interacting lineages by applying new phylogenetic models that account for such interactions to an exceptionally complete dataset of resource-use traits and social signaling traits for the entire radiation of tanagers (Aves, Thraupidae), the largest family of songbirds. We find that interspecific competition strongly influences the evolution of traits involved in resource use, with a weaker effect on plumage signals, and very little effect on song. Our results provide compelling evidence that interspecific exploitative competition contributes to ecological trait diversification among coexisting species, even in a large continental radiation. In comparison, signal traits mediating mate choice and social competition seem to diversify under different evolutionary models, including rapid diversification in the allopatric stage of speciation.

The objective is to achieve safe and competitive nuclear power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mattila, L.

1996-01-01

The 440 nuclear power plants in operation in the world today produce nearly one fifth of the world's electricity. Few new nuclear power plants are currently under construction in the West. Among the major factors slowing down the increase of nuclear power are the negative public opinion and the poor competitiveness of large plant units. In contrast, some of the countries in the Far East are busy building new nuclear power plant units. New advanced nuclear power plant types have been under development; the objective is to continue to improve safety and to raise the competitiveness. Increasing attention is also paid to measures extending the service life of the present power plants. Gas-cooled high-temperature reactors and liquid-metal-cooled breeder reactors appear to be promising alternatives. Practical experience of both plant types is available on the prototype level. Considerable sums of public research funds are spent towards the development of fusion technology. It is, however, unrealistic to expect fusion to become an important commercial source of energy before the middle of next century. (orig.) (4 figs.)

THE COMPETITION POLICY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dumitriţa Florea (Ionescu

2012-09-01

2009.The economic development of each community country, of the European Union as a whole isunthinkable without maintaining a functioning competitive environment, fundamental requirement in themarket economy. Moreover, competition is considered as the most important cause of economic andscientific-technical progress.The purpose of the present work is the elucidation of the specific notions attached to competition,competition policy, give-away of the types of competition and the analyze of the existent policies in thedomain of the competition.Leaving from the hypothesis off the specialty literature (reminding here: Ioan Alexandru and theco-workers, Aurelia Cotutin, Dumitru Mazilu, Tudorel Ştefan, Beatrice Grigoriu, such as the relationshipswhich it’s proceed between the participants on the same market with the intention to accomplish somepersonal concerns by the conditions of economic liberty, we try to analyze each type of competition, thecompetition policies, following concomitantly the achievements of the specific nature of the policy in thedomain of competition.The question which it’s shape is if the process of the European integration it’s manage to generatean competition policy materialized in a necessary condition for the existence of the unique internal market.Another problem tackle in this paper-work is the evolution of the competition policy in theEuropean Union bringing close-up the mains international documents which is settle the competition andthose evolution in time. As well, an important bearing represent the European institution whichadministrate the competition policy, an aspect which is debate in the section 3 of this scientific demarche.

Darwin's invisible hand: Market competition, evolution and the firm

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Johnson, D. D. P.; Price, M. E.; van Vugt, M.

2013-01-01

Competition among firms has been suggested to reflect the ruthless logic of Darwinian selection: a free market is a struggle for survival, in which successful firms survive and unsuccessful ones die. This view appears to bolster three pillars of neoclassical economics: (1) that economic actors are

Social structure affects mating competition in a damselfish

Science.gov (United States)

Wacker, Sebastian; Ness, Miriam Horstad; Östlund-Nilsson, Sara; Amundsen, Trond

2017-12-01

The strength of mating competition and sexual selection varies over space and time in many animals. Such variation is typically driven by ecological and demographic factors, including adult sex ratio and consequent availability of mates. The spatial scale at which demographic factors affect mating competition and sexual selection may vary but is not often investigated. Here, we analyse variation in size and sex ratio of social groups, and how group structure affects mating competition, in the site-attached damselfish Chrysiptera cyanea. Site-attached reef fishes are known to show extensive intraspecific variation in social structure. Previous work has focused on species for which the size and dynamics of social groups are constrained by habitat, whereas species with group structure unconstrained by habitat have received little attention. Chrysiptera cyanea is such a species, with individuals occurring in spatial clusters that varied widely in size and sex ratio. Typically, only one male defended a nest in multi-male groups. Nest-holding males were frequently visited by mate-searching females, with more visits in groups with more females, suggesting that courtship and mating mostly occur within groups and that male mating success depends on the number of females in the group. Male-male aggression was frequent in multi-male groups but absent in single-male groups. These findings demonstrate that groups are distinct social units. In consequence, the dynamics of mating and reproduction are mainly a result of group structure, largely unaffected short term by overall population demography which would be important in open social systems. Future studies of the C. cyanea model system should analyse longer-term dynamics, including how groups are formed, how they vary in relation to density and time of season and how social structure affects sexual selection.

Distinct patterns of brain activity characterise lexical activation and competition in spoken word production.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vitória Piai

Full Text Available According to a prominent theory of language production, concepts activate multiple associated words in memory, which enter into competition for selection. However, only a few electrophysiological studies have identified brain responses reflecting competition. Here, we report a magnetoencephalography study in which the activation of competing words was manipulated by presenting pictures (e.g., dog with distractor words. The distractor and picture name were semantically related (cat, unrelated (pin, or identical (dog. Related distractors are stronger competitors to the picture name because they receive additional activation from the picture relative to other distractors. Picture naming times were longer with related than unrelated and identical distractors. Phase-locked and non-phase-locked activity were distinct but temporally related. Phase-locked activity in left temporal cortex, peaking at 400 ms, was larger on unrelated than related and identical trials, suggesting differential activation of alternative words by the picture-word stimuli. Non-phase-locked activity between roughly 350-650 ms (4-10 Hz in left superior frontal gyrus was larger on related than unrelated and identical trials, suggesting differential resolution of the competition among the alternatives, as reflected in the naming times. These findings characterise distinct patterns of activity associated with lexical activation and competition, supporting the theory that words are selected by competition.

High throughput automated microbial bioreactor system used for clone selection and rapid scale-down process optimization.

Science.gov (United States)

Velez-Suberbie, M Lourdes; Betts, John P J; Walker, Kelly L; Robinson, Colin; Zoro, Barney; Keshavarz-Moore, Eli

2018-01-01

High throughput automated fermentation systems have become a useful tool in early bioprocess development. In this study, we investigated a 24 x 15 mL single use microbioreactor system, ambr 15f, designed for microbial culture. We compared the fed-batch growth and production capabilities of this system for two Escherichia coli strains, BL21 (DE3) and MC4100, and two industrially relevant molecules, hGH and scFv. In addition, different carbon sources were tested using bolus, linear or exponential feeding strategies, showing the capacity of the ambr 15f system to handle automated feeding. We used power per unit volume (P/V) as a scale criterion to compare the ambr 15f with 1 L stirred bioreactors which were previously scaled-up to 20 L with a different biological system, thus showing a potential 1,300 fold scale comparability in terms of both growth and product yield. By exposing the cells grown in the ambr 15f system to a level of shear expected in an industrial centrifuge, we determined that the cells are as robust as those from a bench scale bioreactor. These results provide evidence that the ambr 15f system is an efficient high throughput microbial system that can be used for strain and molecule selection as well as rapid scale-up. © 2017 The Authors Biotechnology Progress published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 34:58-68, 2018. © 2017 The Authors Biotechnology Progress published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Shale gas: how to progress. Report July 2014

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clamadieu, Jean-Pierre; Aubagnac, Louis-Paul; Dolle, Julie; Lahet, Jean-Francois; Goffe, Bruno; Le Bihan-Graf, Christine; Rosenblieh, Laure; Puyfaucher, Laetitia

2014-07-01

This report proposes a multidisciplinary contribution to the debate on shale gas. It first shows that shale gas is already a reality at the international level, that the American economy has improved its competitiveness with direct consequences for the European economy, and notices that some countries which have been reluctant until now, are now evolving. The second part describes the potential of shale gas in France as important but with still uncertain resources. The authors outline that a status-quo would be a threat for the French industry on the short term. Then, the report proposes answers to some questions raised by the exploitation of shale gas in France in terms of risks related to hydraulic fracturing, to water resources, to methane emissions, to organic volatile compounds present in drilling waters, or in terms of noise and visual pollutions. In its last part, the report discusses how to progress in the assessment of the role of shale gas in the French and European energy mix, in the knowledge of the French underground, in the development of shale gas at the service of competitiveness, and with an ensured progressive and controlled evolution

A Hold-down Margin Assessment using Statistical Method for the PWR Fuel Assembly

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeon, S. Y.; Park, N. K.; Lee, K. S.; Kim, H. K.

2007-01-01

The hold-down springs provide an acceptable hold down force against hydraulic uplift force absorbing the length change of the fuel assembly relative to the space between the upper and lower core plates in PWR. These length changes are mainly due to the thermal expansion, irradiation growth and creep down of the fuel assemblies. There are two kinds of hold-down springs depending on the different design concept of the reactor internals of the PWR in Korea, one is a leaf-type hold down spring for Westinghouse type plants and the other is a coil-type hold-down spring for OPR1000 (Optimized Power Reactor 1000). There are four sets of hold-down springs in each fuel assembly for leaf type hold-down spring and each set of the hold-down springs consists of multiple tapered leaves to form a cantilever leaf spring set. The length, width and thickness of the spring leaves are selected to provide the desired spring constant, deflection range, and hold down force. There are four coil springs in each fuel assembly for coil-type hold-down spring. In this study, the hold-down forces and margins were calculated for the leaf-type and coil-type hold-down springs considering geometrical data of the fuel assembly and its components, length changes of the fuel assembly due to thermal expansion, irradiation growth, creep, and irradiation relaxation. The hold-down spring forces were calculated deterministically and statistically to investigate the benefit of the statistical calculation method in view of hold-down margin. The Monte-Carlo simulation method was used for the statistical hold down force calculation

Information technology as a key enabler in preparing for competition: ComEd's Kincaid Generating Station, a work in progress

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borth, F.C. III; Thompson, J.W.; Mishaga, J.M.

1996-01-01

Through ComEd Fossil (Generating) Division's Competitive Action Plan (CAP) evaluation changes have been identified which are necessary to improve generating station performance. These changes are intended to improve both station reliability and financial margins, and are essential for stations to be successful in a competitive marketplace. Plant upgrades, advanced equipment stewardship, and personnel reductions have been identified as necessary steps in achieving industry leadership and competitive advantage. To deal effectively with plant systems and contend in the competitive marketplace Information Technology (IT) solutions to business problems are being developed. Data acquisition, storage, and retrieval are being automated through use of state-of-the-art Data Historians. Total plant, high resolution, long term process information will be accessed through Local/Wide Area Networks (LAN/WAN) connections from desktop PC's. Generating unit Thermal Performance Monitors accessing the Data Historian will analyze plant and system performance enabling reductions in operating costs, and improvements in process control. As inputs to proactive maintenance toolsets this data allows anticipation of equipment service needs, advanced service scheduling, and cost/benefit analysis. The ultimate goal is to optimize repair needs with revenue generation. Advanced applications building upon these foundations will bring knowledge of the costs associated with all the products a generating station offers its customer(s). An overall design philosophy along with preliminary results is presented; these results include shortfalls, lessons learned, and future options

Correlated responses in tissue weights measured in vivo by computer tomography in Dorset Down sheep selected for lean tissue growth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nsoso, S.J.; Young, M.J.; Beatson, P.R.

2003-01-01

The aim of this study was to estimate correlated responses in lean, fat and bone weights in vivo in Dorset Down sheep selected for lean tissue growth. Over the period 1986-1992 inclusive, the lean tissue growth line had been selected using two economic indices for an increased aggregate breeding value incorporating predicted lean and fat weights with positive and negative economic weightings, respectively. The control line was selected for no change in lean tissue growth each year. Animals were born and run on pasture all year round. X-ray computer tomography was used to estimate the weights of lean, fat and bone in vivo in the 1994-born sheep, aged 265-274 days and selected randomly into 12 rams and 12 ewes from the selected line and 10 rams and 9 ewes from the control line. The lean tissue growth line had significantly greater responses in lean weight (+0.65 + 0.10 kg) and lean percentage (+1.19 + 0.17%) and significantly lesser fat weight (-0.36 + 0.08 kg) and fat percentage (-1.88 + 0.20%) compared to the control line. There was a significant increase in bone weight (+0.27 + 0.03 kg) and bone percentage (+0.69 + 0.09%) in the lean tissue growth line compared to the control line. Responses differed significantly between sexes of the lean tissue growth line, rams having a greater response in weight of lean (+1.22 + 0.20 vs. +0.08 + 0.22 kg) and bone (+0.45 + 0.06 vs. +0.09 + 0.07 kg), and a lesser response in weight of fat (-0.03 + 0.15 vs. -0.70 + 0.16 kg) than the ewes. Selection led to significant changes in lean (increase) and fat weights (decrease), and bone weight increased. Although responses in the lean tissue growth line differed significantly between sexes, there were confounding factors due to differences in management and lack of comparison at equal stage of development. Therefore, to assess real genetic differences further studies should be conducted taking these factors into consideration

Color polymorphism and intrasexual competition in assemblages of cichlid fish

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijkstra, Peter; Hemelrijk, Charlotte; Seehausen, Ole; Groothuis, Ton G.G.

2009-01-01

The origin and maintenance of phenotypic polymorphisms is a classical problem in evolutionary ecology. Aggressive male-male competition can be a source of negative frequency-dependent selection stabilizing phenotypic polymorphisms when aggression is biased toward the own morph. We studied

Age-Related Neurodegeneration and Memory Loss in Down Syndrome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jason P. Lockrow

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Down syndrome (DS is a condition where a complete or segmental chromosome 21 trisomy causes variable intellectual disability, and progressive memory loss and neurodegeneration with age. Many research groups have examined development of the brain in DS individuals, but studies on age-related changes should also be considered, with the increased lifespan observed in DS. DS leads to pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD by 40 or 50 years of age. Progressive age-related memory deficits occurring in both AD and in DS have been connected to degeneration of several neuronal populations, but mechanisms are not fully elucidated. Inflammation and oxidative stress are early events in DS pathology, and focusing on these pathways may lead to development of successful intervention strategies for AD associated with DS. Here we discuss recent findings and potential treatment avenues regarding development of AD neuropathology and memory loss in DS.

Kin Selection in the RNA World.

Science.gov (United States)

Levin, Samuel R; West, Stuart A

2017-12-05

Various steps in the RNA world required cooperation. Why did life's first inhabitants, from polymerases to synthetases, cooperate? We develop kin selection models of the RNA world to answer these questions. We develop a very simple model of RNA cooperation and then elaborate it to model three relevant issues in RNA biology: (1) whether cooperative RNAs receive the benefits of cooperation; (2) the scale of competition in RNA populations; and (3) explicit replicator diffusion and survival. We show: (1) that RNAs are likely to express partial cooperation; (2) that RNAs will need mechanisms for overcoming local competition; and (3) in a specific example of RNA cooperation, persistence after replication and offspring diffusion allow for cooperation to overcome competition. More generally, we show how kin selection can unify previously disparate answers to the question of RNA world cooperation.

Identification of hemoglobin variants by top-down mass spectrometry using selected diagnostic product ions.

Science.gov (United States)

Coelho Graça, Didia; Hartmer, Ralf; Jabs, Wolfgang; Beris, Photis; Clerici, Lorella; Stoermer, Carsten; Samii, Kaveh; Hochstrasser, Denis; Tsybin, Yury O; Scherl, Alexander; Lescuyer, Pierre

2015-04-01

Hemoglobin disorder diagnosis is a complex procedure combining several analytical steps. Due to the lack of specificity of the currently used protein analysis methods, the identification of uncommon hemoglobin variants (proteoforms) can become a hard task to accomplish. The aim of this work was to develop a mass spectrometry-based approach to quickly identify mutated protein sequences within globin chain variants. To reach this goal, a top-down electron transfer dissociation mass spectrometry method was developed for hemoglobin β chain analysis. A diagnostic product ion list was established with a color code strategy allowing to quickly and specifically localize a mutation in the hemoglobin β chain sequence. The method was applied to the analysis of rare hemoglobin β chain variants and an (A)γ-β fusion protein. The results showed that the developed data analysis process allows fast and reliable interpretation of top-down electron transfer dissociation mass spectra by nonexpert users in the clinical area.

Progress and future of a cashmere industry in South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Braun, AL

1998-10-01

Full Text Available This paper reports on the progress that has been made with the utilisation and promotion of fine down (cashmere type) fibre production from indigenous goat breeds in South Africa and on the results obtained on samples received during the past two...

Pacing and sprint performance in speed skating during a competitive season.

Science.gov (United States)

Muehlbauer, Thomas; Schindler, Christian; Panzer, Stefan

2010-06-01

This study assessed the effect of time spent in several race sectors (S) on finishing time and determined the variance in distribution of skating time and in total race time for official 1000-m sprint races conducted during a competitive season. Total race and sector times for the first 200 m (S1) and the following two 400-m laps (S2 and S3) of 34 female and 31 male elite speed skaters performed during a series of World Cup Meetings were analyzed. Overall, skaters started fast, reached their peak in S2, and slowed down in S3, irrespective of race category considered (eg, rank of athlete, number of race, altitude of rink, starting lane). Regression analyses revealed that spending a shorter fraction of time in the last (women in S3: B = 239.1; P < .0001; men in S3: B = 201.5; P < .0001) but not in the first (women in S1: B = -313.1; P < .0001; men in S1: B = -345.6; P < .0001) race sector is associated with a short total race time. Upper- compared with lower-ranked skaters varied less in competition-to-competition sector and total race times (women: 0.02 to 0.33 vs 0.02 to 0.51; men: 0.01 to 0.15 vs 0.02 to 0.57). This study confirmed that skaters adopted a fast start pacing strategy during official 1000-m sprint races. However, analyses indicate that shortening time in the closing but not in the starting sector is beneficial for finishing fast. In addition, findings suggest that lower-ranked skaters should concentrate training on lowering their competition-to-competition variability in sector times.

Exercise-training intervention studies in competitive swimming.

Science.gov (United States)

Aspenes, Stian Thoresen; Karlsen, Trine

2012-06-01

Competitive swimming has a long history and is currently one of the largest Olympic sports, with 16 pool events. Several aspects separate swimming from most other sports such as (i) the prone position; (ii) simultaneous use of arms and legs for propulsion; (iii) water immersion (i.e. hydrostatic pressure on thorax and controlled respiration); (iv) propulsive forces that are applied against a fluctuant element; and (v) minimal influence of equipment on performance. Competitive swimmers are suggested to have specific anthropometrical features compared with other athletes, but are nevertheless dependent on physiological adaptations to enhance their performance. Swimmers thus engage in large volumes of training in the pool and on dry land. Strength training of various forms is widely used, and the energetic systems are addressed by aerobic and anaerobic swimming training. The aim of the current review was to report results from controlled exercise training trials within competitive swimming. From a structured literature search we found 17 controlled intervention studies that covered strength or resistance training, assisted sprint swimming, arms-only training, leg-kick training, respiratory muscle training, training the energy delivery systems and combined interventions across the aforementioned categories. Nine of the included studies were randomized controlled trials. Among the included studies we found indications that heavy strength training on dry land (one to five repetitions maximum with pull-downs for three sets with maximal effort in the concentric phase) or sprint swimming with resistance towards propulsion (maximal pushing with the arms against fixed points or pulling a perforated bowl) may be efficient for enhanced performance, and may also possibly have positive effects on stroke mechanics. The largest effect size (ES) on swimming performance was found in 50 m freestyle after a dry-land strength training regimen of maximum six repetitions across three

Overemphasis on Perfectly Competitive Markets in Microeconomics Principles Textbooks

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Roderick; Myatt, Anthony

2007-01-01

Microeconomic principles courses focus on perfectly competitive markets far more than other market structures. The authors examine five possible reasons for this but find none of them sufficiently compelling. They conclude that textbook authors should place more emphasis on how economists select appropriate models and test models' predictions…

Anomalous brain functional connectivity contributing to poor adaptive behavior in Down syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Pujol, Jesus; del Hoyo, Laura; Blanco-Hinojo, Laura; de Sola, Susana; Macià, Dídac; Martínez-Vilavella, Gerard; Amor, Marta; Deus, Joan; Rodríguez, Joan; Farré, Magí; Dierssen, Mara; de la Torre, Rafael

2015-03-01

Research in Down syndrome has substantially progressed in the understanding of the effect of gene overexpression at the molecular level, but there is a paucity of information on the ultimate consequences on overall brain functional organization. We have assessed the brain functional status in Down syndrome using functional connectivity MRI. Resting-state whole-brain connectivity degree maps were generated in 20 Down syndrome individuals and 20 control subjects to identify sites showing anomalous synchrony with other areas. A subsequent region-of-interest mapping served to detail the anomalies and to assess their potential contribution to poor adaptive behavior. Down syndrome individuals showed higher regional connectivity in a ventral brain system involving the amygdala/anterior temporal region and the ventral aspect of both the anterior cingulate and frontal cortices. By contrast, lower functional connectivity was identified in dorsal executive networks involving dorsal prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices and posterior insula. Both functional connectivity increases and decreases contributed to account for patient scoring on adaptive behavior related to communication skills. The data overall suggest a distinctive functional organization with system-specific anomalies associated with reduced adaptive efficiency. Opposite effects were identified on distinct frontal and anterior temporal structures and relative sparing of posterior brain areas, which is generally consistent with Down syndrome cognitive profile. Relevantly, measurable connectivity changes, as a marker of the brain functional anomaly, could have a role in the development of therapeutic strategies addressed to improve the quality of life in Down syndrome individuals. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exploring an Age Difference in Preschool Children's Competitiveness Following a Competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Yu; Zhu, Yi

2018-01-01

Literature suggests that resource acquisition compels competition in young children. However, little is still known about the development of preschool children's competitiveness. In this preliminary study, 166 children (aged 2-4 and 5-6 years) engaged in a dyadic competition which resulted in a winning and a losing group (in a control/non-competition group, participants engaged in a similar task which did not lead to winning/losing outcome), and then experimenters tracked their decisions to compete again with a rival (i.e., an individual they interacted in the previous competition task) and a non-rival competitor (i.e., an anonymous classmate they did not interact in the previous competition task) for a reward, respectively. As expected, results showed an age-related decreasing trend in the percentage of choices to compete with a competitor. However, this age difference was only significant in the control group when participants played with the partner with whom they interacted in the previous game and in the losing group when participants competed with a non-rival competitor. This study contributes to our knowledge of how competitiveness develop in preschool childhood, and calls for further research on the roles of motivation and cognitive control in children's competitiveness.

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF THE EASTERN-EUROPEAN AUTO SECTOR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lucian-Ovidiu CINADE

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Car-building industry territorial reconfiguration in Europe is the result of several rounds of company delocations from origin countries to emergent countries. Such rounds have been limited by the gradual opening of the national countries, as well as by changes in East European ideology and politics. Hence, about the end of the 90’s, European car-building industry shows considerable disparity, East to West. In the car-building companies’ vision, East-European car-building development potential is basically sustained by both the car low penetration rate, and the low labor cost. On the long term run, gradual valorizing of the East-european trading, with increasing labor costs, may read as a wearing thin of the competitive advantage in car-building industries, as well as problem issues of novel territory attractiveness needing permanent boosting. Country-to-country comparative analysis indicates that competitive advantage of car-building has not gone down in all of the West-European States. Competitive advantage of the West-European car-building industry increases, which can be explained, in part, by adequate strategies, as both labor costs, and cars penetration rate, go up.

The effect of swimming on oral health status: competitive versus non-competitive athletes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simonetta D’ERCOLE

2016-04-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Young swimmers are particularly susceptible to the onset of oral diseases. Objective To evaluate the oral health status in young competitive and non-competitive swimmers, involving an assessment of salivary cariogenic bacteria and secretory IgA (S-IgA concentration. Material and Methods Before training sessions (T1, 54 competitive and 69 non-competitive swimmers had the following parameters assessed: decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT, Plaque Index (PlI, and Gingival Index (GI. At T1 and after training sessions (T2, stimulated saliva was collected and microbiological and immunological analyses were performed. Results Competitive swimmers trained 2.02±0.09 hours 5 times a week, while non-competitive swimmers trained 2.03±0.18 hours a week. A total of 14.7% of competitive swimmers suffered dental trauma related to sports. Only 11.76% of the competitive swimmers took a daily dose of fluoride, against 32.65% of non-competitive swimmers (p=0.029. Neither group followed an established diet or presented statistically significant differences in terms of nutritional supplement drink and chocolate intake. There were statistically significant differences in terms of oral hygiene. No significant difference in clinical indexes (DMFT, PlI, and GI was present. S. mutans was harbored by 18.6% of competitive and the 32.2% of non-competitive swimmers. S. sobrinus was detected in 22.03% of competitive and 91.6% of non-competitive swimmers (p<0.05. S. sanguinis was found only in the saliva of competitive swimmers. The average S-IgA of competitive swimmers decreased significantly at T2 (p<0.05. The pool water had a daily average pH of 7.22. Conclusions Microbial markers, immune status and sporting characteristics are important for establishing guidelines for management of training load in order to minimize physical stress and the risk of oral infection.

Stroop Interference in a Delayed Match-to-Sample Task: Evidence for Semantic Competition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bradley R. Sturz

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Discussions of the source of the Stroop interference effect continue to pervade the literature. Semantic competition posits that interference results from competing semantic activation of word and color dimensions of the stimulus prior to response selection. Response competition posits that interference results from competing responses for articulating the word dimension versus the color dimension at the time of response selection. We embedded Stroop stimuli into a delayed match-to-sample task in an attempt to test semantic and response competition accounts of the interference effect. Participants viewed a sample color word in black or colored fonts that were congruent or incongruent with respect to the color word itself. After a 5s delay, participants were presented with two targets (i.e., a match and a foil and were instructed to select the correct match. We probed each dimension independently during target presentations via color targets (i.e., two colors or word targets (i.e., two words and manipulated whether the semantic content of the foil was related to the semantic content of the irrelevant sample dimension (e.g., word sample red in blue font with the word red as the match and the word blue as the foil. We provide evidence for Stroop interference such that response times increased for incongruent trials even in the presence of a response option with semantic content unrelated to the semantic content of the irrelevant sample dimension. Accuracy also deteriorated during the related foil trials. A follow-up experiment with a 10s delay between sample and targets replicated the results. Results appear to provide converging evidence for Stroop interference in a delayed match-to-sample task in a manner that is consistent with an explanation based upon semantic competition and inconsistent with an explanation based upon response competition.

Dining atmospherics and food and service quality as predictors of customer satisfaction at sit-down restaurants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Petzer

2014-01-01

Full Text Available South African sit-down restaurants operate in a fiercely competitive environment and customer satisfaction has proven critical for survival in this and other service industries. A satisfied customer spreads positive word-of-mouth, returns, and contributes to profitability. Extant literature indicates that customer satisfaction is in turn impacted by product and service quality, and also by the atmospheric elements present in the servicescape. It is, however, important to determine the extent to which food and service quality and dining atmospherics predict customer satisfaction within a South African sitdown restaurant context before restaurateurs embark on marketing strategies to enhance these aspects to cultivate customer satisfaction. The study therefore measures these constructs and determines the extent to which they predict customer satisfaction. The study is quantitative and descriptive in nature. Data was collected through self-administered questionnaires from 250 sit-down restaurant diners in urban areas of South Africa’s North-West Province. The results indicate that respondents’ perceptions of food and service quality are significant predictors of customer satisfaction at sit-down restaurants. Respondents’ perceptions of dining atmospherics also predict customer satisfaction when food and service quality are controlled. The article provides recommendations on how dining atmospherics, food quality and service quality can be enhanced to improve customer satisfaction at sit-down restaurants.

Perspectives for long-term competition in the central European electricity market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haas, Reinhard

2005-01-01

In this paper we focus on the Central European electricity market and analyse whether liberalization, deregulation, and privatization are sufficient to bring about real competition. Moreover, we discuss the relevance of the following conditions to bring about real competition and to avoid market power: 1) A rigorous correct un bundling; 2) excess capacities in transmission; 3) excess capacities in generation; 4) a large number of generators and suppliers; 5) the balanced existence of short-term (e.g. spot markets) and long-term markets (e.g. bilateral contracts, forwards); 6) full liberalization; Some major findings of this analysis are: 1) Currently, demand is continuously increasing while capacities are shut down. At least in 2009 demand will have caught up with generation capacities. This could lead to severe price spikes. 2) The Central European electricity market is separated from other markets by means of limited transmission capacities; 3) With respect to effective competition in Central Europe the major problems are: i) a very small (and continuously decreasing) number of generators, and ii) a lack of serious un bundling between generation and transmission mainly in Germany; This leads to cross-subsidization of generation by the network operation and to a heavy discrimination of other and new generators; 4) Moreover, a crucial condition for active competition is a sufficiently large transmission grid. Yet, currently especially at the border to the new EU member countries transmission capacities are rather scarce and there are no signs of extensions of the grid. This also limits the access of countries with potential excess capacities like Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania to the Central European market The major conclusion of this analysis is: All conditions investigated above must be fulfilled simultaneously to bring about a competitive electricity market in Western Europe and the extended European Union. If only one of these conditions is missing, competition

Competitive Liner Shipping Network Design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karsten, Christian Vad; Brouer, Berit Dangaard; Pisinger, David

2017-01-01

We present a solution method for the liner shipping network design problem which is a core strategic planning problem faced by container carriers. We propose the first practical algorithm which explicitly handles transshipment time limits for all demands. Individual sailing speeds at each service...... leg are used to balance sailing speed against operational costs, hence ensuring that the found network is competitive on both transit time and cost. We present a matheuristic for the problem where a MIP is used to select which ports should be inserted or removed on a route. Computational results...

Competitive Liner Shipping Network Design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karsten, Christian Vad; Brouer, Berit Dangaard; Pisinger, David

We present a solution method for the liner shipping network design problem which is a core strategic planning problem faced by container carriers. We propose the first practical algorithm which explicitly handles transshipment time limits for all demands. Individual sailing speeds at each service...... leg are used to balance sailings speed against operational costs, hence ensuring that the found network is competitive on both transit time and cost. We present a matheuristic for the problem where a MIP is used to select which ports should be inserted or removed on a route. Computational results...

Criteria of assessment of short track runners’ prospects as mean of promising sportsmen losses’ prevention at selection stage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S.A. Kugayevskiy

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: to offer main criteria for assessment of short track runners’ prospects. Material: 8 sportsmen of short track Ukrainian national team participated in the research. Influence of training means’ volume on result, shown on competition distance, was determined. Both organism’s functional and reserve potentials were assessed with the help of computer program D&K-test. Results: we have determined priority of functional indicators in selection of short track runners and for assessment of their prospects. Sportsman’s potentials shall be assessed on the base of functional fitness indicators, analysis of competition practice and training process data of pervious stage of sport perfection. Conclusions: individualization of training process, considering physiological characteristics of definite sportsman, will permit to completely open the embedded potential. Absence of sportsman’s progress with prominent functional system’s characteristics points at demand in correction of training program for his sportsman.

A Choice Prediction Competition for Market Entry Games: An Introduction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ido Erev

2010-05-01

Full Text Available A choice prediction competition is organized that focuses on decisions from experience in market entry games (http://sites.google.com/site/gpredcomp/ and http://www.mdpi.com/si/games/predict-behavior/. The competition is based on two experiments: An estimation experiment, and a competition experiment. The two experiments use the same methods and subject pool, and examine games randomly selected from the same distribution. The current introductory paper presents the results of the estimation experiment, and clarifies the descriptive value of several baseline models. The experimental results reveal the robustness of eight behavioral tendencies that were documented in previous studies of market entry games and individual decisions from experience. The best baseline model (I-SAW assumes reliance on small samples of experiences, and strong inertia when the recent results are not surprising. The competition experiment will be run in May 2010 (after the completion of this introduction, but they will not be revealed until September. To participate in the competition, researchers are asked to E-mail the organizers models (implemented in computer programs that read the incentive structure as input, and derive the predicted behavior as an output. The submitted models will be ranked based on their prediction error. The winners of the competition will be invited to publish a paper that describes their model.

Evolution of National University Students' Optical-Science-Technology competition in China

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xu; Liu, XiangDong; Wang, XiaoPing; Zheng, XiaoDong; Lin, YuanFang; Wang, Kaiwei

2017-08-01

The goal of National University Students' Optical-Science-Technology Competition (NUSOSTC) is to provide a nation-wide platform for students from the colleges and universities, which have majors in the field of optics and photonics, to communicate and learning each other. Meanwhile, it works on pushing forward the popularity of optoelectronic knowledge, cultivating the students' teamwork and innovation ability, promoting higher education personnel training mode and practice teaching reform, and then improving the quality of talent training. The founding, organizational structure development and overall organizational arrangements of NUSOSTC were introduced in this paper. Besides, the competition logo, theme, title, final date, numbers of participating universities, undertaking universities and cities of the five NUSOSTCs held during 2008 to 2016 and the progress had been made were given in detail.

A comprehensive comparison of perpendicular distance sampling methods for sampling downed coarse woody debris

Science.gov (United States)

Jeffrey H. Gove; Mark J. Ducey; Harry T. Valentine; Michael S. Williams

2013-01-01

Many new methods for sampling down coarse woody debris have been proposed in the last dozen or so years. One of the most promising in terms of field application, perpendicular distance sampling (PDS), has several variants that have been progressively introduced in the literature. In this study, we provide an overview of the different PDS variants and comprehensive...

CHL1 is involved in human breast tumorigenesis and progression

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

He, Li-Hong [Medical Department of Breast Oncology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin (China); Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer Prevention and Treatment of the Ministry of Education, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin (China); Ma, Qin [Department of Oncology, The General Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin (China); Shi, Ye-Hui [Medical Department of Breast Oncology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin (China); Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer Prevention and Treatment of the Ministry of Education, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin (China); Ge, Jie; Zhao, Hong-Meng [Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer Prevention and Treatment of the Ministry of Education, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin (China); Breast Surgery, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin (China); Li, Shu-Fen [Medical Department of Breast Oncology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin (China); Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer Prevention and Treatment of the Ministry of Education, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin (China); Tong, Zhong-Sheng, E-mail: 83352162@qq.com [Medical Department of Breast Oncology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin (China); Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer Prevention and Treatment of the Ministry of Education, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin (China)

2013-08-23

Highlights: •CHL1 is down-regulation in breast cancer tissues. •Down-regulation of CHL1 is related to high grade. •Overexpression of CHL1 inhibits breast cancer cell proliferation and invasion in vitro. •CHL1 deficiency induces breast cancer cell proliferation and invasion both in vitro and in vivo. -- Abstract: Neural cell adhesion molecules (CAM) play important roles in the development and regeneration of the nervous system. The L1 family of CAMs is comprised of L1, Close Homolog of L1 (CHL1, L1CAM2), NrCAM, and Neurofascin, which are structurally related trans-membrane proteins in vertebrates. Although the L1CAM has been demonstrated play important role in carcinogenesis and progression, the function of CHL1 in human breast cancer is limited. Here, we found that CHL1 is down-regulated in human breast cancer and related to lower grade. Furthermore, overexpression of CHL1 suppresses proliferation and invasion in MDA-MB-231 cells and knockdown of CHL1 expression results in increased proliferation and invasion in MCF7 cells in vitro. Finally, CHL1 deficiency promotes tumor formation in vivo. Our results may provide a strategy for blocking breast carcinogenesis and progression.

CHL1 is involved in human breast tumorigenesis and progression

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

He, Li-Hong; Ma, Qin; Shi, Ye-Hui; Ge, Jie; Zhao, Hong-Meng; Li, Shu-Fen; Tong, Zhong-Sheng

2013-01-01

Highlights: •CHL1 is down-regulation in breast cancer tissues. •Down-regulation of CHL1 is related to high grade. •Overexpression of CHL1 inhibits breast cancer cell proliferation and invasion in vitro. •CHL1 deficiency induces breast cancer cell proliferation and invasion both in vitro and in vivo. -- Abstract: Neural cell adhesion molecules (CAM) play important roles in the development and regeneration of the nervous system. The L1 family of CAMs is comprised of L1, Close Homolog of L1 (CHL1, L1CAM2), NrCAM, and Neurofascin, which are structurally related trans-membrane proteins in vertebrates. Although the L1CAM has been demonstrated play important role in carcinogenesis and progression, the function of CHL1 in human breast cancer is limited. Here, we found that CHL1 is down-regulated in human breast cancer and related to lower grade. Furthermore, overexpression of CHL1 suppresses proliferation and invasion in MDA-MB-231 cells and knockdown of CHL1 expression results in increased proliferation and invasion in MCF7 cells in vitro. Finally, CHL1 deficiency promotes tumor formation in vivo. Our results may provide a strategy for blocking breast carcinogenesis and progression

Competition-colonization trade-offs, competitive uncertainty, and the evolutionary assembly of species.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pradeep Pillai

Full Text Available We utilize a standard competition-colonization metapopulation model in order to study the evolutionary assembly of species. Based on earlier work showing how models assuming strict competitive hierarchies will likely lead to runaway evolution and self-extinction for all species, we adopt a continuous competition function that allows for levels of uncertainty in the outcome of competition. We then, by extending the standard patch-dynamic metapopulation model in order to include evolutionary dynamics, allow for the coevolution of species into stable communities composed of species with distinct limiting similarities. Runaway evolution towards stochastic extinction then becomes a limiting case controlled by the level of competitive uncertainty. We demonstrate how intermediate competitive uncertainty maximizes the equilibrium species richness as well as maximizes the adaptive radiation and self-assembly of species under adaptive dynamics with mutations of non-negligible size. By reconciling competition-colonization tradeoff theory with co-evolutionary dynamics, our results reveal the importance of intermediate levels of competitive uncertainty for the evolutionary assembly of species.

Structural basis of subunit selectivity for competitive NMDA receptor antagonists with preference for GluN2A over GluN2B subunits

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lind, Genevieve E.; Mou, Tung-Chung; Tamborini, Lucia; Pomper, Martin G.; De Micheli, Carlo; Conti, Paola; Pinto, Andrea; Hansen, Kasper B. (JHU); (Milan); (Montana)

2017-07-31

NMDA-type glutamate receptors are ligand-gated ion channels that contribute to excitatory neurotransmission in the central nervous system (CNS). Most NMDA receptors comprise two glycine-binding GluN1 and two glutamate-binding GluN2 subunits (GluN2A–D). We describe highly potent (S)-5-[(R)-2-amino-2-carboxyethyl]-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazole-3-carboxylic acid (ACEPC) competitive GluN2 antagonists, of which ST3 has a binding affinity of 52 nM at GluN1/2A and 782 nM at GluN1/2B receptors. This 15-fold preference of ST3 for GluN1/2A over GluN1/2B is improved compared with NVP-AAM077, a widely used GluN2A-selective antagonist, which we show has 11-fold preference for GluN1/2A over GluN1/2B. Crystal structures of the GluN1/2A agonist binding domain (ABD) heterodimer with bound ACEPC antagonists reveal a binding mode in which the ligands occupy a cavity that extends toward the subunit interface between GluN1 and GluN2A ABDs. Mutational analyses show that the GluN2A preference of ST3 is primarily mediated by four nonconserved residues that are not directly contacting the ligand, but positioned within 12 Å of the glutamate binding site. Two of these residues influence the cavity occupied by ST3 in a manner that results in favorable binding to GluN2A, but occludes binding to GluN2B. Thus, we reveal opportunities for the design of subunit-selective competitive NMDA receptor antagonists by identifying a cavity for ligand binding in which variations exist between GluN2A and GluN2B subunits. This structural insight suggests that subunit selectivity of glutamate-site antagonists can be mediated by mechanisms in addition to direct contributions of contact residues to binding affinity.

Stochastic Cell Fate Progression in Embryonic Stem Cells

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Zou, Ling-Nan; Doyle, Adele; Jang, Sumin; Ramanathan, Sharad

2013-03-01

Studies on the directed differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) cells suggest that some early developmental decisions may be stochastic in nature. To identify the sources of this stochasticity, we analyzed the heterogeneous expression of key transcription factors in single ES cells as they adopt distinct germ layer fates. We find that under sufficiently stringent signaling conditions, the choice of lineage is unambiguous. ES cells flow into differentiated fates via diverging paths, defined by sequences of transitional states that exhibit characteristic co-expression of multiple transcription factors. These transitional states have distinct responses to morphogenic stimuli; by sequential exposure to multiple signaling conditions, ES cells are steered towards specific fates. However, the rate at which cells travel down a developmental path is stochastic: cells exposed to the same signaling condition for the same amount of time can populate different states along the same path. The heterogeneity of cell states seen in our experiments therefore does not reflect the stochastic selection of germ layer fates, but the stochastic rate of progression along a chosen developmental path. Supported in part by the Jane Coffin Childs Fund

Analysis of competition program "Аcrobatics" of skilled athletes in acrobatic rock and roll

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Batieieva N.P.

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Reviewed and analyzed the results of the strongest performances of dancing couples in acrobatic rock and roll category "M-class", the competition rules of the World rock 'n' roll confederation. A comparative analysis on the requirements to perform acrobatic competition program "Acrobatics". Selected a number of acrobatic elements that make up the structure of competitive acrobatic programs. Found that a number of sports pairs allow technical errors (involuntary distortion performance techniques acrobatic element when performing acrobatic elements. Proposed grading scale acrobatic elements of the program, using methodical and special terms "related" sports. The recommendations to judges, coaches on the cost of each acrobatic element in assessing and compiling competitive program.

Ranking sources of hospital quality information for orthopedic surgery patients: consequences for the system of managed competition.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bes, R.E.; Berg, B. van den

2013-01-01

Background: Healthcare quality information is crucial for the system of managed competition. Within a system of managed competition, health insurers can selectively contract care providers and are allowed to channel patients towards contracted providers. The idea is that insurers have a stronger

Female Remating, Sperm Competition and Sexual Selection in Drosophila

OpenAIRE

Singh, Dr. Shree Ram; Singh, Dr. B N; Hoenigsberg, Dr. H F

2002-01-01

Female remating is the fundamental to evolutionary biology as it determines the pattern of sexual selection and sexual conflict. Remating in females is an important component of Drosophila mating systems because it is associated with pattern of sperm usage and sexual selection. Remating is common in females of many species of Drosophila in both natural and laboratory populations. It is reported in many insect species and vertebrates also. Female remating is prerequisite for the ...

Promoting structured participation for competitiveness in services companies

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Jesús García-Arca

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Purpose: To identify the main drivers that facilitate the successful deployment of a participation program aimed at improving competitiveness, as a prior step to analyze and discuss the implementation of these drivers in three services companies. Design/methodology/approach: The selection of the drivers was based on a “content analysis” of recent literature (2007-2017. To test the level of deployment of these drivers, the “case study” technique was choosen. The authors have selected two public transport companies and one bank, which have more than twenty years´ experience in the development of participation programs. Findings: From the case studies analysis, we conclude that participation can successfully improve a company’s competitiveness, provided that the drivers are developed with this specific aim. Thus, the analysis of these drivers allows to identify some gaps in aspects such as, the extension of participation throughout the company, the methodology adopted in the deployment of participation programs, the organizational structure for monitoring the program tasks, the reward/recognition systems and, especially, the implementation of KPIs for connecting participation and competitiveness. Research limitations/implications: This paper is based on a review of current literature, the analysis of three case studies, and our own personal experience. Our observations and comments may be qualified by future investigation with an increased sample of companies. Practical implications: This paper could be of interest to companies due to outlines the drivers that are critical to implementing participation programs focused on competitiveness. This could help companies that are thinking of implementing such programs, or those that are unhappy with their current programs, to re-design their plans in line with their business strategy.   Originality/value: The main contribution of this paper lies in its theoretical and applied approach

Romania's Competitiveness and Competitive Position in Global Context

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Valentin NECULITA

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Competitiveness increase has become a primordial framework of the social and economic development strategies of most world countries (mainly the most developed ones over the last decades. The vigorous boost of the contemporary phenomenon of globalization, which has widened the global area of economies, sectors and firms confrontation, has laid an emphasis on their competitiveness importance for their favorable position in the international competition and has therefore force the status to take proper, broad and concerted measures to stimulate the determining factors of action and to take better advantage of their effects. The purpose of the paper is to determine whether an increase in competitiveness could reduce the disparities between regions. The E.U. Member States and regions need significant financial help to solve various structural problems and to achieve their potential of growth. Romania is no exception, one of the main problems being the low rate in attracting European funds.

A biased competition theory of cytotoxic T lymphocyte interaction with tumor nodules.

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Claire Christophe

Full Text Available The dynamics of the interaction between Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes (CTL and tumor cells has been addressed in depth, in particular using numerical simulations. However, stochastic mathematical models that take into account the competitive interaction between CTL and tumors undergoing immunoediting, a process of tumor cell escape from immunesurveillance, are presently missing. Here, we introduce a stochastic dynamical particle interaction model based on experimentally measured parameters that allows to describe CTL function during immunoediting. The model describes the competitive interaction between CTL and melanoma cell nodules and allows temporal and two-dimensional spatial progression. The model is designed to provide probabilistic estimates of tumor eradication through numerical simulations in which tunable parameters influencing CTL efficacy against a tumor nodule undergoing immunoediting are tested. Our model shows that the rate of CTL/tumor nodule productive collisions during the initial time of interaction determines the success of CTL in tumor eradication. It allows efficient cytotoxic function before the tumor cells acquire a substantial resistance to CTL attack, due to mutations stochastically occurring during cell division. Interestingly, a bias in CTL motility inducing a progressive attraction towards a few scout CTL, which have detected the nodule enhances early productive collisions and tumor eradication. Taken together, our results are compatible with a biased competition theory of CTL function in which CTL efficacy against a tumor nodule undergoing immunoediting is strongly dependent on guidance of CTL trajectories by scout siblings. They highlight unprecedented aspects of immune cell behavior that might inspire new CTL-based therapeutic strategies against tumors.

Quality Service Delivery as a Competitive Weapon in Corporate ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study assessed quality service delivery of Zenith Bank of Nigeria to determine whether it confers competitive advantage on the Bank. A survey research method was adopted. A sample of the Bank's branches in 4 towns in Anambra State was selected. Data were generated from questionnaires, interviews and internet as ...

Diversifying evolution of competitiveness.

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Baldauf, Sebastian A; Engqvist, Leif; Weissing, Franz J

2014-10-29

In many species, individuals express phenotypic characteristics that enhance their competitiveness, that is, the ability to acquire resources in competition with others. Moreover, the degree of competitiveness varies considerably across individuals and in time. By means of an evolutionary model, we provide an explanation for this finding. We make the assumption that investment into competitiveness enhances the probability to acquire a high-quality resource, but at the same time reduces the ability of exploiting acquired resources with maximal efficiency. The model reveals that under a broad range of conditions competitiveness either converges to a polymorphic state, where individuals differing in competitive ability stably coexist, or is subject to perpetual transitions between periods of high and low competitiveness. The dynamics becomes even more complex if females can evolve preferences for (or against) competitive males. In extreme cases, such preferences can even drive the population to extinction.

Review of progresses on clinical applications of ion selective electrodes for electrolytic ion tests: from conventional ISEs to graphene-based ISEs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rongguo Yan

2016-10-01

Full Text Available There exist several positively and negatively charged electrolytes or ions in human blood, urine, and other body fluids. Tests that measure the concentration of these ions in clinics are performed using a more affordable, portable, and disposable potentiometric sensing method with few sample volumes, which requires the use of ion-selective electrodes (ISEs and reference electrodes. This review summarily descriptively presents progressive developments and applications of ion selective electrodes in medical laboratory electrolytic ion tests, from conventional ISEs, solid-contact ISEs, carbon nanotube based ISEs, to graphene-based ISEs.

Managing Multiple Sources of Competitive Advantage in a Complex Competitive Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandre Howard Henry Lapersonne

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of this article is to review the literature on the topic of sustained and temporary competitive advantage creation, specifically in dynamic markets, and to propose further research possibilities. After having analyzed the main trends and scholars’ works on the subject, it was concluded that a firm which has been experiencing erosion of its core sources of economic rent generation, should have diversified its strategy portfolio in a search for new sources of competitive advantage, ones that could compensate for the decline of profits provoked by intensive competitive environments. This review concludes with the hypothesis that firms, who have decided to enter and manage multiple competitive environments, should have developed a multiple strategies framework approach. The management of this source of competitive advantage portfolio should have allowed persistence of a firm’s superior economic performance through the management of diverse temporary advantages lifecycle and through a resilient effect, where a very successful source of competitive advantage compensates the ones that have been eroded. Additionally, the review indicates that economies of emerging countries, such as the ones from the BRIC block, should present a more complex competitive environment due to their historical nature of cultural diversity, social contrasts and frequent economic disruption, and also because of recent institutional normalization that has turned the market into hypercompetition. Consequently, the study of complex competition should be appropriate in such environments.

Crop–weed competition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gallandt, Eric R.; Weiner, Jacob

2015-01-01

importantly, weed density and time of emergence relative to the crop. Practices that (1) reduce the density of weeds, (2) maximise occupation of space or uptake of resources by the crop or (3) establish an early-season size advantage of the crop over the weeds will minimise the competitive effects of weeds...... on crops. Longer term management of crop–weed competition can be achieved through crop rotations, specifically crop sequences that reduce the weed seed bank, and therefore seedling density, and prevent proliferation of perennial weeds. Key ConceptsKey Concepts * Plant growth requires sunlight, water...... an early-season competitive advantage to the crop and (3) maximising resource capture by the crop using competitive species, competitive cultivars, high sowing densities, optimal spatial arrangement, intercropping complimentary species or transplanting....

A Conceptual Mapping Resource Advantage Theory, Competitive Advantage Theory, and Transient Competitive Advantage

OpenAIRE

Jasanta PERANGINANGIN

2015-01-01

Competitive advantage is the main purposed of the business entity focusing on market base view. Resource advantage theorists put their concern to empowering resources development with resources based view, in the other side needs to redefining competitive advantage. All the competitive advantage are transient, concluded the end of competitive advantage. Redefining competitive advantage by selling migration and shrewdness outward. This research to emphasize innovation capability rarely appears...

Progress: Its Glories and Pitfalls.

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Callahan, Daniel

2018-03-01

Steven Pinker, a cognitive psychologist and linguist at Harvard and a savant of big ideas, is one of the latest to take on the idea of progress. He does it under the aegis of "enlightenment," which comes down to a kind of holy trinity of reason, science, and humanism. His new book, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, is ambitious and cantankerous and heady with hope. On the whole, Pinker makes a good case for the benefits of progress, but with an overdose of feel-good prose. His greatest failure comes in exaggerating the threats to science and in avoiding some problems altogether. He ignores its complexity, its shadows, its creation of new problems raised by its solutions to old ones. Pinker has a particular animus against bioethics, and he misses what has been, I would argue, at the heart of bioethics from its beginning fifty or so years ago. Bioethics was prompted by a new class of medical dilemmas that require a difficult balancing of harms and benefits. Most of them are still with us, and most of them are the result of the progress of postwar medical research and fast-changing clinical practices. © 2018 The Hastings Center.

Competitive Intelligence Practices And Their Effect on Profitability of Firms In The Kenyan Banking Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

JOHN KARANJA NGUGI

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The rapidly changing business climate created by advances in technologies, economic and social changes as well as fast-shortening product life cycles, which lead to hyper-competition, demands that firms embrace competitive intelligence as a strategy. This study sought to fill the existing knowledge gap by carrying out an investigation of competitive intelligence practices for greater profitability in the commercial banking industry in Kenya. The management staffs who directly deal with the day to day management of the banks were selected to collect primary data. The study concludes that adoption of competitive intelligence practices affect the profitability of the banking sector.

Phosphotyrosine-based-phosphoproteomics scaled-down to biopsy level for analysis of individual tumor biology and treatment selection.

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Labots, Mariette; van der Mijn, Johannes C; Beekhof, Robin; Piersma, Sander R; de Goeij-de Haas, Richard R; Pham, Thang V; Knol, Jaco C; Dekker, Henk; van Grieken, Nicole C T; Verheul, Henk M W; Jiménez, Connie R

2017-06-06

Mass spectrometry-based phosphoproteomics of cancer cell and tissue lysates provides insight in aberrantly activated signaling pathways and potential drug targets. For improved understanding of individual patient's tumor biology and to allow selection of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in individual patients, phosphoproteomics of small clinical samples should be feasible and reproducible. We aimed to scale down a pTyr-phosphopeptide enrichment protocol to biopsy-level protein input and assess reproducibility and applicability to tumor needle biopsies. To this end, phosphopeptide immunoprecipitation using anti-phosphotyrosine beads was performed using 10, 5 and 1mg protein input from lysates of colorectal cancer (CRC) cell line HCT116. Multiple needle biopsies from 7 human CRC resection specimens were analyzed at the 1mg-level. The total number of phosphopeptides captured and detected by LC-MS/MS ranged from 681 at 10mg input to 471 at 1mg HCT116 protein. ID-reproducibility ranged from 60.5% at 10mg to 43.9% at 1mg. Per 1mg-level biopsy sample, >200 phosphopeptides were identified with 57% ID-reproducibility between paired tumor biopsies. Unsupervised analysis clustered biopsies from individual patients together and revealed known and potential therapeutic targets. This study demonstrates the feasibility of label-free pTyr-phosphoproteomics at the tumor biopsy level based on reproducible analyses using 1mg of protein input. The considerable number of identified phosphopeptides at this level is attributed to an effective down-scaled immuno-affinity protocol as well as to the application of ID propagation in the data processing and analysis steps. Unsupervised cluster analysis reveals patient-specific profiles. Together, these findings pave the way for clinical trials in which pTyr-phosphoproteomics will be performed on pre- and on-treatment biopsies. Such studies will improve our understanding of individual tumor biology and may enable future p

Robotics Competitions: An Overview of First© Events and VEX© Competitions

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Habib, Maria A.

2012-01-01

Robotics competitions generate excitement and raise the profile of a robotics program. This article provides an overview of robotics competitions, concentrating on those sponsored by FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) and RECF (Robotics Education and Competition Foundation). FIRST® LEGO® League and VEX® robotics…

Competition Leverage : How the Demand Side Affects Optimal Risk Adjustment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bijlsma, M.; Boone, J.; Zwart, Gijsbert

2011-01-01

We study optimal risk adjustment in imperfectly competitive health insurance markets when high-risk consumers are less likely to switch insurer than low-risk consumers. First, we find that insurers still have an incentive to select even if risk adjustment perfectly corrects for cost differences

Beyond Antitrust: Health Care And Health Insurance Market Trends And The Future Of Competition.

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Glied, Sherry A; Altman, Stuart H

2017-09-01

The United States relies on competition to balance costs and quality in the health care system. But concentration is increasing throughout the hospital, physician, and insurer markets. Midsize community hospitals face declining demand and growing competition from both larger hospitals and smaller freestanding diagnostic and surgical centers, leaving the midsize hospitals vulnerable to closure or merger with other facilities. Competition among insurers has been limited by the development of hospital systems that extend the bargaining power of "must-have" hospitals (those perceived to provide the best care for complex and less common conditions) across local health care markets. Government antitrust enforcement could play an important role in maintaining competition in both the hospital and insurer markets, but in many markets, the impact of that enforcement has been limited to date. Policy makers should consider supplementing antitrust activities with strategies that combine competition and regulation-for example, by regulating selected prices and structuring competition to cover entire insurance markets. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Plant-plant competition outcomes are modulated by plant effects on the soil bacterial community.

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Hortal, S; Lozano, Y M; Bastida, F; Armas, C; Moreno, J L; Garcia, C; Pugnaire, F I

2017-12-19

Competition is a key process that determines plant community structure and dynamics, often mediated by nutrients and water availability. However, the role of soil microorganisms on plant competition, and the links between above- and belowground processes, are not well understood. Here we show that the effects of interspecific plant competition on plant performance are mediated by feedbacks between plants and soil bacterial communities. Each plant species selects a singular community of soil microorganisms in its rhizosphere with a specific species composition, abundance and activity. When two plant species interact, the resulting soil bacterial community matches that of the most competitive plant species, suggesting strong competitive interactions between soil bacterial communities as well. We propose a novel mechanism by which changes in belowground bacterial communities promoted by the most competitive plant species influence plant performance and competition outcome. These findings emphasise the strong links between plant and soil communities, paving the way to a better understanding of plant community dynamics and the effects of soil bacterial communities on ecosystem functioning and services.

Down Syndrome (For Kids)

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... Changed What's Life Like for Kids With Down Syndrome? Print en español El síndrome de Down You have probably seen people who have Down syndrome. They have certain physical features, such as a ...

c-Myc-Dependent Cell Competition in Human Cancer Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Manish S; Shah, Heta S; Shrivastava, Neeta

2017-07-01

Cell Competition is an interaction between cells for existence in heterogeneous cell populations of multicellular organisms. This phenomenon is involved in initiation and progression of cancer where heterogeneous cell populations compete directly or indirectly for the survival of the fittest based on differential gene expression. In Drosophila, cells having lower dMyc expression are eliminated by cell competition through apoptosis when present in the milieu of cells having higher dMyc expression. Thus, we designed a study to develop c-Myc (human homolog) dependent in vitro cell competition model of human cancer cells. Cells with higher c-Myc were transfected with c-myc shRNA to prepare cells with lower c-Myc and then co-cultured with the same type of cells having a higher c-Myc in equal ratio. Cells with lower c-Myc showed a significant decrease in numbers when compared with higher c-Myc cells, suggesting "loser" and "winner" status of cells, respectively. During microscopy, engulfment of loser cells by winner cells was observed with higher expression of JNK in loser cells. Furthermore, elimination of loser cells was prevented significantly, when co-cultured cells were treated with the JNK (apoptosis) inhibitor. Above results indicate elimination of loser cells in the presence of winner cells by c-Myc-dependent mechanisms of cell competition in human cancer cells. This could be an important mechanism in human tumors where normal cells are eliminated by c-Myc-overexpressed tumor cells. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 1782-1791, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Anti- versus Pro-Competitive Mergers

OpenAIRE

Fridolfsson, Sven-Olof

2007-01-01

In a framework where mergers are mutually excluding, I show that firms pursue anti- rather than (alternative) pro-competitive mergers. Potential outsiders to anti-competitive mergers refrain from pursuing pro-competitive mergers if the positive externalities from anti-competitive mergers are strong enough. Potential outsiders to pro-competitive mergers pursue anti-competitive mergers if the negative externalities from the pro-competitive mergers are strong enough. Potential participants in an...

Interspecific Competition Underlying Mutualistic Networks

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