The only way is up: retail format saturation and the demise of the American five and dime store, 1914-1941

We examine a classic ‘wheel of retailing’ episode – the abandonment of the five and dime pricing formula by American variety chains. These switched from a conventional product lifecycle, focusing on cost reduction through standardisation, to a reverse path up the ‘service cost - unit value’ continuum. We show that, rather than reflecting deteriorating managerial acumen, this was a response to the continued imperative for growth following retail format saturation. Firm-specific (rather than format-specific) competitive advantages were too weak for any chain to be confident it could win a within-format price war, making inter-format competition through raising price points more attractive.

Framtagande av ICC-profiler fo¨r substrat till storformatskrivaren Mutoh Toucan PJ1614NXE : Creating ICC-profiles for substrate used at large format printer Mutoh Toucan PJ1614NXE

Detta examensarbete beskriver i detalj hur ICC-profiler fo¨r utskriftsmedier, i detta fall fo¨r storformatskrivare, skapas. Examensarbetet omfattade framtagande av ICC-profiler fo¨r substrat till storformatskrivaren Mutoh Toucan PJ-1614NXE (Mutoh Toucan) hos BEMI REKLAM AB (BEMI), Borla¨nge. Fo¨retaget har tidigare anva¨nt en standardlinja¨risering till samtliga substrat fo¨r storformatskrivaren, dock utan att applicera na°gon ICC-profil fo¨r utenheter. Samtliga substrat till Mutoh Toucan a¨r avsedda fo¨r utomhusbruk.

Sociologförbundet har ordet : Sociologidagarna 2012 – 50-årsjubileum och ett nytt format för Sociologidagarna!

Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv

A adoção do "business format franchising": uma abordagem do mercado brasileiro

A presente dissertação surge como um esforço inicial de determinar as implicações da adoção do sistema de franchising, em particular do "Business Format Franchising", bem como as consequências deste fato, do ponto de vista dos franqueadores, no mercado brasileiro. Observamos que a bibliografia existente sobre o tema é escassa e dispersa, sendo que a literatura em sua maioria é em língua, não disponível em bibliotecas e livrarias. O tema é de discussão recente no Brasil, propiciando estudos e pesquisas nesta área, onde esta dissertação pretende apresentar uma contribuição para estudos posteriores, embasando-se precipuamente em experiências e práticas vivenciadas enquanto profissional da área de franchising.

A utilização de linguagem VRML na educação à distância em arte

Pós-graduação em Artes - IA

Development of a highly potent bispecific antibody format targeting the novel tumor-specific antigen CLDN18.2

Due to multiple immune evasion mechanisms of cancer cells, novel therapy approaches are required to overcome the limitations of existing immunotherapies. Bispecific antibodies are potent anti-cancer drugs, which redirect effector T cells for specific tumor cell lysis, thus enabling the patient’s immune system to fight cancer cells. The antibody format used in this proof of concept study–bispecific ideal monoclonal antibodies termed BiMAB–is a tailor-made recombinant protein, which consists of two fused scFv antibodies recognizing different antigens. Both are arranged in tandem on a single peptide chain and the individual variable binding domains are separated by special non-immunogenic linkers. The format is comprised of a scFv targeting CLDN18.2–a gastric cancer tumor associated antigen (TAA) –while the second specificity binds the CD3 epsilon (CD3ε) subunit of the T cell receptor (TCR) on T cells. For the first time, we compared in our IMAB362-based BiMAB setting, four different anti-CD3-scFvs, respectively derived from the mAbs TR66, CLB-T3, as well as the humanized and the murine variant of UCHT1. In addition, we investigated the impact of an N- versus a C-terminal location of the IMAB362-derived scFv and the anti-CD3-scFvs. Thus, nine CLDN18.2 specific BiMAB proteins were generated, of which all showed a remarkably high cytotoxicity towards CLDN18.2-positive tumor cells. Because of its promising effectiveness, 1BiMAB emerged as the BiMAB prototype. The selectivity of 1BiMAB for its TAA and CD3ε, with affinities in the nanomolar range, has been confirmed by in vitro assays. Its dual binding depends on the design of an N-terminally positioned IMAB362 scFv and the consecutive C-terminally positioned TR66 scFv. 1BiMAB provoked a concentration and target cell dependent T cell activation, proliferation, and upregulation of the cytolytic protein Granzyme B, as well as the consequent elimination of target cells. Our results demonstrate that 1BiMAB is able to activate T cells independent of elements that are usually involved in the T cell recognition program, like antigen presentation, MHC restriction, and co-stimulatory effector molecules. In the first in vivo studies using a subcutaneous xenogeneic tumor mouse model in immune incompetent NSG mice, we could prove a significant therapeutic effect of 1BiMAB with partial or complete tumor elimination. The initial in vitro RIBOMAB experiments correspondingly showed encouraging results. The electroporation of 1BiMAB IVT-RNA into target or effector cells was feasible, while the functionality of translated 1BiMAB was proven by induced T cell activation and target cell lysis. Accordingly, we could show that the in vitro RIBOMAB approach was applicable for all nine BiMABs, which proves the RIBOMAB concept. Thus, the CLDN18.2-BiMAB strategy offers great potential for the treatment of cancer. In the future, administered either as protein or as IVT-RNA, the BiMAB format will contribute towards finding solutions to raise and sustain tumor-specific cellular responses elicited by engaged and activated endogenous T cells. This will potentially enable us to overcome immune evasion mechanisms of tumor cells, consequently supporting current solid gastric cancer therapies.

Three-dimensional portable document format: a simple way to present 3-dimensional data in an electronic publication

Three-dimensional (3D) models of teeth and soft and hard tissues are tessellated surfaces used for diagnosis, treatment planning, appliance fabrication, outcome evaluation, and research. In scientific publications or communications with colleagues, these 3D data are often reduced to 2-dimensional pictures or need special software for visualization. The portable document format (PDF) offers a simple way to interactively display 3D surface data without additional software other than a recent version of Adobe Reader (Adobe, San Jose, Calif). The purposes of this article were to give an example of how 3D data and their analyses can be interactively displayed in 3 dimensions in electronic publications, and to show how they can be exported from any software for diagnostic reports and communications among colleagues.

Format preferences of district attorneys for post-mortem medical imaging reports: understandability, cost effectiveness, and suitability for the courtroom: a questionnaire based study

The objective of this study was to explore the perception of the legal authorities regarding different report types and visualization techniques for post-mortem radiological findings.