Interplay between the (8)B breakup and other reaction mechanisms by means of CDCC method

We use the continuum discretized coupled channel method to study the effects of breakup on different reaction mechanisms for the (8)B + (58)Ni system. We devote special attention to the role of continuum-continuum couplings.

Depicting the interplay between organisational tiers in the use of a national quality registry to develop quality of care in Sweden

BACKGROUND: With a pending need to identify potential means to improved quality of care, national quality registries (NQRs) are identified as a promising route. Yet, there is limited evidence with regards to what hinders and facilitates the NQR innovation, what signifies the contexts in which NQRs are applied and drive quality improvement. Supposedly, barriers and facilitators to NQR-driven quality improvement may be found in the healthcare context, in the politico-administrative context, as well as with an NQR itself. In this study, we investigated the potential variation with regards to if and how an NQR was applied by decision-makers and users in regions and clinical settings. The aim was to depict the interplay between the clinical and the politico-administrative tiers in the use of NQRs to develop quality of care, examining an established registry on stroke care as a case study. METHODS: We interviewed 44 individuals representing the clinical and the politico-administrative settings of 4 out of 21 regions strategically chosen for including stroke units representing a variety of outcomes in the NQR on stroke (Riksstroke) and a variety of settings. The transcribed interviews were analysed by applying The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). RESULTS: In two regions, decision-makers and/or administrators had initiated healthcare process projects for stroke, engaging the health professionals in the local stroke units who contributed with, for example, local data from Riksstroke. The Riksstroke data was used for identifying improvement issues, for setting goals, and asserting that the stroke units achieved an equivalent standard of care and a certain level of quality of stroke care. Meanwhile, one region had more recently initiated such a project and the fourth region had no similar collaboration across tiers. Apart from these projects, there was limited joint communication across tiers and none that included all individuals and functions engaged in quality improvement with regards to stroke care. CONCLUSIONS: If NQRs are to provide for quality improvement and learning opportunities, advances must be made in the links between the structures and processes across all organisational tiers, including decision-makers, administrators and health professionals engaged in a particular healthcare process.

How the interplay between individual spatial memory and landscape persistence can generate population distribution patterns

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Mechanism for interplay between electron and ionic fluxes in KhFek[Fe(CN)(6)](l)center dot mH(2)O compounds

This paper develops a framework for the interpretation of ionic insertion/deinsertion reactions in an aqueous environment taking place in transition-metal hexacyanoferrates of the general formula KhFek3+ [Fe2+ (CN)(6)](l)center dot mH(2)O, also called Prussian Blue. Three different processes were fully separated in the electrochemistry of these films. It was clearly identified that one of these electrochemical processes involves the insertion/deinsertion of H3O+ (hydrated protons) through the channels of the KhFek3+ [Fe2+ (CN)(6)](l) center dot mH(2)O structure to reach the film electroneutrality during the electron transfer between Everitt's Salt and Prussian Blue. The other electrochemical processes involve K+ or H+ (proton) exchange through the water crystalline structure existing in the channels of the KhFek3+ [Fe2+(CN)(6)](l)center dot mH(2)O structure.

Yeast flotation viewed as the result of the interplay of supernatant composition and cell-wall hydrophobicity

Flotation is a process of cell separation based on the affinity of cells to air bubbles. In the present work, flotability and hydrophobicity were determined using cells from different yeasts (Hansenulla polymorpha, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida albicans), which were propagated in different media and at different temperatures. Alterations to the supernatant of the cells were also carried out before the flotation assays. The results described here indicate that supernatants of the yeast cells can play a more important role on flotation than cell-wall hydrophobicity. For example, wall-hydrophobicity of strain FLT-01 of S. cerevisiae was high but flotation did not occur when their washed cells were resuspended in water. Additions of neopeptone to cultures of S. cerevisiae and H. polymorpha repressed flotation and increased the volume of foam. An additional task of the present work was to show that the relationship between cell-wall hydrophobicity and flotation performance was dependent on the method used for the measurement of hydrophobicity. Based on the assay procedure, two types of hydrophobicity were distinguished: (a) the apparent hydrophobicity for cells suspended in the medium and expressed by the degree of cell affinity to the organic solvent in the two-phase system supernatant/hexane; (b) the standard hydrophobicity, which was determined for cells suspended in a standard solution (acetate buffer, in the present work) within the acetate buffer/hexane system. Flotation of cells of S. cerevisiae and C albicans were best related to the degree of apparent hydrophobicity (varying with the supernatant composition at the cell/medium interface) rather than to the degree of standard hydrophobicity (varying with the alterations in the wall components, since the liquid phase was constant in the assay). However, depending on the yeast unpredictable results can be obtained. For example, cells of H. polymorpha exhibited good flotation associated to a high degree of standard hydrophobicity while having a lower degree of apparent hydrophobicity. Concerning growth temperature, flotation of cells of C albicans was strongly repressed when the temperature was raised from 30 to 38 degreesC while a similar effect was not observed in cultures of S. cerevisiae and H. polymorpha. It is difficult to understand and predict flotation of yeast cells but simple modifications made to the supernatant of cultures can activate or repress flotation. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. B.V. All rights reserved.

Frustration and hydrophobicity interplay in protein folding and protein evolution

A lattice model is used to study mutations and compacting effects on protein folding rates and folding temperature. In the context of protein evolution, we address the question regarding the best scenario for a polypeptide chain to fold: either a fast nonspecific collapse followed by a slow rearrangement to form the native structure or a specific collapse from the unfolded state with the simultaneous formation of the native state. This question is investigated for optimized sequences, whose native state has no frustrated contacts between monomers, and also for mutated sequences, whose native state has some degree of frustration. It is found that the best scenario for folding may depend on the amount of frustration of the native structure. The implication of this result on protein evolution is discussed. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Water regulation of actinomycin-D binding to DNA: the interplay among drug affinity, DNA long-range conformation, and hydration

Actiaomycin-D (actD) binds to natural DNA at two different classes of binding sites, weak and strong. The affinity for these sites is highly dependent on DNA se(sequence and solution conditions, and the interaction appears to be purely entropic driven Although the entropic character of this reaction has been attributed to the release of water molecules upon drug to DNA complex formation, the mechanism by which hydration regulates actD binding and discrimination between different classes of binding sites on natural DNA is still unknown. In this work, we investigate the role of hydration on this reaction using the osmotic stress method. We skew that the decrease of solution water activity, due to the addition of sucrose, glycerol ethylene glycol, and betaine, favors drug binding to the strong binding sites on DNA by increasing both the apparent binding affinity Delta G, and the number of DNA base pairs apparently occupied by the bound drug n(bp/actD). These binding parameters vary linearly with the logarithm of the molar fraction of water in solution log(X-w), which indicates the contribution of water binding to the energetic of the reaction. It is demonstrated that the hydration change measured upon binding increases proportionally to the apparent size of the binding site n(bp/uctD). This indicates that n(bp/actD) measured from the Scatchard plod is a measure of the size of the DNA molecule changing conformation due to ligand binding. We also find that the contribution of DNA deformation, gauged by n(bp/act) to the total free energy of binding Delta G, is given by Delta G = Delta G(local) + n(bp/actD) x delta G(DNA), where Delta G(local), = -8020 +/- 51 cal/mol of actD bound and delta G(DNa) = -24.1 +/- 1.7cal/mol of base pair at 25 degrees C. We interpret Delta G(local), as the energetic contribution due to the direct interactions of actD with the actual tetranucleotide binding site, and it n(bp/actB) X delta G(DNA) as that due to change inconformation, induced by binding, of it n(bp/actD) DNA base pairs flanking the local site. This interpretation is supported by the agreement found between the value of delta G(DNA) and the torsional free energy change measured independently. We conclude suggesting an allosteric model for ligand binding to DNA, such that the increase in binding affinity is achieved by increasing the relaxation of the unfavorable free energy of binding storage at the local site through a larger number of DNA base pairs. The new aspect on this model is that the size of the complex is not fixed but determined by solutions conditions, such as water activity, which modulate the energetic barrier to change helix conformation. These results may suggest that long-range allosteric transitions of duplex DNA are involved in the inhibition of RNA synthesis by actD, and more generally, in the regulation of transcription. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Strengthening development: the interplay of macro- and microeconomics

Includes bibliography

The interplay of macro- and microeconomics

The statement starts with a balance of the 15-years period of the economic reforms occurred in the region, up to the Mexican financial crisis in 1995. The main lesson to be drawn from this period refers to the need of supplementing and reinforcing macro-economic policy, together with the application of public policy measures at the micro-, meso-, and institutional levels, in order to support productive modernization, the development of financial and labour markets and the establishment or strengthening of institutions which can help to create an environment conducive to development. Further on, the statement explains the strategies proposed by ECLAC for overcoming the obstacles to accelerated growth within a framework of stability, social equity and democracy. These refer to expanding gross domestic product, increasing productivity and providing more and better jobs. In order to achieve this goal it is necessary to ensure macroeconomic equilibria in its broader sense, raise the level of national saving and channel it into productive investment, as well as an accelerated and systematic incorporation of production and management techniques designed to raise productivity in a growing number of firms. In the last part, the statement refers to the situation of the United Nations and honors the memory of Dr. Raúl Prebisch, on the tenth anniversary of his death.

VSR symmetries in the DKP algebra: The interplay between Dirac and Elko spinor fields

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Interplay of Late Cenozoic Siliciclastic Supply and Carbonate Response on the Southeast Florida Platform

High-resolution seismic-reflection data collected along the length of the Caloosahatchee River in southwestern Florida have been correlated to nannofossil biostratigraphy and strontium-isotope chemostratigraphy at six continuously cored boreholes. These data are interpreted to show a major Late Miocene(?) to Early Pliocene fluvial– deltaic depositional system that prograded southward across the carbonate Florida Platform, interrupting nearly continuous carbonate deposition since early in the Cretaceous. Connection of the platform top to a continental source of siliciclastics and significant paleotopography combined to focus accumulation of an immense supply of siliciclastics on the southeastern part of the Florida Platform. The remarkably thick (> 100 m), sand-rich depositional system, which is characterized by clinoformal progradation, filled in deep accommodation, while antecedent paleotopography directed deltaic progradation southward within the middle of the present-day Florida Peninsula. The deltaic depositional system may have prograded about 200 km southward to the middle and upper Florida Keys, where Late Miocene to Pliocene siliciclastics form the foundation of the Quaternary carbonate shelf and shelf margin of the Florida Keys. These far-traveled siliciclastic deposits filled accommodation on the southeastern part of the Florida Platform so that paleobathymetry was sufficiently shallow to allow Quaternary recovery of carbonate sedimentation in the area of southern peninsular Florida and the Florida Keys.

Structure-semantics interplay in complex networks and its effects on the predictability of similarity in texts

The classification of texts has become a major endeavor with so much electronic material available, for it is an essential task in several applications, including search engines and information retrieval. There are different ways to define similarity for grouping similar texts into clusters, as the concept of similarity may depend on the purpose of the task. For instance, in topic extraction similar texts mean those within the same semantic field, whereas in author recognition stylistic features should be considered. In this study, we introduce ways to classify texts employing concepts of complex networks, which may be able to capture syntactic, semantic and even pragmatic features. The interplay between various metrics of the complex networks is analyzed with three applications, namely identification of machine translation (MT) systems, evaluation of quality of machine translated texts and authorship recognition. We shall show that topological features of the networks representing texts can enhance the ability to identify MT systems in particular cases. For evaluating the quality of MT texts, on the other hand, high correlation was obtained with methods capable of capturing the semantics. This was expected because the golden standards used are themselves based on word co-occurrence. Notwithstanding, the Katz similarity, which involves semantic and structure in the comparison of texts, achieved the highest correlation with the NIST measurement, indicating that in some cases the combination of both approaches can improve the ability to quantify quality in MT. In authorship recognition, again the topological features were relevant in some contexts, though for the books and authors analyzed good results were obtained with semantic features as well. Because hybrid approaches encompassing semantic and topological features have not been extensively used, we believe that the methodology proposed here may be useful to enhance text classification considerably, as it combines well-established strategies. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Analysis of the interplay between knowledge and performance management in industrial clusters

The concept of industrial clustering has been studied in-depth by policy makers and researchers from many fields, mainly due to the competitive advantages it may bring to regional economies. Companies often take part in collaborative initiatives with local partners while also taking advantage of knowledge spillovers to benefit from locating in a cluster. Thus, Knowledge Management (KM) and Performance Management (PM) have become relevant topics for policy makers and cluster associations when undertaking collaborative initiatives. Taking this into account, this paper aims to explore the interplay between both topics using a case study conducted in a collaborative network formed within a cluster. The results show that KM should be acknowledged as a formal area of cluster management so that PM practices can support knowledge-oriented initiatives and therefore make better use of the new knowledge created. Furthermore, tacit and explicit knowledge resulting from PM practices needs to be stored and disseminated throughout the cluster as a way of improving managerial practices and regional strategic direction. Knowledge Management Research & Practice (2012) 10, 368-379. doi:10.1057/kmrp.2012.23

Knowledge Flows and Networks: the Interplay between Local and Global Linkages within Bangalore IT Cluster

This doctoral work gains deeper insight into the dynamics of knowledge flows within and across clusters, unfolding their features, directions and strategic implications. Alliances, networks and personnel mobility are acknowledged as the three main channels of inter-firm knowledge flows, thus offering three heterogeneous measures to analyze the phenomenon. The interplay between the three channels and the richness of available research methods, has allowed for the elaboration of three different papers and perspectives. The common empirical setting is the IT cluster in Bangalore, for its distinguished features as a high-tech cluster and for its steady yearly two-digit growth around the service-based business model. The first paper deploys both a firm-level and a tie-level analysis, exploring the cases of 4 domestic companies and of 2 MNCs active the cluster, according to a cluster-based perspective. The distinction between business-domain knowledge and technical knowledge emerges from the qualitative evidence, further confirmed by quantitative analyses at tie-level. At firm-level, the specialization degree seems to be influencing the kind of knowledge shared, while at tie-level both the frequency of interaction and the governance mode prove to determine differences in the distribution of knowledge flows. The second paper zooms out and considers the inter-firm networks; particularly focusing on the role of cluster boundary, internal and external networks are analyzed, in their size, long-term orientation and exploration degree. The research method is purely qualitative and allows for the observation of the evolving strategic role of internal network: from exploitation-based to exploration-based. Moreover, a causal pattern is emphasized, linking the evolution and features of the external network to the evolution and features of internal network. The final paper addresses the softer and more micro-level side of knowledge flows: personnel mobility. A social capital perspective is here developed, which considers both employees’ acquisition and employees’ loss as building inter-firm ties, thus enhancing company’s overall social capital. Negative binomial regression analyses at dyad-level test the significant impact of cluster affiliation (cluster firms vs non-cluster firms), industry affiliation (IT firms vs non-IT fims) and foreign affiliation (MNCs vs domestic firms) in shaping the uneven distribution of personnel mobility, and thus of knowledge flows, among companies.