Trajectories of knowledge economy in SSA and MENA countries

In the first critical assessment of knowledge economy dynamic paths in Africa and the Middle East, but for a few exceptions, we find overwhelming support for diminishing cross-country disparities in knowledge-based economy dimensions. The paper employs all the four components of the World Bank's Knowledge Economy Index (KEI): economic incentives, innovation, education, and information infrastructure. The main finding suggests that sub-Saharan African (SSA) and the Middle East and North African (MENA) countries with low levels of KE dynamics and catching-up their counterparts of higher KE levels. We provide the speeds of integration and time necessary to achieve full (100%) integration. Policy implications are also discussed.     

Amtshaftung bei Bauführung im Hochwassergebiet; fehlerhafter Flächenwidmungsplan; Nachforschungspflichten der Gemeinde

Bestehen ausreichende Anhaltspunkte für die Hochwassergef?hrdung, ist die Gemeinde verpflichtet, sich durch Nachforschungen Gewissheit über das Vorliegen oder Nichtvorliegen eines Hochwasserabflussgebietes gem § 38 Abs 3 WRG zu verschaffen. Liegt ein solches vor, hat sie gem § 12 Abs 1 Z 2 krnt GplG dieses im Fl?chenwidmungsplan ersichtlich zu machen. Erteilt die Gemeinde eine Baubewilligung ohne diese von der Erteilung einer wasserrechtlichen Bewilligung abh?ngig zu machen, haftet sie für die Kosten der Bauführung, die bei gesetzes-konformer Vorgangsweise unterlassen worden w?re.     

Corrosion Behavior of a Sputtered K38G Nanocrystalline Coating with a Solid NaCl Deposit in Wet Oxygen at 600 to 700°C

A nanocrystalline coating of K38G alloy was obtained by means of magnetron sputtering. The corrosion behavior of cast K38G alloy and its sputtered nanocrystalline coating with a solid NaCl deposit in dry air or wet oxygen at 600 and 700°C have been studied and compared. The results indicated that the mass gain of the coating is higher than that of the cast alloy at 600 and 700°C. Therefore, nanocrystallization reduced the corrosion resistance at these temperatures. Furthermore, the mass gains of the coating and the cast alloy with a NaCl deposit in wet oxygen were less than that with a NaCl deposit in dry air. The relevant corrosion mechanisms are discussed.     

Searching minimax game trees under memory space constraint

Games such as CHESS, GO and OTHELLO can be represented by minimax game trees. Among various search procedures to solve such game trees,- and SSS^* are perhaps most well known. Although it is proved that SSS^* explores only a subset of the nodes explored by-, - is commonly believed to be faster in real applications, since it requires very little memory space and hence its storage management cost is low. Contrary to this folklore, however, this paper reports, using the OTHELLO game as an example, that SSS^* is much faster than-. It is also demonstrated that SSS^* can be modified to make the required memory space controllable to some extent, while retaining the high efficiency of the original SSS^*.This research was partially supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan, under a Scientific Grant-in-Aid.     

Dysregulated CD38 Expression on Peripheral Blood Immune Cell Subsets in SLE

Given its uniformly high expression on plasma cells, CD38 has been considered as a therapeutic target in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Herein, we investigate the distribution of CD38 expression by peripheral blood leukocyte lineages to evaluate the potential therapeutic effect of CD38-targeting antibodies on these immune cell subsets and to delineate the use of CD38 as a biomarker in SLE. We analyzed the expression of CD38 on peripheral blood leukocyte subsets by flow and mass cytometry in two different cohorts, comprising a total of 56 SLE patients. The CD38 expression levels were subsequently correlated across immune cell lineages and subsets, and with clinical and serologic disease parameters of SLE. Compared to healthy controls (HC), CD38 expression levels in SLE were significantly increased on circulating plasmacytoid dendritic cells, CD14⁺⁺CD16⁺ monocytes, CD56⁺ CD16^dim natural killer cells, marginal zone-like IgD⁺CD27⁺ B cells, and on CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ memory T cells. Correlation analyses revealed coordinated CD38 expression between individual innate and memory T cell subsets in SLE but not HC. However, CD38 expression levels were heterogeneous across patients, and no correlation was found between CD38 expression on immune cell subsets and the disease activity index SLEDAI-2K or established serologic and immunological markers of disease activity. In conclusion, we identified widespread changes in CD38 expression on SLE immune cells that highly correlated over different leukocyte subsets within individual patients, but was heterogenous within the population of SLE patients, regardless of disease severity or clinical manifestations. As anti-CD38 treatment is being investigated in SLE, our results may have important implications for the personalized targeting of pathogenic leukocytes by anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies.     

Soil Apparent Electrical Conductivity (EC<Subscript>a</Subscript>) as a Means of Monitoring Changesin Soil Inorganic N on Heterogeneous Morainic Soils in SE Norway During Two Growing Seasons

An efficient method to monitor changes in soil inorganic N content during crop growth would be a useful means to guide N fertilization to ensure high yields and low N losses to the environment. In this study, soil apparent electrical conductivity (EC_a) measured by the widely used conductivity meter EM38 was tested as an indirect measurement of available N in spring barley during two cropping seasons at two sites with morainic loam in SE Norway. The experiment was constructed to maximize soil variation. In spite of the ȁ8noiseȁ9 caused by the soil heterogeneity, concentrations of inorganic N (cN_inorg) or NO₃-N were most strongly correlated with EC_a in both years and at both locations (with one exception). The measurements of EC_a reflected well the temporal variation in inorganic N content (N_inorg), and a ranking of the treatments based on EC_a fitted very well with a ranking based on N_inorg at the first three sampling times after fertilizing. The best subset of sensor variables (i.e. variables which can be measured ȁ8on-the-goȁ9 by sensor techniques in the field) described 27–69% (average 47%) of the variation in topsoil cN_inorg. When expanding the regression models to include pH as well, the degree of explanation increased significantly. In conclusion, the method of using EC_a appears to be quite robust in terms of detecting relative differences in cN_inorg, whereas a determination of absolute levels of cN_inorg with the method is unreliable.     

p38MAPK抑制剂增强阿霉素抑制乳腺癌细胞增殖的体外研究

以乳腺癌细胞株MCF-7为研究对象,经阿霉素及阿霉素联合p38MAPK抑制剂(SB20580)作用细胞,通过MTT法测定细胞存活率、光学显微镜观察细胞形态变化。实验数据显示相同药物浓度下,SB20580可以明显降低MCF-7细胞存活率。结果表明p38MAPK抑制剂可以促进阿霉素抑制细胞增殖的效果。     

高含水稠油油藏二次开发水平井生产特征研究

高含水稠油油藏洼38块东二段实施的10口二次开发水平井日产油曲线呈＂左偏正态＂分布特征,水侵强度不同,曲线的偏度和峰值不同,水侵越严重,偏度和峰值越小,水窜井甚至未出现峰值。根据生产特征的差异,将高含水油藏二次开发水平井分为弱水淹、强水淹、水窜三类。渗流机理研究显示,三类水平井开采特征的差异由水淹程度决定,弱水淹区部署的水平井生产效果最好,强水淹区水平井也能获得较好的开发效果,水窜区水平井生产效果差。因此高含水稠油油藏部署二次开发水平井要避开水窜区选择水淹程度较低的区域。