Naturally occurring plant compounds including tannins, saponins and essential oils are extensively assessed as natural alternatives to in-feed antibiotics. Tannins are a group of polyphenolic ...compounds that are widely present in plant region and possess various biological activities including antimicrobial, anti-parasitic, anti-viral, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulation, etc. Therefore, tannins are the major research subject in developing natural alternative to in-feed antibiotics. Strong protein affinity is the well-recognized property of plant tannins, which has successfully been applied to ruminant nutrition to decrease protein degradation in the rumen, and thereby improve protein utilization and animal production efficiency. Incorporations of tannin-containing forage in ruminant diets to control animal pasture bloat, intestinal parasite and pathogenic bacteria load are another 3 important applications of tannins in ruminant animals. Tannins have traditionally been regarded as “anti-nutritional factor” for monogastric animals and poultry, but recent researches have revealed some of them, when applied in appropriate manner, improved intestinal microbial ecosystem, enhanced gut health and hence increased productive performance. The applicability of plant tannins as an alternative to in-feed antibiotics depends on many factors that contribute to the great variability in their observed efficacies.
We examine how directors with investment banking experience affect firms׳ acquisition behavior. We find that firms with investment bankers on the board have a higher probability of making ...acquisitions. Furthermore, acquirers with investment banker directors experience higher announcement returns, pay lower takeover premiums and advisory fees, and exhibit superior long-run performance. Overall, our results suggest that directors with investment banking experience help firms make better acquisitions, both by identifying suitable targets and by reducing the cost of the deals.
In this paper, the impacts of interface traps on tunneling FET (TFET) are examined in terms of different trap energies and distributions, charge neutrality level (CNL), and effects of random trap ...fluctuation, in comparison with MOSFET. It is found that the V th shifts and subthreshold swing (SS) degradation induced by interface traps in TFET and MOSFET have the same trends, but the impacts on I ON are different because of the novel conduction mechanism of TFETs when compared with MOSFETs. Moreover, nTFET is intrinsically more immune (or susceptible) to V th shift induced by acceptor(or donor-) type interface traps than nMOSFET. Therefore, reducing the potential degradation induced by the interface traps can be achieved by optimizing the position of CNL. The results indicate that nTFET is more immune to the V th shift than nMOSFET with CNL below a critical energy. In addition, the trap-induced SS degradation of TFET is severer than MOSFET in electrostatics. Moreover, it is found that the I ON , V th , and IOFF fluctuations in nMOSFET and nTFET are also dependent on the position of CNL. With CNL below the critical energy, the I ON fluctuation and V th fluctuation of nTFET are smaller than those of nMOSFET. The results are helpful for the interface optimization of TFETs.
Highlights
The eco-friendly shaddock peel-derived carbon aerogels were prepared by a freeze-drying method.
Multiple functions such as thermal insulation, compression resistance and microwave ...absorption can be integrated into one material-carbon aerogel.
Novel computer simulation technology strategy was selected to simulate significant radar cross-sectional reduction values under real far field condition.
.
Eco-friendly electromagnetic wave absorbing materials with excellent thermal infrared stealth property, heat-insulating ability and compression resistance are highly attractive in practical applications. Meeting the aforesaid requirements simultaneously is a formidable challenge. Herein, ultra-light carbon aerogels were fabricated via fresh shaddock peel by facile freeze-drying method and calcination process, forming porous network architecture. With the heating platform temperature of 70 °C, the upper surface temperatures of the as-prepared carbon aerogel present a slow upward trend. The color of the sample surface in thermal infrared images is similar to that of the surroundings. With the maximum compressive stress of 2.435 kPa, the carbon aerogels can provide favorable endurance. The shaddock peel-based carbon aerogels possess the minimum reflection loss value (
RL
min
) of − 29.50 dB in X band. Meanwhile, the effective absorption bandwidth covers 5.80 GHz at a relatively thin thickness of only 1.7 mm. With the detection theta of 0°, the maximum radar cross-sectional (RCS) reduction values of 16.28 dB m
2
can be achieved. Theoretical simulations of RCS have aroused extensive interest owing to their ingenious design and time-saving feature. This work paves the way for preparing multi-functional microwave absorbers derived from biomass raw materials under the guidance of RCS simulations.
The emergence of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has brought large challenges to dementia patients. We reviewed the existing literature on COVID-19 to assess the incidence and mortality of ...dementia comorbidities in COVID-19 patients.
To investigate the impact of pre-existing dementia comorbidities on COVID-19.
We searched the PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases for patients with preexisting dementia who were diagnosed with COVID-19. The statistical data on the prevalence and mortality of dementia comorbidities were examined. A fixed-or random-effect model was used to calculate the overall pooled risk estimates. Forest plots were generated to show the summarized results.
A total of 265 articles were retrieved from the three databases. After removing duplicates and performing two screenings, 10 articles were selected for meta-analysis, including 119,218 participants. Overall, the meta-analysis of the 10 studies showed that the incidence of dementia in COVID-19 patients was (R: 9%, 95% CI: 6% to 13%). Moreover, the meta-analysis of 9 studies showed that the mortality rate of individuals with dementia after being infected with COVID-19 was higher than that of individuals with no dementia (OR: 5.17 95% CI: 2.31 to 11.59). Substantial heterogeneity was observed in this meta-analysis. Significant publication bias was also found.
Emerging literature shows that dementia comorbidities are a high risk factor for the prevalence and mortality of COVID-19. Our results should have an impact on preventive interventions and encourage more targeted approaches to prioritize older people with specific risk factors, such as dementia.
Submergence stress represents a major obstacle limiting the application of direct seeding in rice cultivation. Under flooding conditions, coleoptile elongation can function as an escape strategy that ...contributes to submergence tolerance during seed germination in rice; however, the underlying molecular bases have yet to be fully determined. Herein, we report that natural variation of rice coleoptile length subjected to submergence is determined by the glucosyltransferase encoding gene OsUGT75A. OsUGT75A regulates coleoptile length via decreasing free abscisic acid (ABA) and jasmonic acid (JA) levels by promoting glycosylation of these two phytohormones under submergence. Moreover, we find that OsUGT75A accelerates coleoptile length through mediating the interactions between JASMONATE ZIMDOMAIN (OsJAZ) and ABSCISIC ACID-INSENSITIVE (OsABI) proteins. Last, we reveal the origin of the haplotype that contributes to coleoptile length in response to submergence and transferring this haplotype to indica rice can enhance coleoptile length in submergence conditions. Thus, we propose that OsUGT75A is a useful target in breeding of rice varieties suitable for direct seeding cultivation.
Chromium is a harmful contaminant showing mutagenicity and carcinogenicity. Therefore, detection of chromium requires the development of low-cost and high-sensitivity sensors. Herein, ...blue-fluorescent carbon quantum dots were synthesized by one-step hydrothermal method from alkali-soluble Poria cocos polysaccharide, which is green source, cheap and easy to obtain, and has no pharmacological activity due to low water solubility. These carbon quantum dots exhibit good fluorescence stability, water solubility, anti-interference and low cytotoxicity, and can be specifically combined with the detection of Cr(VI) to form a non-fluorescent complex that causes fluorescence quenching, so they can be used as a label-free nanosensor. High-sensitivity detection of Cr(VI) was achieved through internal filtering and static quenching effects. The fluorescence quenching degree of carbon dots fluorescent probe showed a good linear relationship with Cr(VI) concentration in the range of 1–100 μM. The linear equation was F0/F = 0.9942 + 0.01472 Cr(VI) (R2 = 0.9922), and the detection limit can be as low as 0.25 μM (S/N = 3), which has been successfully applied to Cr(VI) detection in actual water samples herein.
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•Carbon dots was synthesized from alkaloid-soluble Poria cocos polysaccharide, which used for Cr (VI) detection.•High sensitivity and selectivity detection of Cr(VI) based on internal filtering effect and static quenching mechanism.•The method analysis speed is quick, sensitive, raw materials for convenient, inexpensive.•The method has been applied to the determination of Cr(VI) in actual samples with satisfactory recovery.
The Effect of Labor Unions on CEO Compensation Huang, Qianqian; Jiang, Feng; Lie, Erik ...
Journal of financial and quantitative analysis,
04/2017, Volume:
52, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
We find evidence that labor unions affect chief executive officer (CEO) compensation. First, we find that firms with strong unions pay their CEOs less. The negative effect is robust to various tests ...for endogeneity, including cross-sectional variations and a regression discontinuity design. Second, we find that CEO compensation is curbed before union contract negotiations, especially when the compensation is discretionary and the unions have a strong bargaining position. Third, we report that curbing CEO compensation mitigates the chance of a labor strike, thus providing a rationale for firms to pay CEOs less when facing strong unions.
is able to secrete laccase isoenzymes including constitutive and inducible forms, and has potential application for bioremediation of environmental pollutants. Here, an inducible group B laccase from
...MX2 was heterologously expressed in
, and its yield reached 2.59 U/mL after 5 days of methanol inducing culture. The optimal pH and temperature of recombinant laccase (rLac1) to 2,2'-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) were 2.5 and 60 °C, respectively. Metal ions showed different effect on rLac1 which Mg
, Cu
, and K
increased enzyme activity as their concentration increased, whereas Zn
, Na
, and Fe
inhibited enzyme activity as their concentration increased. rLac1 showed good tolerance to organic solvents, and more than 42% of its initial activity remained in 10% organic solvents. Additionally, rLac1 exhibited a more efficient decolorization ability for remazol brilliant blue R (RBBR) than for acid red 1 (AR1), crystal violet (CV), and neutral red (NR). Molecular docking results showed RBBR has a stronger binding affinity with laccase than other dyes by interacting with substrate binding cavity of enzyme. The results indicated rLac1 may be a potential candidate for dye removal from textile wastewater.
In this paper, a novel heterostacked tunnel FET (HS-TFET) is proposed for steeper average subthreshold swing (SS). Different from conventional TFETs, HS-TFETs owns a stacked source configuration ...consisting of an upper source layer with a relatively larger bandgap material and an underlying source layer with smaller bandgap materials. Since smaller bandgap materials exhibit much higher band-to-band tunneling efficiency, the underlying layer of HS-TFET could provide extra drain current increment with increasing gate voltage, and thus effectively improve the subthreshold characteristics for steeper average SS. The simulation results show that the proposed Si-Ge-based HS-TFET can achieve much steeper average SS (25 mV/decade) than conventional Si TFET (42 mV/decade), exhibiting more than one decade higher I60 without leakage current degradation.
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