In this article we report on the liquid crystal phases and properties of the bimesogen 4-((11-((4'-fluoro-[1,1'-biphenyl]-4-yl)oxy)undecyl)oxy)-2,3-difluoro-4'-(4-propylcyclohexyl)-1,1'-biphenyl. This material was shown to exhibit an Iso Liq-N-NTB-SmA phase sequence, thereby clearly indicating that the NTB phase possesses an ordering of the constituent molecules that is between that of a conven...

BACKGROUND Clinical and laboratory diagnosis of Active Tuberculosis (ATB) and latent Mycobacterium Tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) infections (LTBI) among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) presents formidable challenges. In the past, WHO issued an advisory against the use of existing TB sero-diagnostics. Emerging evidence, however, points to a precision of TB sero-diagnostics based on secretor...

One of the main objectives of the Transition Radiation Detector (TRD) at LHC at CERN is to provide electron/pion identification for pt > 1GeV/c. The separation of electrons is based on ionization dE/dx and TR production and detection. We have improved the electron identification by better considering the contributions of ionization and TR production on the dE/dx measurements. The TRD detector d...

There is considerable controversy about the relative merits of the apportionment rule (which results in per-unit royalties) and the entire market value rule (which results in ad-valorem royalties) as ways to determine the scope of the royalty base in licensing negotiations and disputes. This paper analyzes the welfare implication of the two rules abstracting from implementation and practicabili...

The HIV infection supported the re-emergence of TB as well as two major changes in the natural history of TB, namely it has increased the frequency of extrapulmonary TB and the mycobac‐ terial multidrug resistance. The extrapulmonary TB involvement is present in up to 40% of the HIV cases and includes respiratory, digestive, lymphatic and neurologic localizations. Of these neurotuberculosis (NT...

BACKGROUND The Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) is one of the most important forestry resources and plays essential ecological roles in southern China. A draft nuclear genome sequence is expected to be publicly available in the near future; an explosion of gene expression data related to the unique traits of Moso bamboo will undoubtedly follow. Reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR...

2B4 (CD244) and NK-T-B-antigen (NTB-A, CD352) are activating receptors on human natural killer (NK) cells and belong to the family of signaling lymphocyte activation molecule (SLAM)-related receptors (SRR). Engagement of these receptors leads to phosphorylation of their cytoplasmic tails and recruitment of the adapter proteins SLAM-associated protein (SAP) and Ewing's sarcoma-activated transcri...

Upon TCR restimulation, activated, cycling T cells can undergo a self-regulatory form of apoptosis known as restimulation-induced cell death (RICD). We previously demonstrated that RICD is impaired in T cells from patients with X-linked lymphoproliferative disease, which lack SLAM-associated protein (SAP) expression. Both SAP and the specific SLAM receptor NK, T, and B cell Ag (NTB-A) are requi...

The present article generalyses economic litterature on consumption tax incidence to general forms of consumption taxes. Previous studies were limited to the cases of per unit and ad valorem taxes. Three main contributions are provided. From a methodological point of view, the elasticity of the tax function is introduced as a new parameter to take the shape of general consumption tax schedules ...

AIM To examine patterns of tax burdens produced by specific, ad valorem, and various types of combination taxations. METHOD One hundred unique hypothetical alcoholic beverages were mathematically simulated based on the amount of ethanol and perceived-qualities contained. Second, beverages were assigned values of various costs and tax rates, and third, patterns of tax burden were assessed per ...