Hydrodeoxygenation of 2,5-dimethyltetrahydrofuran over bifunctional Pt–Cs2.5H0.5PW12O40 catalyst in the gas phase: enhancing effect of gold

Addition of gold to the Pt–CsPW catalyst has an enhancing effect on the HDO of DMTHF, with a twofold increase of turnover rate at Pt sites.

Evaluating the Operational Efficiency and Quality of Tertiary Hospitals in Taiwan: The Application of the EBITDA Indicator to the DEA Method and TOBIT Regression

This study estimates the efficiency of 19 tertiary hospitals in Taiwan using a two-stage analysis of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and TOBIT regression. It is a retrospective panel-data study and includes all the tertiary hospitals in Taiwan. The data were sourced from open information hospitals legally required to disclose to the National Health Insurance (NHI) Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare. The variables, including five inputs (total hospital beds, total physicians, gross equipment, fixed assets net value, the rate of emergency transfer in-patient stay over 48 h) and six outputs (surplus or deficit of appropriation, length of stay, the total relative value units [RVUs] for outpatient services, total RVUs for inpatient services, self-pay income, modified EBITDA) were adopted into the Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes (CCR) and Banker, Charnes and Cooper (BCC) model. In the CCR model, the technical efficiency (TE) from 2015–2018 increases annually, and the average efficiency of all tertiary hospitals is 96.0%. In the BCC model, the highest pure technical efficiency (PTE) was in 2018 and the average efficiency of all medical centers is 99.1%. The average scale efficiency of all medical centers was 96.8% in the BBC model, meaning investment can be reduced by 3.2% and the current production level can be maintained with a fixed return to scale. Correlation coefficient analysis shows that all variables are correlated positively; the highest was the number of beds and the number of days in hospital (r = 0.988). The results show that TE in the CCR model was similar to PTE in the BCC model in four years. The difference analysis shows that more hospitals must improve regarding surplus or deficit of appropriation, modified EBITDA, and self-pay income. TOBIT regression reveals that the higher the bed-occupancy rate and turnover rate of fixed assets, the higher the TE; and the higher number of hospital beds per 100,000 people and turnover rate of fixed assets, the higher the PTE. DEA and TOBIT regression are used to analyze the other factors that affect medical center efficiency, and different categories of hospitals are chosen to assess whether different years or different types of medical centers affect operational performance. This study provides reference values for the improvable directions of relevant large hospitals’ inefficiency decision-making units through reference group analysis and slack variable analysis.

In Search of Inspiration: External Mobility and the Emergence of Technology Intrapreneurs

Recent scholarship has established several ways in which external hiring—versus filling a role with a comparable internal candidate—is detrimental to firms. Yet, organizational learning theory suggests that external hires benefit firms: by importing knowledge that is unavailable or obscured to insiders and applying it toward experimentation and risky recombination. Accordingly and consistent with studies of learning by hiring and innovation, we predict that external hires are at greater risk of intrapreneurship than internal hires. We test this prediction via a study of product managers in large technology companies. We use machine learning to operationalize intrapreneurship by comparing product manager job descriptions with the founding statements of venture-backed technology entrepreneurs. Our research design employs coarsened exact matching to balance pretreatment covariates between product managers who arrived at their roles internally versus externally. The results of our analysis indicate that externally hired product managers are substantially more intrapreneurial than observably equivalent internal hires. However, we also find that intrapreneurial product managers have a higher turnover rate, an effect that is primarily driven by external hires. This suggests that hiring for intrapreneurship may be a difficult strategy to sustain.

The Actual Independence of the Governors of the Central Bank of Iraq and its Effects on Inflation for the Period 2003-2017

This research presents indicators that were used In estimating the independence of the Central Bank of Iraq, which distinguish between the law independence (de jure autonomy) and the actual independence (de facto autonomy) for the three central bank governors for the period 2003-2017, through the turnover rate index of governors (TOR). The research also provides a new indicator of the turnover rate of members in the executive authority in Iraq for the same period, and the effects on inflation. The study also outlines a set of behavioral indicators ​​for governors that highlight the effects of actual independence on inflation. The main findings of the research were that the actual independence, in terms of the turnover rate index, gradually decreased for the research period, but the behavioral indicators of the governors showed that they maintain price stability. Therefore, the study presents evidence on the effect of the actual independence on inflation, because of the control of the exchange rate through the foreign currency auction and the decline of foreign reserves.

EMPLOYEE MOBILITY AND INNOVATION: THE ROLE OF TURNOVER RATE AND NETWORK CENTRALITY

Innovation is crucial to a company’s competitive advantage and employees play an important role in generating innovation within a company. Based on social capital theory, we proposed a new type of social network: the employee mobility network, and explored the impact of employee mobility on innovation. Specifically, we examined the role of both employee turnover rate, and an organisation’s centrality in the employee mobility network in predicting innovation. We collected data from World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Talentale, and Forbes Global 2000 to test our hypotheses. The results showed that turnover rate had a significantly inverted-U curve relationship with innovation, and both degree and closeness centralities of an organisation in the employee mobility network had a significant positive relationship with innovation. Based on the results, we suggest that companies should find a balanced value for their turnover rate to get the highest return in innovation. Also, we suggest that companies should improve social influence in employee mobility networks in order to attract talent and increase company innovation.

Oral manifestation of post cancer therapy

Oral cancer has become serious health issues. It is owing to a variety of factors including poor hygiene, tobacco usage, chewing tobacco, smoking, and others. Along with surgery and chemotherapy, the most common treatments include radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Patients with cancer may experience oral toxic effects as a result of antineoplastic therapy such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy. A variety of factors influence radiation, including the oral mucosa's fast cell turnover rate, the richness and complexity of the oral microbiota, and soft tissue stress during normal mouth function. The present literature review is for awareness regarding the main oral manifestation secondary to post cancer therapy.

Dynamic Responses of Multidiameter-class Fine Roots at Different Soil Depths to Thinning Measures in a Secondary Forest in China

Background: Fine roots make critical contributions to carbon stocks and terrestrial productivity, and multidiameter-class fine roots exhibit functional heterogeneity. However, the dynamic characteristics of multidiameter-class fine roots at different soil depths following thinning disturbances are poorly understood. We investigated the biomass, production, mortality and turnover rate of < 0.5 mm, 0.5–1 mm and 1–2 mm fine roots at 0-20 cm, 20-40 cm and 40-60 cm soil depths under five thinning intensities (0%, 15%, 30%, 45%, and 60%) in a secondary forest in the Qinling Mountains. Results: The biomass, production and turnover rate of < 0.5 mm fine roots fluctuated with increasing thinning intensity, while 0.5-1 mm and 1-2 mm fine root biomass significantly decreased. Thinning measures had no effects on fine root necromass (except for T4) or mortality. The fine root dynamic characteristics in deeper soils were more sensitive to thinning measures. Principal component analysis results show that increased < 0.5 mm fine root biomass and production resulted from increased shrub and herb diversity and biomass and decreased soil nutrient availability, stand volume and litter biomass, whereas 0.5-1 mm and 1-2 mm fine root biomass showed the opposite trends and change mechanisms. Conclusions: Our results provide evidence of the positive effect of thinning on very fine root (< 0.5 mm) biomass and production and the negative effect on thicker fine roots (0.5-1, 1-2 mm) or all fine root (< 2 mm) biomass. From the perspective of fine root biomass and productivity, T2 (30%) is recommended for use in secondary forests of the Qinling Mountains. Moreover, our results suggest that thinning practices have varied effects on the dynamic characteristics of multidiameter-class fine roots.

Microbial Growth and Organic Matter Cycling in the Pacific Ocean Along a Latitudinal Transect Between Subarctic and Subantarctic Waters

The Pacific Ocean constitutes about half of the global oceans and thus microbial processes in this ocean have a large impact on global elemental cycles. Despite several intensely studied regions large areas are still greatly understudied regarding microbial activities, organic matter cycling and biogeography. Refined information about these features is most important to better understand the significance of this ocean for global biogeochemical and elemental cycles. Therefore we investigated a suite of microbial and geochemical variables along a transect from the subantarctic to the subarctic Pacific in the upper 200 m of the water column. The aim was to quantify rates of organic matter processing, identify potential controlling factors and prokaryotic key players. The assessed variables included abundance of heterotrophic prokaryotes and cyanobacteria, heterotrophic prokaryotic production (HPP), turnover rate constants of amino acids, glucose, and acetate, leucine aminopeptidase and β-glucosidase activities, and the composition of the bacterial community by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). The additional quantification of nitrate, dissolved amino acids and carbohydrates, chlorophyll a, particulate organic carbon and nitrogen (POC, PON) provided a rich environmental context. The oligotrophic gyres exhibited the lowest prokaryotic abundances, rates of HPP and substrate turnover. Low nucleic acid prokaryotes dominated in these gyres, whereas in temperate and subpolar regions further north and south, high nucleic acid prokaryotes dominated. Turnover rate constants of glucose and acetate, as well as leucine aminopeptidase activity, increased from (sub)tropical toward the subpolar regions. In contrast, HPP and bulk growth rates were highest near the equatorial upwelling and lowest in the central gyres and subpolar regions. The SAR11 clade, the Roseobacter group and Flavobacteria constituted the majority of the prokaryotic communities. Vertical profiles of the biogeochemical and microbial variables markedly differed among the different regions and showed close covariations of the microbial variables and chlorophyll a, POC and PON. The results show that hydrographic, microbial, and biogeochemical properties exhibited distinct patterns reflecting the biogeographic provinces along the transect. The microbial variables assessed contribute to a better and refined understanding of the scales of microbial organic matter processing in large areas of the epipelagic Pacific beyond its well-studied regions.

On the Below- and Aboveground Phenology in Deciduous Trees: Observing the Fine-Root Lifespan, Turnover Rate, and Phenology of Fagus sylvatica L., Quercus robur L., and Betula pendula Roth for Two Growing Seasons

We tested the relation between the below- and aboveground tree phenology, determining if beech and oak have a greater fine-root lifespan and a smaller turnover rate than birch and if thinner fine-roots or fine-roots born in spring have a shorter lifespan and greater turnover rate than thicker fine-roots or fine-roots born in another season. The fine-root phenology, bud burst, and leaf senescence in Belgian stands were monitored using minirhizotrons, visual observations, and chlorophyll measurements, respectively. The fine-root phenology and the lifespan and turnover rate were estimated using generalized additive models and Kaplan–Meier analyses, respectively. Unlike the aboveground phenology, the belowground phenology did not show a clear and repeating yearly pattern. The cumulative root surface remained stable for birch but peaked for beech and oak around summer to autumn in 2019 and spring in 2020. The new root count was larger in 2019 than in 2020. The mean lifespan of fine-roots with a diameter below 0.5 mm (308 to 399 days) was shorter than those with a diameter between 0.5 to 1 mm (438 to 502 days), 1 to 2 mm (409 to 446 days), or above 2 mm (418 to 471 days). Fine-roots born in different seasons showed a species-specific lifespan and turnover rate.