Production Chain Length and PPI-CPI Divergence:Analysis Based on the Global Input-output Price Model

Productivity and international energy price shocks are reflected in PPI and CPI via industrial chains.China’s in-depth participation into the global value chains has increasingly lengthened its industrial production chains.The question is how the changing length of production chains will affect CPI and PPI,as well as CPI-PPI correlation?By constructing a global input-output price model,this paper offers a theoretical discussion on the impact of production chain length on the CPI-PPI divergence.Our findings suggest that the price shock of international bulk commodities has a greater impact on China’s PPI than that on CPI.The effects on both China’s PPI and CPI estimated by using the single-country input-output model are higher than the results estimated with the global input-output model.However,the difference between CPI and PPI variations estimated with the global input-output model is greater than the result estimated with the single-country input-output model,which supports the view that the lengthening of production chains,especially international production chains,leads to a divergence between CPI and PPI.Empirical results based on cross-national panel data also suggest that the lengthening of production chains has reduced the CPI-PPI correlation for countries,i.e.the lengthening of production chains has increased the PPI-CPI divergence.That is to say,policymakers should target not just CPI in maintaining price stability,but instead focus on the stability of both PPI and CPI.Efforts can be made to proactively adjust the price index system,and formulate the industrial chain price index.

Simultaneous determination of manufacturer’s process mean and production run length,and retailer’s order quantity

In Chen and Liu’s optimum profit model with a traditional production system,they did not consider the effect of product quality on the customer’s demand order quantity,and also ignored the used cost of customers for product.In fact,the customer’s demand quantity is always seriously related to product quality.Hence,in the present paper,we modify Chen and Liu’s model to address the determination of the optimal process parameters by employing the idea of quality loss and single sampling rectifying inspection plan.Assuming that the quality characteristic of the product is normally distributed,Taguchi’s symmetric quadratic quality loss function is applied in evaluating the product quality.Three decision variables,i.e.,the mean of the process characteristic,the production run length of the product and the retailer’s order quantity,are jointly determined in our modified model to maximize the expected total profit of society,which includes both the manufacturer and the retailer.A heuristic solution procedure is developed for this optimization problem,and a numerical example is provided for illustration.From the numerical results,it can be seen that both the sale price per unit and the intercept of the mean demand of the customer are two major(or significant)parameters in the model and should be more accurately estimated in practice.Finally,the quality investment policy is provided to compare its effect on the optimum profit model with quality improvement.

Simultaneous settings of order quantity,wholesale price,production run length,process mean,and warranty period

In this article,the authors propose a modified version of S.L.Chen and Liu’s model with a two-stage production system.Assume that the retailer’s order quantity is concerned with the manufacturer’s selling price and the warranty period of product.The used cost of the customer is measured under the Taguchi’s quadratic quality loss function and concluded in the retailer’s profit function.The quality of the lot for the manufacturer is determined by adopting a two-stage single sampling rectifying inspection plan.The modified economic manufacturing quantity(EMQ)model is addressed in formulating the manufacturer’s expected profit.The retailer’s order quantity,manufacturer’s wholesale price,production run length,process mean,and warranty period of product will be jointly determined by maximizing the total expected profit of the supply chain system including the manufacturer and the retailer.Finally,the quality investment policy is introduced to illustrate the profit improvement for the supply chain system.

Structural Analyses of Short-Chain Prenyltransfemses Identify an Evolutionarily Conserved GFPPS Clade in Brassicaceae Plants

Terpenoids are the largest and most diverse class of plant-specialized metabolites, which function in diverse physiological processes during plant development. In the biosynthesis of plant terpenoids, short-chain prenyltransferases （SC-PTs）, together with terpene synthases （TPSs）, play critical roles in determining terpenoid diversity. SC-PTs biosynthesize prenyl pyrophosphates with different chain lengths, and these compounds are the direct precursors of terpenoids. Arabidopsis thaliana possesses a subgroup of SC-PTs whose functions are not clearly known. In this study, we focus on 10 geranylgeranyl pyro- phosphate synthase-like [GGPPSL] proteins, which are commonly thought to produce GGPP [C20]. We found that a subset of members of the Arabidopsis GGPPSL gene family have undergone neo- functionalization： GGPPSL6, 7, 9, and 10 mainly have geranylfarnesyl pyrophosphate synthase activity （C25; renamed AtGFPPS1, 2, 3, and 4）, and GGPPSL8 produces even longer chain prenyl pyrophosphate （〉C30; renamed polyprenyl pyrophosphate synthase 2, AtPPPS2）. By solving the crystal structures of AtGFPPS2, AtPPPS2, and AtGGPPS11, we reveal the product chain-length determination mechanism of SC-PTs and interpret it as a ＂three floors＂ model. Using this model, we identified a novel GFPPS clade distributed in Brassicaceae plants and found that the GFPPS gene typically occurs in tandem with a gene encoding a TPS, forming a GFPPS-TPS gene cluster.

The Analysis of Effective Radiation Dose during PET/CT Examination

Objective: In order to reduce the effective dose level of the patients to explore the best scanning conditions, various factors affecting the level of PET/CT examination were analyzed. Methods: The effective doses of CT and pet were calculated respectively during PET/CT examination, Scanning parameters of CT and PET were optimized to reduce the effective dose of patients to a minimum while maintaining the image quality. Results: The tube voltage and tube current of CT, the injection dose during PET examination can affect the effective dose of the patients significantly. Conclusion: According to different types of patients and diseases to develop personalized scanning program, the effective dose level of the patients can be significantly reduced.