A strong private equity market is a cornerstone for commercialization and innovation in modern economies. However, substantial differences exist in the relative amounts raised and invested in private equity across European countries. We investigate the macro-determinants of private equity investment in Europe, focusing on the comparison between CEE and Western European countries. Our estimation...

BACKGROUND The medicinal plant Siegesbeckia orientalis L. has been commonly used for the treatment of acute arthritis, rheumatism, and gout in Vietnam. However, pharmacological research of this plant associated with gout has not been reported. Anti-hyperuricemic and anti-inflammatory effects were evaluated and observed for the crude ethanol extract (CEE) of S. orientalis. Retention of these bio...

abstract In this article, the study of how a constructivist e-learning system affects students' learning outcomes was explored and a two-phase study was designed. The first study sought to create a constructivist e-learning environment (CEE) and discover how students expected their learning outcomes under CEE. CEE is composed of three constructs, which are exploration, collaboration, and constr...

Some economies in the Former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe (FSU&CEE) are known as cybercrime hotspots. FSU&CEE economies have shown complex and varied responses to cybercrimes due partly to the differential incentives and pressures they face. This study builds upon literatures on white-collar crime, institutional theory and international relations (IR)/international political econ...

Employing user pairing schemes in uplink virtual multiple-input multiple-output (V-MIMO) systems can significantly improve system capacity owing to multi-user diversity. Most of the existing user pairing algorithms were developed under the assumption that a scheduler always possesses the perfect channel state information (CSI). In this paper, taking into account the effects of channel estimatio...

This paper examines bilateral and multilateral integration of equity markets of selected Central and Eastern European countries including Croatia, and German equity market for the period of January 2nd, 1997 to June 10th, 2005. Application of the Johansen cointegration procedure indicates existence of multilateral integration between equity markets of analyzed CEE economies, as well as between ...

In this study, the authors analyse the impact of channel estimation error (CEE), feedback delay (FD), and co-channel interference (CCI) on the performance of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems deploying maximum ratio transmission (MRT). In particular, the authors derive closed-form expressions for the ergodic capacity and the symbol error rate (SER) as well as the outage probability ...

Many problems in developing and maintaining systems software stem from inappropriate choices of execution environments: sets of rules and conventions for structuring code. We have developed composable execution environments (CEE), a new way to compose systems software that is based on two main capabilities: the hierarchical composition of execution environments, and the late binding of design r...

CONTEXT Some studies of hormone treatment in postmenopausal women suggest benefits on specific cognitive functions, particularly memory. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to determine whether hormone therapy influences changes in specific cognitive functions and affect in older women. DESIGN This study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. SETTING Part...