Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Leading, Following or Cooked Goose? Innovation Successes and Failures in Taiwan's Electronics Industry

The reasons behind the innovation successes and failures in the Taiwanese electronics industry have been widely discussed. This paper makes its contribution to the debate by comparing the innovation outcomes for three products: complimentary metal oxide silicon (CMOS) logic, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and active matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCDs). Four success factors are identified to characterize products where the Taiwanese pursue innovation: granularity of production; absence of need for large amounts of patient capital; volume production; and manufacturing-based production. In turn, this paper argues that products exhibiting these characteristics succeed because such characteristics draw upon the institutional and historical strengths of the Taiwanese economy. The paper broadens the inquiry to assess what lessons the Taiwanese innovation successes have for developing countries. It is argued that the new lesson Taiwan has to offer is that countries can become innovators by concentrating their human and financial capital through granularization of production.increasingly relevant. It is argued here that social networks sustain interpersonal routines, which not only transgress organizational boundaries but on occasion also incubate new organizations in order to ensure their continued existence. This paper presents an overview of the routine concept and an argument for applying it in a network embeddedness context. Two case studies are presented, covering examples from the Danish dairy and the Danish machinery industry.
Connection Domain Mutations During Antiretroviral Treatment Failure in Mali: Frequencies and Impact on Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor Activity

Abstract:Mutations in the connection domain (CD) of reverse transcriptase have been implicated in reverse transcriptase inhibitor (RTI) resistance, but this is controversial and little is known in non-B subtype HIV-1. We determined CD mutations prevalence in a population infected predominantly with CRF02_AG and investigated associations with phenotypic RTI resistance. Detected CD mutations were G335D (82.3%), A371V (69.8%), E399D (9.4%), N348I (5.2%), V365I (4.2), Y318F (2.1%), G333E (2.1%), and A360V (2.1%). Mutations were largely polymorphic and did not confer RTI resistance. The observed trend toward reduced likelihood of etravirine or nevirapine resistance in the presence of G335D should be investigated further.
Slow growing versus fast growing

I falsely claimed, as an aside remark in [8] and also implicitly in the abstract [9], that the slow-growing hierarchy “catches up” with the fast-growing hierarchy at level Γ0, i.e. that, for all x > 0, where x′ is some simple (even linear) function of x. Girard [4] gave the first correct analysis of the deep relationship which exists between G and F, based on his extensive category-theoretic framework for -logic. This analysis indicates that the first point at which G catches up with F is the ordinal of the theory ID<ω(0 of arbitrary finite iterations of an inductive definition. This is very far beyond Γ0! In particular, in order to capture F at level ∣IDn∣ the slow-growing hierarchy must be generated up to ∣IDn+1∣, i.e. one extra iteration of an inductive definition is needed in order to generate sufficient new ordinals.
[Epidural analgesia in total gastrectomy--combination of bupivacaine with ketamine or fentanyl].

The effects of intraoperative epidural administration of ketamine added to bupivacaine were compared with fentanyl added to bupivacaine in patients undergoing total gastrectomy. Prospective, randomized, double blind study was designed to compare: group F: 20 patients (pts) receiving 20 ml of 0.125% bupivacaine and 50 ug of fentanyl and group K: 20 pts in whom 20 ml of 0.125% bupivacaine was combined with 50 mg of ketamine. Pts received an epidural injection through peridural catheter introduced through either T7-8 or T8-9 interspinous space. Non invasive arterial blood pressure, heart rate and ECG were recorded every 5 mins. We measured supplementary fentanyl requirement, ephedrine consumption, first postoperative complain on pain, tracheal extubation time. The groups were comparable with regard to patients characteristics, operation and anaesthesia related factors. There were no difference between groups in mean intraoperative fentanyl requirements (F vs. K = 118.5 (122.5) ug vs. 122.5(122.5)ug) (p n > 0.05), in the duration of epidural pain relief (F vs. K = 393.72 (98.75)min vs.403. 63 (111.41)min, in the tracheal extubation time (F vs.K = 52.31 (50.4) vs.46. 75 (48.35) min), postoperative sedation score (F vs.K = 1.26 (0.73) vs.1. 11 (0.32)) (p > 0.05). Significantly higher systolic blood pressure was measured in group K comparing with group F in 20, 75, 105, 120, 150 min (p > 0.05). Statistically significant more ephedrine was applied in F group (F vs.K = 0.88(1.76)ml vs.0.05(0.23)ml) (p > 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences between groups in heart rate during the operation. None of the pts complained of bad dreams or awakeness during operation. Both fentanyl and ketamine added to bupivacaine and given as a bolus provided good intraoperative analgesia in combination with general anaesthesia, minimal sensorimotor disturbance and early tracheal extubation. In our study fentanyl added to bupivacaine caused higher incidence of hypotension than ketamine added to bupivacaine.
E‐Commerce Usage and Perception of E‐Commerce Issues among Small Firms: Results and Implications from an Empirical Study**

This paper details the results of an empirical study conducted to study the scope and effectiveness of e‐commerce deployment in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as perceived by small business owners in the state. The methodology and results of this study may be applicable to several other states. In addition to a comprehensive survey of small businesses, a dozen businesses successful in deploying e‐commerce were interviewed at great length. The results showed that main parts of an e‐commerce infrastructure included (1) flow of information; (2) organizational image; (3) reaction to customer needs; (4) increased sales; and (5) access to new markets. The major reason for businesses to not engage in e‐commerce is their perception that it is not strategically important for their business. Results pertaining to regional parameters, sales tax considerations, human resources infrastructure, and Internet security issues as well as policy recommendations are discussed in the paper.
Alzheimer's Disease, Other Dementias, Depression and Pseudo-dementia: Prevalence, Incidence and Three-Year Outcome in Liverpool

A group of 1070 community-living persons aged 65 and over was assessed using the GMS–agecat package and other interviews at years 0 and 3. Year 3 interviewers were ‘blind’ to the findings at year 0, and the prevalence of organic disorders and depression was very similar in both years. According to the results at year 3, minimum and maximum prevalence figures for dementia at year 0 were 2.4% and 3.8% for moderate to severe and 0.4% and 2.4% for mild or early cases, with a best estimate of 3.5% and 0.8%, or 4.3% overall, divided into: senile, Alzheimer's type 3.3%; vascular 0.7%; and alcohol-related 0.3%. The overall incidence of dementia, clinically confirmed by six-year follow-up, was 9.2/1000 per year (Alzheimer type 6.3, vascular 1.9, alcohol related 1.0). Three years later, 72.0% of those with depressive psychosis and 62.3% of those with depressive neurosis were either dead or had some kind of psychiatric illness. Nearly 60% of milder depressive cases (7.2% of the total sample) had either died or developed a chronic mental illness. The outcome of depressive pseudodementias is equivocal so far. Findings at year 3 provide validation of agecat computer diagnosis against outcome; organic and depression diagnoses are seen to have important implications for prognosis.
The Affordable Care Act Reduces Hypertension Treatment Disparities for Mexican-heritage Latinos

Objectives: Mexican-heritage Latinos have lower prevalence of hypertension, but have worse patterns of treatment and control compared with non-Latino whites. This study examined the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance expansion on reducing disparities in treatment and medication use among Mexican-heritage Latinos with hypertension. Research Design: Using the 2009–2014 waves of the California Health Interview Survey, we examine health care access, utilization, and medication use among Mexican-heritage Latinos and non-Latino whites with hypertension. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to adjust for socioeconomic and demographic factors. Interactions between race/ethnicity and year variables were conducted to capture the effects of the passage of the ACA. Results: Among those with hypertension, the full implementation of the ACA (year 2014) is associated with a greater likelihood of being insured, but the race/ethnicity interaction indicates that this gain is less substantial for Mexican-heritage Latinos. The odds of having a usual source of care other than the emergency department increased after the passage of the ACA, and interaction effects indicate that this gain was more substantial for Mexican-heritage Latinos. The odds of having any physician visit and taking blood pressure mediations decreased among non-Latino whites but increased among Mexican-heritage Latinos. Conclusions: The implementation of the ACA in California has helped reduce some of the disparities in health care access, utilization, and medication use between non-Latino whites and Mexican-heritage Latinos with hypertension. However, sustained progress is threatened by looming repeals of ACA provisions.
Organizational Structure and Firm Performance: An Intertemporal Perspective

Since the seminal contributions of Chandler and Williamson, a substantial body of research in industrial organization has examined the performance benefits of the organizational innovation of divisionalization. While existing empirical work has, for the most part, utilized a static framework to analyse the performance effects of divisionalization, adopts a dynamic approach, thereby allowing the intertemporal nature of any such performance benefits to be examined. Presents results from the UK manufacturing industry; the model estimated uses a spline function to incorporate differing organizational regimes over time. The results obtained are less supportive of the benefits of divisionalization than certain of the earlier empirical studies; thus the evidence presented lends no support to the view that organizational change provides unambiguous performance benefits for the firm.
Residential Mobility of Urban Middle Classes in the Field of Parenthood

There is common understanding that gentrifiers and new middle classes more generally share an urban orientation and may share a ‘metropolitan habitus’. The urban geography of Western metropolises and the formation and reproduction of specific middle-class groups are intrinsically connected. The specific urban habitus of these new middle classes, however, is challenged by events in the life course. When urban middle classes settle down and have children, many suburbanise. Using two waves of longitudinal data from a representative sample of middle-class couples expecting their first child, this study investigates the residential practices of middle classes that live in the central areas of Amsterdam when they become first-time parents. Building on prior work on urban middle classes, inspired by the theoretical concepts of Bourdieu, through a multilevel analysis, this study seeks to understand how various orientations of capital influence the decision whether to stay in the city or move to suburban areas. Controlling for a range of individual and neighbourhood variables, this study demonstrates that couples with high economic capital and relatively low cultural capital have a higher propensity to move out of the central city, whereas couples with high cultural capital and low economic capital have a smaller chance of suburbanising. Furthermore, this study confirms that the degree of social and economic connectedness through social networks and work in the city also play an important part in determining the propensity to move out of the city.
Does the Preference Reversal Phenomenon Necessarily Contradict the Independence Axiom

One of the most puzzling paradoxes in decision theory is the preference reversal phenomenon. This phenomenon seems to contradict the transitivity axiom, for a long time, one of the cornerstones of utility theory. This paradox is established whenever a decision maker prefers lottery X to lottery Y, but is willing to put a lower selling price on X than on Y. Such experiments, first reported by Harold Lindman, 1971; and Sarah Lichtenstein and Paul Slovic, 1971, were repeated by David Grether and Charles Plott, 1979; Werner Pommerehne et al., 1982; and Robert Reilly, 1982. Although the later researchers improved the mechanism through which the selling price emerges, they all found systematic reversals. A new approach to this problem was developed by Charles Holt, 1986, and Edi Karni and Zvi Safra, 1987. From two different starting points, these authors showed that the preference reversal phenomenon does not necessarily prove a violation of the transitivity axiom, as it may contradict the independence axiom. This implies that people do not maximize expected utility, but in that case the preference reversal phenomenon becomes just another evidence against expected utility theory, but not against the transitivity axiom. These results have their own disadvantages. Although the independence axiom is not as fundamental as transitivity, it is nevertheless very appealing on normative grounds. Of course, the preference reversal phenomenon necessarily contradicts at least one of the assumptions of expected utility theory, but empirical evidence shows that despite its normative appeal, violations of the reduction of compound lotteries axiom may happen (see, for example, Joshua Ronen, 1971, and Doug Snowball and Clif Brown, 1979). In this paper I therefore suggest a decision mechanism for the preference reversals lotteries which is transitive and satisfies the independence axiom, but not the reduction axiom.
Hyperpolarization-Activated Currents in Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone (GnRH) Neurons Contribute to Intrinsic Excitability and Are Regulated by Gonadal Steroid Feedback

Pulsatile release of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is required for fertility and is regulated by steroid feedback. Hyperpolarization-activated currents (Ih) play a critical role in many rhythmic neurons. We examined the contribution of Ih to the membrane and firing properties of GnRH neurons and the modulation of this current by steroid milieu. Whole-cell voltage- and current-clamp recordings were made of GFP-identified GnRH neurons in brain slices from male mice that were gonad-intact, castrated, or castrated and treated with estradiol implants. APV, CNQX, and bicuculline were included to block fast synaptic transmission. GnRH neurons (47%) expressed a hyperpolarization-activated current with pharmacological and biophysical characteristics of Ih. The Ih-specific blocker ZD7288 reduced hyperpolarization-induced sag and rebound potential, decreased GnRH neuron excitability and action potential firing, and hyperpolarized membrane potential in some cells. ZD7288 also altered the pattern of burst firing and reduced the slope of recovery from the after-hyperpolarization potential. Activation of Ih by hyperpolarization increased spike frequency, whereas inactivation of Ih by depolarization reduced spike frequency. Castration increased Ih compared with that in gonad-intact males. This effect was reversed by in vivo estradiol replacement. Together, these data indicate Ih provides an excitatory drive in GnRH neurons that contributes to action potential burst firing and that estradiol regulates Ih in these cells. As estradiol is the primary central negative feedback hormone on GnRH neuron firing in males, this provides insight into the mechanisms by which steroid hormones potentially alter the intrinsic properties of GnRH neurons to change their activity.
Why worry? The impact of the OECD harmful tax competition initiative on Caribbean offshore financial centres

Abstract The economies of small states are vulnerable to a variety of external factors—economic, political and environmental. One economic/financial factor confronting those small states with offshore financial centres has been the effort by the OECD to eliminate tax arbitrage (harmful tax competition). A related initiative to eliminate money laundering and combat the financing of terrorism has increased the regulatory responsibilities and costs to these small jurisdictions and represents an example for the potential consequences of the OECD project. Using economic data from several Caribbean jurisdictions, this article investigates the direct impact of these international programmes to increase financial regulation upon their financial services industries. Two specific outcomes are demonstrated: a reduction in employment opportunities and a decline in government revenues. At present this situation bodes ill for the continued operation of offshore financial centres as a method towards achieving economic development.
Determinants of Corporate Bond and CDS Spreads

In this paper, we propose a new method to estimate the components of corporate bond and CDS spreads. We develop a CDS pricing model with default and nondefault factors, and a corporate bond pricing model with default, tax and liquidity factors using the reduced-form approach, and jointly estimate parameters of both models from pooled data. By formulating default intensity as a common factor of the prices of the CDS and reference bonds, we are able to identify the liquidity and other components of spreads more precisely. We find that on average the liquidity premium accounts for about 23% of the corporate yield spread and the size of the liquidity premium increases as the rating decreases. Furthermore, the CDS spread contains a significant nondefault component. Results show that ignoring the nondefault component in the CDS premium results in biased estimates of corporate spread components when using the CDS information to aid in decomposition of yield spreads.
Learning and Capacity Expansion under Demand Uncertainty

A competitive, dynamic model of entry into a new industry is set up and both its positive and normative aspects are studied. The main assumptions are that entry is sequential, that it occurs under imperfect information on the size of the market and that better information becomes available as time goes on. The gradual improvement in information is due to the fact that later waves of entrants are able to observe the profitability of earlier entrants. The major results reported here (under suitable restrictions) are that the equilibrium rate of entry is monotonically decreasing over time, and that—at any given point in time—it is smaller than the socially optimal one.
Why Public Sector Workers Join Unions: An Attitude Survey of Workers in the Health Service and Local Government

Reports a nationwide questionnaire survey of health service and local government union and non‐union workers in the same workplace carried out by NUPE to investigate what factors are influential in the choice to join or not to join a union. Results suggest financial benefits are not an incentive and show that stewards play a pivotal role in recruitment.
Transcriptional Profiling of the Immune Response to Marburg Virus Infection

ABSTRACT Marburg virus is a genetically simple RNA virus that causes a severe hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates. The mechanism of pathogenesis of the infection is not well understood, but it is well accepted that pathogenesis is appreciably driven by a hyperactive immune response. To better understand the overall response to Marburg virus challenge, we undertook a transcriptomic analysis of immune cells circulating in the blood following aerosol exposure of rhesus macaques to a lethal dose of Marburg virus. Using two-color microarrays, we analyzed the transcriptomes of peripheral blood mononuclear cells that were collected throughout the course of infection from 1 to 9 days postexposure, representing the full course of the infection. The response followed a 3-stage induction (early infection, 1 to 3 days postexposure; midinfection, 5 days postexposure; late infection, 7 to 9 days postexposure) that was led by a robust innate immune response. The host response to aerosolized Marburg virus was evident at 1 day postexposure. Analysis of cytokine transcripts that were overexpressed during infection indicated that previously unanalyzed cytokines are likely induced in response to exposure to Marburg virus and further suggested that the early immune response is skewed toward a Th2 response that would hamper the development of an effective antiviral immune response early in disease. Late infection events included the upregulation of coagulation-associated factors. These findings demonstrate very early host responses to Marburg virus infection and provide a rich data set for identification of factors expressed throughout the course of infection that can be investigated as markers of infection and targets for therapy. IMPORTANCE Marburg virus causes a severe infection that is associated with high mortality and hemorrhage. The disease is associated with an immune response that contributes to the lethality of the disease. In this study, we investigated how the immune cells circulating in the blood of infected primates respond following exposure to Marburg virus. Our results show that there are three discernible stages of response to infection that correlate with presymptomatic, early, and late symptomatic stages of infection, a response format similar to that seen following challenge with other hemorrhagic fever viruses. In contrast to the ability of the virus to block innate immune signaling in vitro, the earliest and most sustained response is an interferon-like response. Our analysis also identifies a number of cytokines that are transcriptionally upregulated during late stages of infection and suggest that there is a Th2-skewed response to infection. When correlated with companion data describing the animal model from which our samples were collected, our results suggest that the innate immune response may contribute to overall pathogenesis.
Canadian Foreign Policy: Does gender matter?

The Department of Foreign Affairs has had a longstanding commitment to advance gender equality and women's human rights. This article looks first at the challenges facing women within the foreign affairs bureaucracy, and then examines Canada's support and encouragement of gender mainstreaming initiatives internationally. In comparing the Canadian commitment to gender mainstreaming abroad with its attempts to integrate women into the foreign policy establishment at home, the article points to some of the limits of the current efforts to include women and gender in foreign policy processes and policies. It suggests that these processes and policies cannot respond meaningfully to concerns about the place of women and gender in foreign policy, without first understanding the extent to which they reflect profoundly gendered premises about the nature of foreign service, on the one hand, and the structure of global order, on the other.