Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How subsidiaries influence innovation in the MNE value chain

As multinational enterprises increasingly disaggregate their value chains and assign functional responsibilities to foreign subsidiaries, they are increasingly focused on augmenting spatially distant activities and resources. At the same time, despite subsidiary managers operating at the “middle” of the organization and having awareness of operational and strategic contexts, they have received significant criticism for hindering the successful coordination and integration of value chain activities. This appears counterintuitive as, on the one hand, MNEs are increasingly disaggregating their value chains and, on the other, subsidiary managers act as frontline managers, at the intersection of their local context and the MNE. We examine the resource stocks of six subsidiaries and the activities of subsidiary managers locally and across global value chains. The results indicate that integration responsibilities are decentralized, as properties of subsidiary mandates, and that the subsidiary managers’ connectivity activities significantly affect the strategic influence that they subsidiary can exercise locally and globally. The results also contain important information for policymakers.
Statistical Analysis of Textual Data from Corpora of Written Communication – New Results from an Italian Interdisciplinary Research Program (EASIEST)

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a form of pervasive developmental disorder characterized by complex communication needs and early onset. The "triad" of symptoms for diagnosing ASD includes three areas: (a) social interaction; (b) language and communication; (c) behavior, activities, and interests (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Complex qualitative and quantitative language and communication needs are acknowledged among the specific characteristics of this disorder, though defining and identifying these "needs" often proves a difficult task (Boucher, 2003; Sikora, Hartley, Mccoy, Gerrard-Morris, & Dill, 2008; Snyder, Miller, & Stein, 2008). Enhancing effective communication in everyday life and investigating new ways to help individuals with ASD (IWA) to communicate are fundamental issues (Tager-Flusberg & Caronna, 2007; Ostryn, 2008; Koegel & Brown, 2007) and, more in general, recent results (Rapin & Tuchman, 2008) stress the growing need for special services and treatments for an increasing number of children (and adults).
Muscle strength in the oldest old and associated factors

The objective of this cross-sectional household-based study was to investigate the factors associated with muscle strength in the oldest old (≥ 80 years) living in a rural area, of southern Brazil. We interviewed a total of 56 men (85.0 ± 4.4 y) and 78 women (84.5 ± 4.8 y). Prevalence of poor performance in the handgrip test (isometric strength) was 39.2% and was associated with illiteracy, underweight, and cognitive deficit. Poor performance in the “chair stand” test (lower body strength/physical function) was observed in 48.5% of the elderly and was more prevalent in men and among those who consumed more alcoholic drink/week. The results may be useful as indicators to public health surveillance, and to the development of prevention and intervention actions.
Biofouling in Salmon Aquaculture: the effectiveness of alternative netting materials and coatings in coastal British Columbia

Biofouling in salmon aquaculture is an important issue. The use of copper based antifoulants contributes to marine pollution and managing biofouling on untreated nets incurs a heavy cost on the industry. What is needed is an antifoulant coating that balances the needs of the industry with good environmental practices. This study describes the effectiveness of seven alternative netting treatments and two copper based treatments as compared to an untreated nylon net. Effectiveness was measured in terms of percent net occlusion, percent cover of major fouling groups and biomass. Following eight months immersion, results show that the alternative treatments did not out-perform the untreated nylon control, and that the two copper treatments significantly outperformed the control and all of the alternative treatments tested in this study. The results demonstrate that the alternative treatments tested in this study were unable to meet the performance standards set by industry, that more research is needed into alternative antifoulant coatings for aquaculture, and that the effectiveness of copper based treatments will continue to be a barrier to the implementation of alternative antifouling treatments. keywords: biofouling; salmon; copper antifoulant; image analysis
Using Bayesian Networks for Student Modeling

This chapter purveys an account of Bayesian networks-related technologies for modeling students in intelligent tutoring systems. Uncertainty exists ubiquitously when we infer students’ internal status, for example, learning needs and emotion, from their external behavior, for example, responses to test items and explorative actions. Bayesian networks offer a mathematically sound mechanism for representing and reasoning about students under uncertainty. This chapter consists of five sections, and commences with a brief overview of intelligent tutoring systems, emphasizing the needs for uncertain reasoning. A succinct survey of Bayesian networks for student modeling is provided in Bayesian Networks, and we go through an example of applying Bayesian networks and mutual IDEA GROUP PUBLISHING This paper appears in the publication, Cognitively Informed Systems: Utilizing Practical Approaches to Enrich Information Presentation and Transfer edited by Eshaa M. Alkhalifa © 2006, Idea Group Inc. 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Suite 200, Hershey PA 17033-1240, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.idea-group.com ITB12098
Cointegration analysis of wine export prices for France, Greece and Turkey

Mediterranean countries have noticeable affect on the world wine exportation. Among these countries France, Greece and Turkey are selected for this study because of different wine market, trade systems and wine policies they have. In this study, cointegration analysis was conducted for real wine export prices and real exchange rates for France, Greece and Turkey. The long term relationships between real exchange rates and real wine export values were explored by using cointegration analysis. Annual data from 1970 to 2003 was used for this analysis and the data sets were found to be integrated of the same order. It was also found that they move together in the long run by Johansen Cointegration Test. Then, Error Correction Model (ECM) was applied to search any short term relations and impacts of exchange rate variations on wine exports. French and Greek monetary policies affect their wine export volume by the years. Therefore, any depreciation of local currency in dollar terms will lead to increase of exports vice versa. On the other hand, Turkish wine real export value and real exchange rate were found not cointegrated. Since, there was not any cointegrated vector, any exchange rate volatility do not influence Turkish real export wine value. Subsequently, the reasons of wine market failures in these countries and pursued policies were discussed.
The Determinants of Economic Growth in Emerging Economies: a Comparative Analysis

Abstract. Over the past decade, most emerging and transition economies are experiencing fast growth, which is above the world average, and a consistent institutional change. The aim of this paper is twofold. First of all, a cross-country analysis of a group of emerging and transition economies in the period 1999-2005 will be carried out in order to understand what determines such growth among these countries. Secondly, a comparative analysis will be carried out. The countries will be classified according to their socio-economic models and institutional variables. Countries will be classified by taking their financial structures and ownership control over firms into consideration (Levine and Kunt, 1999; La Porta et. al., 1999), and we will investigate whether institutions and the type of socio-economic model may have an impact on growth. The central hypothesis of the paper is that explaining economic growth is a complex issue which needs positive interaction of several socio-economic and institutional factors. My analysis suggests that countries can grow with their own “style of capitalism” and economic model, and the determinants of economic growth seem to be the ability of each country to associate appropriate governance and institutions with education level, export activity and non-income dimensions of human development (life expectancy growth and infant mortality reduction). In fact, countries which experienced an increase in non-income dimensions of human development during 1970-2000,as a consequence of appropriate institutions, have sustained economic growth.
Vertical versus Horizontal Tax Incentives Policies in Brazil: Assessing the Impacts Using a Computable General Equilibrium Model

Since the 2009 financial crisis, some national governments have adopted anticyclical tax policies for recovering and economic growth. These policies can be different in terms of what type of tax incentive policy (income, labor, value added) is chosen as well if the strategy is vertical, benefiting some sectors, or horizontal, benefiting all economic sectors. In Brazil, one of the anticyclical tax policy carried out by the federal government was to reduce the value added tax named ? Imposto sobre Produtos Industrializados? (IPI) using a vertical strategy mainly benefiting the automobile sector among few others. Taking into account this recent experience, this paper aims primary to assess the efficacy of vertical versus horizontal tax incentive policies for promoting economic recovering. Additionally, the paper addresses the distributive effects of these policy strategies considering the impact on the income classes as well on the regional public finances. Considering the price effects of tax policies, the computable general equilibrium approach is the most appropriated methodological framework to achieve the objectives of this paper. We calibrated a CGE model for the Brazilian economy for 2007, recognizing the productive structure for 56 sectors and 8 types of labor segmented by income classes. This model is integrated with a public finance module specifying the government accounts for each level of government (federal, states and municipalities) as well the vertical fiscal linkages. The CGE model allow short run and long run simulations. The CGE model was used for simulating two shock scenarios. The first one represents the vertical tax policy and simulate a reduction in the IPI tax rate of the automobile sector in accordance with the average incentives over the period 2010-2013. The second one represents the horizontal tax policy and the simulation imply reductions in the IPI tax rate of all sector keeping the amount of tax revenue reduction equal to the vertical shock. These shocks were simulated for a short run closure considering the transitory nature of anticyclical policies. The simulation results show that the economic impact of vertical and horizontal tax incentives strategies are quite similar. The policy implication is that both strategies are indifferent in terms of the impact on GDP and employment. Nevertheless, the distributive impact evaluated through the effects on labor factor by income classes shows the vertical policy is more regressive than the horizontal policy. Considering the impact on the regional public finance, both policies imply reductions in the level of transfers to the regional governments due the vertical fiscal linkages of the Brazilian federalism. Despite the positive economic impact on GDP and employment, the magnitude of this effect is not so high and fiscal linkages among governments seems play an important role at least for the Brazilian economy.
Display Technologies for the Selection of Monoclonal Antibodies for Clinical Use

The development and improvement of strategies related to discovery technologies of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) (phage display, yeast display, ribosome display, bacterial display, mammalian cell surface display, mRNA display, DNA display, transgenic animal, and human B-cell derived) opened perspectives for the screening and the selection of therapeutic antibodies for, theoretically, any target from any kind of organism. The implantation of a robust platform of antibody discovery technologies allows reaching this goal. Additionally to recombinant antibody selection, antibody engineering technologies were developed and explored to obtain desired characteristics of selected leading candidates such as high affinity, low immunogenicity, improved functionality, improved protein production, improved stability, and others. mAb humanization methods emerged as alternative for generating humanized variants of promising candidates obtained from non-human organism that could elicit an immune response. This chapter contains an overview of discovery technologies, mainly display methods and antibody humanization methods for the selection of therapeutic humanized and human mAbs that appeared along the development of these technologies and thereafter. The increasing applications of phage display technology will be highlighted in the antibody engineering area (affinity maturation, guided selection to obtain human antibodies) giving promising perspectives for the development of future therapeutics.
Trends of the changes in sea ice extent in the Northern Hemisphere and their cause

The solar radiation coming to the surface of the Earth’s ellipsoid (without atmosphere) was calculated. The comparative analysis of the radiation and the surface temperature anomalies allowed enhancement in the inter-latitude heat transfer to be identifi ed. This enhancement can be responsible for the present temperature increase in the atmosphere and the upper layer of the ocean in the North Polar Region. The increase in the greenhouse eff ect in the northern area of the heat outfl ow is also shown. The analysis showed close relationship between the sea ice extent in the Northern Hemisphere and the incoming solar radiation. The quantitative estimation of the sea ice extent in the Northern Hemisphere for the time interval of 2014–2050 is made based on the regression equation.
IMPACT OF PRODUCT QUALITY IN THE BUSINESS OF THE ORGANIZATION

Quality has become a strategic goal and competition priority in the modern economy and certainly a key weapon in the battles to conquer new markets. Also extremely important is to ensure customer satisfaction, particularly with regard to ensuring high quality at an affordable price. Besides all that, it is essential to balance the alignment of interests, not only of producers and consumers, but of all interested parties. This means that, besides quality in the sense of usefulness of the product, the major importance lies in the performance management of the product realization process with the constant optimization of the cost in order to achieve a competitive and reasonable price for the buyer. Along the competitive price, it is important that the manufacturer provides sufficient funding to ensure a lasting and stable development. This relationship and exchange between quality and cost belongs to the fields of economics of quality and business efficiency. The process of transformation of consumers' desires and needs into a particular product is known as the cycle of quality. The aim of this paper is to lay the foundations, through analyzing the field of quality economics, for the research on the impact of product quality management on the competitiveness and business of organizations, especially those with an implemented quality management system.
Plasma Polymerization for Tissue Engineering Purposes

The ability of non-equilibrium plasmas to modify surfaces has been known for many years. And a promising way to perform surface modifications without altering the bulk properties is plasma polymerization since this technique is versatile and can be applied to a wide range of materials. Plasma polymer films usually show good biocompatibility when compared to classical biomaterials. The possible biomedical use of plasma polymers motivates the study of their behavior during storage and in aqueous environment. Therefore, it is of major importance to understand the change of properties of these plasma polymers over time and when in contact with certain fluids. Recently, plasma polymer gradients (surfaces that display a change in at least one physicochemical property over distance) have attracted significant attention from the biomedical filed where the interaction of cells with a material surface is of major interest. This chapter discusses biomaterial functionalization via plasma polymerization focusing on their use in the biomedical field as well as their aging and stability behaviors. Plasma polymer gradients as valuable tools to investigate cell-surface interactions will also be reviewed.
Spillover diffusion and regional convergence: a gravity approach

Among the different sources of regional growth, agglomeration economies, both internal to regions and external to regions (spillovers) play a primary role. However the presence of agglomeration economies may obstacle the path toward cohesion making rich (poor) regions become richer (poorer). While, according to New Growth Theory and New Economic Geography, there is no doubt that internal economies may lead to divergence, the debate on the role of external economies on convergence is still open. Much, of course, depends on the spatial extension of spillovers. The aim of this work is to study the spatial dimension of spillovers using the framework of cross-region growth regression. In particular we seek to explain whether the intensity of spillover is either completely exogenous or it can be explained by some endogenous regional characteristics. Results indicate that the intensity of externalities is determined by a) the regional geographical position and b) the distance from neighbors with high growth rates. While the first is completely exogenous, the second is not. Curiously enough, infrastructural endowments and factors commonly assumed to induce agglomeration do not contribute to explain the intensity of spillovers. Results have important policy implications. Since spillovers characterize more core regions, which are well connected to other rich regions, than periphery, the presence of these externalities may foster the increase of disparities between core and periphery, making harder to reach the objective of cohesion.
Pleural Empyema Menagement: A Brief Review of Litterature

Abstract Pleural empyema, defined as the presence of purulent material within the pleural space, is the consequence of a suppurative process involving the serous pleural layers. Thoracic empyema is a dynamic process, inflammatory in origin and taking place within a preformed space bordered by both the visceral and parietal pleura. It is a complex clinical entity, neither a sole clinical, laboratory, nor a radiological diagnosis. The primary therapeutic aim: ‘ubi pus evacua’ — if you find pus remove it—has not changed since the age of Celsus. Therefore, treatment of the acute empyema of the pleura is directed to early and complete evacuation of empirical fluid and content, achieving full re-expansion of the lungs and eradication of the infection using appropriate surgical procedures, antibiotics and other supportive procedures. The optimum method of treating empyema should be adjusted to the condition of the patient and the stage of the disease in which the patient is located. The method of treatment depends on the etiology (pneumonic or traumatic), the general condition of the patient and the stage of disease development. By reviewing the available literature, it can be concluded that treating the pleural empyemas is a demanding procedure, in which it is necessary for the treating physician to apply all of his knowledge, and that there is good cooperation with the patient.
U ( Z ) Ms Pitch Control Trailing Vorticity in the wake Mt Yaw Control Waves SoilFoundation Turbulence Wind Speed Wind shear Mb Lift Drag

This paper describes a conceptual framework for the online monitoring of wind turbines (WTs) relying on an object–oriented (OO), event–and–decision tree–driven platform for information processing and propagation. To this end, a WT is viewed as a multilayered system of objects (e.g. structure, controller, actuator, etc.) that are defined on the basis of abstract superclasses, attributed with specific properties and methods. The former generally provides insight about the current state of the respective object, while the latter communicates state information and determines the interaction among objects and events. The term state refers herein to a set of mutually exclusive “positions”, which a specific object may reach (e.g. safe, critical, fail, etc.), while an unknown state is also included in order to take into account possible combinations of events that have not been registered during the design phase and would eventually be identified in the decision tree through the real–time telemetry. The envisioned platform is purely probabilistic, e.g. a set of probabilities is initially assigned to all events and updated accordingly, based on actual information extracted from the WT. This information may either be acquired using sensors (through corresponding sensor objects), or may be estimated using appropriate algorithms (through corresponding methods, such as Kalman-based filters). A paradigm of the proposed conceptual framework focuses on the tower substructure of the WT and indicates the potential of the proposed approach, especially in respect to the design of specialized software for monitoring and diagnostics of both new and existing WT installations. 55 Available online at www.eccomasproceedia. org Eccomas Proceedia UNCECOMP (2017) 55-65 ©2017 The Authors. Published by Eccomas Proceedia. Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of UNCECOMP 2017. doi: 10.7712/120217.5351. 17092 Imad Abdallah, Vasilis K. Dertimanis, and Eleni N. Chatzi
The impact of early and adult life conditions on educational health inequality over the life course: a counterfactual decomposition of survival functions and hazard rates

The positive relation between education and health has been shown to be remarkably pronounced over the life course. Less is, however, known about the underlying mechanisms. Two groups of explanatory factors have been advanced: Initial life conditions affecting both education and health in early life, and health related educational returns during adulthood. We apply a counterfactual decomposition of hazard rate model to study the relative importance of these two pathways on the transition to ill health. Using data from SHARE (2006/07) and SHARELIFE (2008/09), we find that early socioeconomic conditions contribute most for the educational health differences. This is true especially for the oldest cohort. In the successive cohorts the impact of the early conditions weakens, while determinants during adulthood become also important.
Identificación del hablante de forma ciega para fines de audio forense

This paper presents a blind method for speaker identification for audio forensics purposes. It is based on a decision system with fuzzy rules and works with the correlation between the cochleagrams of the audio proof and of the audios of the suspects. Our proposed system can give a null output, a unique selected suspect or a group of identified suspects. According to several tests, our Overall Accuracy (OA) is 0.97 with agreement (κappa index, κ) of 0.75. Additionally, unlike typical systems in which a low false acceptance (FP) implies high false rejection (FN), our system can work simultaneously with FN and FP equal to zero (i.e. OA=1; κ=1). Finally, our system works with blind identification, it means, without preliminary knowledge of the audio recordings or a training step; an imperative characteristic for audio forensics.