Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Electronics Industries of the Asia-Pacific: Exploiting international production networks for economic development

Although the electronics industry has been one of the main driving forces behind the export‐led growth of the newly industrialising economies (NIEs) of the Asia–Pacific, there has until recently been little empirical research showing how the various NIEs managed to enter international markets and gain technology. This paper describes the overall characteristics of the electronics sector in the NIEs, highlighting the main organisational innovations which have enabled local firms to enter international markets and acquire foreign technology. The OEM (original equipment manufacture) system, prevalent in East Asia, is contrasted with the TNC (transnational company)‐led growth dominant in Southeast Asia. The paper also discusses the emerging ‘contract electronics manufacturing’, or CEM, which could threaten traditional OEM and TNC‐subsidiary production in the NIEs. The electronics sector proves to be a rich source of empirical material, both for understanding the processes of economic development and for illustrating the role of latecomer enterprise in engaging with and exploiting international production networks.
Modeling and Analysis Framework for Multi-Interface Multi-Channel Cognitive Radio Networks

The concept of a multi-interface multi-channel cognitive radio is both novel and promising. Indeed, such opportunistic access to the spectrum, over multiple channels in a simultaneous manner, will provide much higher data rates and better seamless communication while decreasing the possibility of interference to licensed users. In this vein, this paper proposes a detailed modeling and analysis of multi-interface multi-channel cognitive radio networks. The analytical efforts lead to the representation of each cognitive node with a 2-D Markov chain. Among the findings of the proposed modeling and analysis is the probability mass function of the secondary user (SU)'s queue length, from which any higher moment can be extracted. In addition, the stability condition, beyond which the network cannot be considered operative any longer, is derived. Statistical tests are conducted to determine the characteristics of the queue length's tail distribution. The accuracy of the analytical results is corroborated with simulation experiments. The proposed modeling is fairly practical as it takes into account issues such as sensing faults and channel imperfections, asynchronism among SUs, distance, and the primary activity level. In addition, the model is useful for the performance analysis and design of other types of cognitive networks as well, including cognitive-radio-based wireless regional area networks.
Symbolic adoption of ISO 9000 in small and medium-sized enterprises: The role of internal contingencies

This article explores the decoupling between the rhetoric and practice of ISO 9000, an internationally disseminated standard in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Extensive fieldwork based on 65 in-depth interviews of general managers, middle managers and employees was undertaken in eight Spanish SMEs which adopted the standard over a long period of time. Contrary to common belief and the dominant neo-institutional approach to ISO certification, the findings indicate that firms tend to adopt ISO 9000 symbolically in response to various internal organisational contingencies, rather than as part of their adaptation to external pressures. ISO 9000 certification in SMEs can be compared to the acquisition of an organisational degree whose optimistic rhetoric and similar institutional pressures mask the considerable heterogeneity of certified organisations and elasticity of the standard when integrated into daily activities.
Towards optimal cosmological parameter recovery from compressed bispectrum statistics

Over the next decade, improvements in cosmological parameter constraints will be driven by surveys of large-scale structure in the Universe. The information they contain can be measured by suitably-chosen correlation functions, and the non-linearity of structure formation implies that significant information will be carried by the three-point function or higher correlators. Extracting this information is extremely challenging, requiring accurate modelling and significant computational resources to estimate the covariance matrix describing correlation between different Fourier configurations. We investigate whether it is possible to reduce this matrix without significant loss of information by using a proxy that aggregates the bispectrum over a subset of configurations. Specifically, we study constraints on ΛCDM parameters from a future galaxy survey combining the power spectrum with (a) the integrated bispectrum, (b) the line correlation function and (c) the modal decomposition of the bispectrum. We include a simple estimate for the degradation of the bispectrum with shot noise. Our results demonstrate that the modal bispectrum has comparable performance to the Fourier bispectrum, even using considerably fewer modes than Fourier configurations. The line correlation function has good performance, but is less effective. The integrated bispectrum is comparatively insensitive to the background cosmology. Addition of bispectrum data can improve constraints on bias parameters and σ8 by a factor between 3 and 5 compared to power spectrum measurements alone. For other parameters, improvements of up to ∼ 20% are possible. Finally, we use a range of theoretical models to explore the sophistication required to produce realistic predictions for each proxy.
Independent association of extent of resection with survival in patients with malignant brain astrocytoma.

OBJECT With recent advances in the adjuvant treatment of malignant brain astrocytomas, it is increasingly debated whether extent of resection affects survival. In this study, the authors investigate this issue after primary and revision resection of these lesions. METHODS The authors retrospectively reviewed the cases of 1215 patients who underwent surgery for malignant brain astrocytomas (World Health Organization [WHO] Grade III or IV) at a single institution from 1996 to 2006. Patients with deep-seated or unresectable lesions were excluded. Based on MR imaging results obtained < 48 hours after surgery, gross-total resection (GTR) was defined as no residual enhancement, near-total resection (NTR) as having thin rim enhancement of the resection cavity only, and subtotal resection (STR) as having residual nodular enhancement. The independent association of extent of resection and subsequent survival was assessed via a multivariate proportional hazards regression analysis. RESULTS Magnetic resonance imaging studies were available for review in 949 cases. The mean age and mean Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) score at time of surgery were 51 +/- 16 years and 80 +/- 10, respectively. Surgery consisted of primary resection in 549 patients (58%) and revision resection for tumor recurrence in 400 patients (42%). The lesion was WHO Grade IV in 700 patients (74%) and Grade III in 249 (26%); there were 167 astrocytomas and 82 mixed oligoastrocytoma. Among patients who underwent resection, GTR, NTR, and STR were achieved in 330 (35%), 388 (41%), and 231 cases (24%), respectively. Adjusting for factors associated with survival (for example, age, KPS score, Gliadel and/or temozolomide use, and subsequent resection), GTR versus NTR (p < 0.05) and NTR versus STR (p < 0.05) were independently associated with improved survival after both primary and revision resection of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). For primary GBM resection, the median survival after GTR, NTR, and STR was 13, 11, and 8 months, respectively. After revision resection, the median survival after GTR, NTR, and STR was 11, 9, and 5 months, respectively. Adjusting for factors associated with survival for WHO Grade III astrocytoma (age, KPS score, and revision resection), GTR versus STR (p < 0.05) was associated with improved survival. Gross-total resection versus NTR was not associated with an independent survival benefit in patients with WHO Grade III astrocytomas. The median survival after primary resection of WHO Grade III (mixed oligoastrocytomas excluded) for GTR, NTR, and STR was 58, 46, and 34 months, respectively. CONCLUSIONS In the authors' experience with both primary and secondary resection of malignant brain astrocytomas, increasing extent of resection was associated with improved survival independent of age, degree of disability, WHO grade, or subsequent treatment modalities used. The maximum extent of resection should be safely attempted while minimizing the risk of surgically induced neurological injury.
A Simple Modified Peak Detection Based UWB Receiver for WSN and IoT Applications

Ultra-wide band (UWB) communication is a viable solution for Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) and Internet of Things (IoT) due to low cost and low power requirement. However, UWB transceiver design is more complex due to large bandwidth and precise synchronization requirement. In this paper, we propose a simple peak detection based non-coherent UWB receiver, suitable for low data rate WSN and IoT based applications. The proposed receiver divides each data symbol frame duration into smaller multiple time windows. In each time window, peak of received signal is detected independently using threshold comparison. The transmitted signal is detected in a frame by employing decisions on all multiple time windows. From simulation, it is observed that the proposed receiver outperforms existing non-coherent receivers. The performance analysis of the proposed receiver is carried out by using time hopping pulse position modulation (TH-PPM) UWB signal in additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN), multipath communication using the existing IEEE 802.15. 4a standard.
A Squeezer Round the Corner? Self-Regulation and Forward Markets

Squeezes are registered in the forward market for Brent crude oil. The squeezer accumulates forward contracts and creates artificial demand. This causes the price to surge and introduces uncertainty about the market outcome. Squeezes therefore render the market institution less palatable to other market participants. Producers may have a longterm interest in keeping market clearing smooth, e.g., by supplying stocks to squeezed traders. The extent to which such self-regulation should be carried out is analyzed in the context of a repeated game. Unless the probability of a squeeze is very small, self-regulation should be possible. Copyright 1997 by Royal Economic Society.
Converting Environmental Concern into Ecotourism Purchases: A Qualitative Evaluation of International Backpackers in Australia

Despite the provision of 'green' tourism products, research has failed to specifically explore tourists' environmental behaviour in terms of ecotourism purchases within a holiday destination. In exploring this issue the paper reviews a range of literature concerning the relationship between environmental concern and environmentally responsible purchasing behaviour, and presents a qualitative evaluation of the ecotourism purchasing behaviour of Australia's 'backpacker' market. Interviews were conducted with backpackers on completion of an ecotour, providing the basis for discussion of a range of possible explanations for the apparent inconsistencies between environmental concern and purchasing behaviour including problems with sampling, the lack of education and awareness about ecotourism products and accreditation programmes, and the apparent abandonment of environmental responsibility by tourists whilst on holiday. It is suggested that ecotourism marketing is directed at tourists in the pre-departure/planning phase of their holiday, perhaps through national tourism organisations in tourism-generating regions, to raise awareness of environmental issues surrounding tourism in natural areas; establish ecolabelling brand awareness and recognition of 'green' tourism products; internalise individuals' locus of control regarding environmental concerns in their everyday environment; and to circumvent the environmental ethical malaise which seems to override a tourist's normal environmental concerns and behaviour whilst on holiday.
Theoretical and Policy Implications of Case Study Findings about Federal Efforts to Improve Public Schools

The billions of dollars appropriated by Congress to promote equality of educational opportunity and to facilitate educational reforms in recent years have stimu lated thousands of school districts to introduce major innova tions into their curricula, modes of operation and organiza tional arrangements. The benefits derived from these change efforts, however, have generally been disappointing. The poor record of educational innovations has stimulated in quiries designed to determine conditions that serve to facili tate and block planned organizational change in schools. Major impediments to eductional change, largely overlooked in conceptualizations of the process of organizational change were identified in six longitudinal case studies of efforts to institute major innovations in school systems. Their theo retical and policy implications are examined. The findings of the studies press for a major reformulation of the theoretical scheme most frequently used to account for the fate of or ganizational innovations—overcoming resistance to change (ORC). The studies indicate that ORC is truncated and simplistic because it ignores important stages in organiza tional change, and overlooks conditions internal and external to the organization that can have an important impact on the fate of innovations. Seven policy implications of the case studies are specified, including the need for Congress to abandon the categorical aid approach to educational problems in favor of more functional tailor-made solutions, and to insti tute procedures to assure that those who administer educa tional policies will facilitate, not inhibit, the accomplishment of its objectives.
Management's Role in Information Security in a Cyber Economy

Information security is not a technical issue; it is a management issue. It rests on three cornerstones—critical infrastructures, organization, and technology. While critical infrastructures are beyond the direct control of the organization, balancing them is a critical component of corporate governance. Total security is neither technically feasible nor operationally practicable. Therefore the organization must determine what information assets must be protected and the degree of protection to be provided for them. As Internet-based commerce diffuses through society, there will be decreasing tolerance on the part of customers for losses stemming from perceived or actual cyber vulnerabilities. Only senior management can initiate the plans and policies that address the different aspects of security in a balanced and integrated manner. Leaving security primarily to the IT function will strengthen just one of the cornerstones—namely, technology—and will not yield the intended results. Security lapses are management failures more than technical failures. This article presents an organizational security approach that senior managers can use as a roadmap to initiate security plans and policies and audit their implementation.
Persistent Chronic Inflammation and Infection by Chikungunya Arthritogenic Alphavirus in Spite of a Robust Host Immune Response

Alphaviruses, including Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), produce a transient illness in humans, but severe forms leading to chronic incapacitating arthralgia/arthritis have been reported by mechanisms largely ill-characterized. The pathogenesis of CHIKV was addressed in a prospective cohort study of 49 hospitalized patients from Reunion Island subsequently categorized into two distinct groups at 12 mo postinfection. Comprehensive analyses of the clinical and immunological parameters throughout the disease course were analyzed in either the “recovered” or the “chronic” groups to identify prognostic markers of arthritis-like pathology after CHIKV disease. We found that the chronic group consisted mainly of more elderly patients (>60 y) and with much higher viral loads (up to 1010 viruses per milliliter of blood) during the acute phase. Remarkably, a rapid innate immune antiviral response was demonstrated by robust dendritic/NK/CD4/CD8 cell activation and accompanied by a rather weak Th1/Th2 cytokine response in both groups. Interestingly, the antiviral immune response witnessed by high levels of IFN-α mRNA in PBMCs and circulating IL-12 persisted for months only in the chronic group. CHIKV (RNA and proteins) was found in perivascular synovial macrophages in one chronic patient 18 mo postinfection surrounded by infiltrating NK and T cells (CD4++ but rare cytotoxic CD8). Fibroblast hyperplasia, strong angiogenesis, tissue lesions given the high levels of matrix metalloproteinase 2, and acute cell death [high cleaved poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase staining] were observed in the injured synovial tissue. These observed cellular and molecular events may contribute to chronic arthralgia/arthritis targeted by methotrexate used empirically for effective treatment but with immunosuppressive function in a context of viral persistence.
Uniform testing and portfolio strategies for single and multifactor asset pricing models in the Pacific Basin markets

We test and implement portfolio strategies for three major asset pricing models, under uniform diagnostic measures using the PACAP data set containing all current listing and de-listing of firms for the local stock exchange in several Pacific Basin countries. Compared to the often used MSCI database that include only a subset of the (large) firms in the local markets, the more complete coverage of our database allows for more robust testing of current multifactor asset pricing models since the possible effects of additional factors such as size and book to market may not show up correctly using less comprehensive data sets. Our data set also provides a natural packet of nonUS data for addressing the issue of whether the results of recent asset pricing research are sample specific. Our overall results provide multi-country (sample nonspecific) support for the additional asset pricing risk factors of the Fama-French three-factor model but not for the momentum factor of the Carhart model. We additionally find that the size risk factor is more prominent than value risk factor in the Pacific Basin markets. Finally, we find strong evidence that portfolio strategies implemented to capture value and size effects are profitable in the Pacific Basin stock markets.
Taming the tigers: The IMF and the Asian crisis

This article is a contribution to the debate over Asia's economic crisis. In particular it explores the actions and motives of one of the key actors in the Asian crash-the International Monetary Fund. The article demonstrates that the IMF does not have a monopoly of social or economic wisdom (far from it). If the Fund's neoliberal crusaders can be reined in, and alternatives explored, the crisis can offer Asia the chance to forge democratic and sustainable alternatives to the ruinous development path of recent years. If not, then ordinary Asians could come to look back on the 1970s and 1980s as a golden era. That would indeed be a tragic testament to the failings of the 'rescue packages' of 1997.
The case for ‘beneficial constraints’: Why permissive voluntarism impedes workplace cooperation in Ireland

Drawing on existing literature and two case studies of workplace cooperation in Ireland, this article illustrates that although Ireland has had national-level consensus bargaining since 1987, workplace-level cooperation is rare. This can be largely attributed to Ireland’s permissive voluntarist institutional and employment relations context, characterized by limited institutional coordination linking national and workplace governance, and which renders workplaces particularly exposed to the contradictions of capitalism. The result is that few employers construct and maintain workplace bargains with their employees. Focusing on the concept of ‘beneficial constraints’ on employer choice, it is concluded that if efficient and fair workplace coalitions are to increase, the state would need to reform the permissive voluntarism dominating Irish employment relations by ‘reinstitutionalizing’ workplace pluralism through proactive policy interventions.
Segmenting the human genome based on states of neutral genetic divergence

Significance In addition to a significant contribution to our understanding of the intricacies of mutagenesis, this study provides a powerful platform for mining biomedical data—which we make publicly available through the University of California Santa Cruz Genome Browser and the Galaxy portal. The divergence states we characterize serve as local background to benchmark signals used in computational algorithms for prediction of noncoding functional elements and in screening variants from cancer and other disease-affected genomes. Many studies have demonstrated that divergence levels generated by different mutation types vary and covary across the human genome. To improve our still-incomplete understanding of the mechanistic basis of this phenomenon, we analyze several mutation types simultaneously, anchoring their variation to specific regions of the genome. Using hidden Markov models on insertion, deletion, nucleotide substitution, and microsatellite divergence estimates inferred from human–orangutan alignments of neutrally evolving genomic sequences, we segment the human genome into regions corresponding to different divergence states—each uniquely characterized by specific combinations of divergence levels. We then parsed the mutagenic contributions of various biochemical processes associating divergence states with a broad range of genomic landscape features. We find that high divergence states inhabit guanine- and cytosine (GC)-rich, highly recombining subtelomeric regions; low divergence states cover inner parts of autosomes; chromosome X forms its own state with lowest divergence; and a state of elevated microsatellite mutability is interspersed across the genome. These general trends are mirrored in human diversity data from the 1000 Genomes Project, and departures from them highlight the evolutionary history of primate chromosomes. We also find that genes and noncoding functional marks [annotations from the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE)] are concentrated in high divergence states. Our results provide a powerful tool for biomedical data analysis: segmentations can be used to screen personal genome variants—including those associated with cancer and other diseases—and to improve computational predictions of noncoding functional elements.
Maternal effects on the development of social rank and immunity trade–offs in male laboratory mice (Mus musculus)

Social status in randomly constituted groups of male CFLP mice was predictable from early suckling behaviour and rate of weight gain in natal litters. High–ranking males were those that had suckled on more anterior teats and gained weight more quickly. Rank was not predicted by any measures of sibling interaction or hormone (testosterone, corticosterone) concentration. Aggressiveness in eventual high–rankers was associated negatively with the proportion of males in the litter at birth and the amount of maternal attention received. Aggressive social relationships within natal litters did not predict polarized rank relationships in randomized groups. Nevertheless, while still in their natal litters, and in the absence of aggressive rank relationships, eventual rank categories showed the same difference in modulation of testosterone concentration in relation to current immunocompetence (low–rankers modulating, high–rankers not), as has repeatedly been found in randomized groups by earlier studies. The role of maternal condition in determining rank–related life–history development in male mice is discussed.