bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Gendered Politics of Remittances in Ghanaian Transnational Families
Authors: Wong Madeleine
Published: August 2010

Abstract: Using interviews with Ghanaian women in Toronto and members of their families in Ghana, this article extends the literature on remittances by drawing on insights from feminist scholarship on migration to investigate the social dynamics of remittances in transnational families. The growing literature on migration and remittances focuses on large‐scale quantitative analyses of data on remittances. Less explored is how gender and kinship bonds (particularly, matrilineage affiliation) influence complex decision‐making processes underlying remittances. I argue for a conceptualization of remittances as constituting relationships between senders and receivers that are continually being negotiated and contested in and across different places. Specifically, I focus on the cultural and gender‐specific ways in which women and their families negotiate remittances, highlighting dilemmas that transnational families experience when they encounter contradictory aspects of remittances. Despite their material realities and struggles in Canada, the women in this study remitted to fulfill gendered obligations in highly contested and negotiated contexts. Their remittances were important, however, for the production and reproduction of families and households that are structured transnationally. While this case exhibits specific features that are particular to Ghanaian migration and transnationalism, it highlights how broader social dynamics underlying remittances operate at multiple scales and intersect with differential social and economic structures and agency in producing meanings of remittances.
A Tale of Three Tomatoes: The New Food Economy in Toronto, Canada
Authors: Blay‐Palmer Alison , Donald Betsy
Published: August 2010

Abstract: Drawing upon research from a cluster and innovation systems perspective, we counter the argument that the food industry is a mature and dying industry and point to evidence of a vibrant, dynamic food sector that has made a substantial contribution to regional growth. Since the mid‐1990s, the most dynamic component of the Toronto urban food economy has been the small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises, comprised mainly of specialty, local, ethnic, and organic food‐processing firms that are thriving in response to consumers' demands for high‐quality, local, fresh ethnic and fusion cuisine. However, these newer firms face challenges, and our results raise the question about how a more stimulating innovative milieu can be created for them. In answer to this question, we suggest multiscaled approaches to cluster formation and policy and discuss the implications of our research for theories of innovation systems, firms, city creativity, and governance. We situate this “new food economy” within the core literature of economic geography, seeking to relocate the “agrifood” literature away from a traditional rural setting to a dynamic city‐region context, underscoring the essential role of the consumption side of agrifood chains. Moreover, we use the food sector as a lens through which to argue that mature sectors and “ordinary” activities in a city are every bit as important to the long‐term health, viability, and sustainability of a city‐region economy.
Plant Location and the Advent of Slab Casting by U.S. Steel Minimills: An Observation‐Based Analysis
Authors: Giarratani Frank , Gruver Gene , Jackson Randall
Published: August 2010

Abstract: The advent of slab casting for steel that is produced in electric furnaces resulted in a wave of new investments in the construction of steel minimills. From 1989 to 2001, 10 new plants were constructed in the United States on the basis of new technologies. Some were built in established steel industry agglomerations, while others were built in greenfield locations—regions that had little or no prior steelmaking activity. This research brings new evidence to bear on location decisions concerning modern steelmaking. The findings are based on direct observation and visits to the plants of all the new mills that were created by these investments. While the analysis reinforces the importance of transfer costs in decision making, it also argues that critical locational elements cannot be fully understood unless analyses take account of the characteristics of specific products, plants, and firms.
Division, Segmentation, and Interpellation: The Embodied Labors of Migrant Workers in a Greater London Hotel
Authors: McDowell Linda , Batnitzky Adina , Dyer Sarah
Published: August 2010

Abstract:In this article, we explore the ways in which a divided and segmented migrant labor force is assembled to serve guests in a London hotel. We draw on previous studies of hotel work, as well as on cultural analyses of the ways in which employers and managers use stereotypical assumptions about the embodied attributes of workers to name workers as suitable for particular types of labor. We argue that a dual process of interpellation operates within service‐sector workplaces that is reinforced and resisted in daily social practices and relationships between managers, workers, and guests in a hotel. The article, which draws on a case study of employment practices in a large London hotel, looks in detail at the micropolitics of everyday working lives, the representation of workers of different nationalities, and the performance of service work.
Why Butterflies Don‘t Leave: Locational Behavior of Entrepreneurial Firms
Authors: Stam Erik
Published: August 2010

Abstract: Entrepreneurship is an important process in regional economic development. Especially the growth of new firms is of major significance to the commercialization of new ideas and employment growth. These growing new firms are transforming structurally like caterpillars turning into butterflies. However, like butterflies, they are at risk of leaving their region of origin for better places. This article analyzes how and why the spatial organization of firms develops subsequent to their start‐up. A new conceptual framework and an empirical study of the life course of entrepreneurial firms are used to construct a theory on the firms' locational behavior that explains that behavior as the outcome of a process of initiatives by entrepreneurs, enabled and constrained by resources, capabilities, and relations with stakeholders within and outside the firms. The study shows that entrepreneurs decide whether to move their firms outside their region of origin for different reasons in distinct phases of the firms' life course. Being embedded in social networks, for example, is an important constraint on locational behavior during the early life course of a firm, but over time it becomes less important, and other mechanisms, such as sunk costs, increasingly determine a firm's locational behavior. The development of spatial organization is also of major importance: when a multilocational spatial organization has been realized, it is much easier to move the headquarters to another region. The spatial organization of entrepreneurial firms co‐evolves with the accumulation of the firms' capabilities. A developmental approach that incorporates evolutionary mechanisms and recognizes human agency provides new insights into the age‐old study of the location of firms.
Strategy and the Contested Politics of Scale: Air Transportation in Australia
Authors: Weller Sally
Published: August 2010

Abstract: This article explores the ways in which the contested reconfiguration of air transportation infrastructures following deregulation in Australia resulted in the rescaling of air transportation services and their disassociation from the scales of political jurisdictions. In tracing the complex interactions between the state's and firms' strategies and their impacts at different scales, the article contends that it is not sufficient to view scale as an arena and outcome of political struggle. Rather, it argues for an activated understanding of scale as strategy. The reconfigurations of the scales of transportation networks in Australia reveal their profound implications for the production of space: for social equity, the fortunes of cities, and the manner of Australia's insertion in the international division of labor.
Recovering from Crisis: The Case of Thailand's Spatial Fix
Authors: Glassman Jim
Published: August 2010

Abstract: Although the Asian economic crisis has been the subject of numerous analyses, the varied and uneven processes by which different Asian countries have recovered from the crisis have received comparatively less attention. This article focuses on the process of recovery in Thailand. While the crisis and recovery both have international dimensions that go beyond individual nation‐states, the case of Thailand can be used to analyze some of the forces that are at work in both the national and international contexts. Thailand's process of recovery can be analyzed by noting tensions and overlaps among different forms of spatial fix—those involving investment in Bangkok' built environment, those involving the geographic decentralization of investment to lower‐cost production sites, and those involving the effort to expand exports. Each of these spatial fixes involves different accumulation strategies and, therefore, political coalitions. This situation suggests the centrality of social struggles over the appropriation of surplus to both crisis and recovery.
Divergent Hybrid Capitalisms in China: Hong Kong and Taiwanese Electronics Clusters in Dongguan
Authors: Yang Chun
Published: August 2010

Abstract: This article explores and compares the changing dynamics and organization of cross‐border production by Hong Kong and Taiwanese electronics firms in China, on the basis of more than 40 semistructured interviews with firms from April 2005 to January 2007 in various towns of Dongguan, an emergent “global factory” in south China. Despite initial resemblances, Hong Kong and Taiwanese electronics clusters have adopted different approaches to organize their cross‐border production since the late 1990s. Little systemic comparative analysis has been conducted on the causes. The divergent practices can be interpreted as differences in corporate strategies of parent and branch firms, industrial policies in Hong Kong and Taiwan, linkages with global leaders, and home‐host interactions in response to the challenges of globalization. To tap into the domestic market of mainland China, Hong Kong companies have tended to become “domestic firms,” while Taiwanese companies have become wholly foreign owned and pursued a “pseudo‐location” of suppliers of raw materials and components. The article concludes that more comparative studies are needed on divergent hybrid capitalisms that are driven by different sources of foreign direct investment in various host regions, so as to develop empirical insights into appropriate conceptual frameworks.
Restructuring Industrial Districts, Scaling Up Regional Development: A Study of the Wenzhou Model, China
Authors: Wei Yehua Dennis , Li Wangming , Wang Chunbin
Published: August 2010

Abstract:The Wenzhou Municipality in Zhejiang Province is spearheading China' marketization and development of private enterprises. Its successful development trajectory, centered on family‐owned small businesses embedded in thick local institutions, resembles Marshallian industrial districts (MIDs). However, with China' changing institutional environment and intensifying competition, Wenzhou has been facing challenges. Since the late 1980s, Wenzhou has gone through two major rounds of restructuring (from family enterprises to shareholding cooperatives to shareholding enterprises), that have included four major types of strategic response: institutional change, technological upgrading, industrial diversification, and spatial restructuring. Firms in Wenzhou have gone through localization and delocalization, and locational choices reflect the dual destinations of globalizing cities and interior cities. The formation of new firms and clusters has been accompanied by mergers, acquisitions, and the emergence of multiregional enterprises (MREs), some of which have relocated their headquarters and specialized functions to metropolitan areas, especially Shanghai and Hangzhou. More recently, Wenzhou' growth has slowed, leading some to question the sustainability of the Wenzhou model. We argue that Wenzhou' development is in danger of regional lock‐ins—relational, intergenerational, and structural. Wenzhou' experience challenges the orthodox concept of MIDs and calls for “scaling up” regional development.
Roepke Lecture in Economic Geography Venture Capital in the “Periphery”: The New Argonauts, Global Search, and Local Institution Building
Authors: Saxenian AnnaLee , Sabel Charles
Published: August 2010

abstract

This article examines the growing importance of global, or external, search networks that firms and other actors rely on to locate collaborators who can solve part of a problem they face or require part of a solution they may be able provide. We focus on the creation in emerging economies of venture capital—an institution that is organized to search systematically for, and foster the development of, firms and industries that can, in turn, collaborate in codesign. The article examines the case of Taiwan, where first‐generation immigrant professionals from U.S. technology industries have collaborated with their home‐country counterparts to develop the context for entrepreneurial development. It refers to the members of these networks as the new Argonauts, an allusion to the ancient Greek Jason and the Argonauts, who searched for the Golden Fleece. We also argue that the most significant contributions of these skilled professionals to their home countries are not direct transfers of technology or knowledge, but participation in external search and domestic institutional reform. The new Argonauts are ideally positioned to search beyond prevailing routines to identify opportunities for complementary “peripheral” participation in the global economy and to work with public officials to adapt and redesign relevant institutions and firms in their native countries. They are, therefore, exemplary protagonists of “self‐discovery”—the process by which an enterprise or entrepreneur determines which markets it can serve—and of a microlevel institutional reform that can, diffusing and cascading, ultimately produce wider structural transformations.
Cyclical Clusters in Global Circuits: Overlapping Spaces in Furniture Trade Fairs
Authors: Power Dominic , Jansson Johan
Published: August 2010

abstract

This article contributes to an understanding of temporary or event‐based economic phenomena in economic and industrial geography by drawing on research conducted on the furniture and interior design industry. It argues that trade fairs should be seen not simply as temporary industry gatherings, but as central, though temporary, spaces for knowledge and market processes that symbolize microcosms of the industry they represent and function as effective marketplaces. It suggests that these temporary events should be viewed not as isolated from one another, but as arranged together in an almost continual global circuit. In this sense, trade fairs are less temporary clusters than they are cyclical clusters; they are complexes of overlapping spaces that are scheduled and arranged in such a way that spaces can be reproduced, reenacted, and renewed over time. Although actual fairs are short‐lived events, their presence in the business cycle has lasting consequences for the organization of markets and industries and for the firms of which they are comprised.
Hybrid Branch Plants: Japanese Lean Production in Poland's Automobile Industry
Authors: Majek Tomasz , Hayter Roger
Published: August 2010

This article examines hybrid branch plants created by an interaction of the routines and conventions of the parent company with those of local institutions. We argue that hybridization is a search for an appropriate mix of practices that ensure viability in local circumstances, rather than necessarily the transfer of established “best” (parent‐company) practices. Conceptually, hybridization is interpreted as learning‐based (and bargaining) processes that are inherent in the evolution (internationalization) of firms in which alternative trajectories are possible. Empirically, the article examines the recent transfer of lean production to Poland's automobile industry and comparatively and qualitatively analyzes four hybrid branch plants in terms of six dimensions of shop‐floor and factory management. Given the explosion of Japanese foreign direct investment in recent decades, its competitive strengths, and the importance that Japanese firms attach to learning processes, lean production is an important case study for hybridization. The four cases illustrate different types of hybrid behavior with different consequences for corporate and local performance.
Alliance‐Driven Governance: Applying a Global Commodity Chains Approach to the U.K. Biotechnology Industry
Authors: Birch Kean
Published: August 2010

As the economy has globalized, it has also regionalized, which has led to the integration of different spaces across different scales. A number of theories contend that the endogenous assets of these locations provide them with the means to compete in this globalizing economy, especially in relation to knowledge‐based sectors like biotechnology. Among these theories, the cluster concept stands out. However, there is little support for the arguments that local linkages are the central contributors to innovation. Extralocal linkages have also been highlighted, suggesting that other theories that account for these linkages may prove useful in the discussion of knowledge‐based sectors, in general, and biotechnology, in particular. One such theory is the concept of global commodity chains, which explicitly concerns the interconnections within and across different geographic scales. As yet it has seldom been applied to the biotechnology industry. This article uses the approach to explore the U.K. biotechnology industry.
Managing the Transnational Law Firm: A Relational Analysis of Professional Systems, Embedded Actors, and Time—Space‐Sensitive Governance
Authors: Faulconbridge James R.
Published: August 2010

This article argues that the relational approach can be particularly effective for addressing debates about the varieties of capitalism and the dynamics of institutional contexts. Using the case study of transnational law firms and data gathered through interviews with partners in London and New York, it makes two arguments. First, it suggests that the relational approach's focus on the behavior of key agents when new or different work practices are encountered helps explain the management of institutional heterogeneity by transnational corporations (TNCs). Such an approach reveals the peculiarities of professionals and professional service managers and how they affect the response of globalizing law firms when home‐ and host‐country business practices diverge. Second, the article shows how relational approaches can help disaggregate descriptions of national institutional systems to reveal the importance of studying their constitutive practices. Understanding these microlevel variations, which is missed by macrolevel categories like Anglo‐American, is essential for explaining how firms cope with institutional heterogeneity. The author therefore argues that a better understanding of the effects of TNCs on national business systems can be facilitated by further developing the actor‐ and practice‐focused analyses promoted by relational approaches.
A Geographical Political Economy of Evolution in Economic Geography
Authors: Pike Andy , Birch Kean , Cumbers Andrew , MacKinnon Danny , McMaster Robert
Published: August 2010

abstract

Key themes for evolution in economic geography are identified that clarify and further refine and reinforce our argument for broader conceptions of institutions, social agency, and power and for the situation of the plural and emerging field of evolutionary approaches more fully within geographical political economy. We address the following issues: conceptual and terminological clarity; evolution and institutions within and beyond the firm; agency, bounded determinacy, and power; and research method and design. Our central contention is that geographical political economy provides a coherent and well‐structured conceptual and theoretical framework with which to broaden and deepen our understanding, exploration, and practice of evolutionary thinking in economic geography.
Related Variety, Trade Linkages, and Regional Growth in Italy
Authors: Boschma Ron , Iammarino Simona
Published: August 2010

abstract

This article presents estimates of the impact of regional variety and trade linkages on regional economic growth by means of export and import data by Italian province (NUTS 3) and sector (three‐digit) for the period 1995–2003. Our results show strong evidence that related variety contributes to regional economic growth. Thus, Italian regions that are well endowed with sectors that are complementary in terms of competences (i.e., that show related variety) perform better. The article also assesses the effects of the breadth and relatedness of international trade linkages on regional growth, since they may bring new and related variety to a region. Our analysis demonstrates that regional growth is not affected by simply being well connected to the outside world or having a high variety of knowledge flowing into the region. Rather, we found evidence of related extraregional knowledge sparking intersectoral learning across regions. When the cognitive proximity between the extraregional knowledge and the knowledge base of a region is neither too small nor too large, real learning opportunities are present, and the external knowledge contributes to growth in regional employment.
Global Standards, Local Realities: Private Agrifood Governance and the Restructuring of the Kenyan Horticulture Industry
Authors: Ouma Stefan
Published: August 2010

abstract

Over the past decade, private food safety and quality standards have become focal points in the supply chain management of large retailers, reshaping governance patterns in global agrifood chains. In this article, I analyze the relationship between private collective standards and the governance of agrifood markets, using the EUREPGAP/GLOBALGAP standard as a vantage point. I discuss the impact of this standard on the organization of supply chains of fresh vegetables in the Kenyan horticulture industry, focusing on the supply chain relationships and practices among exporters and smallholder farmers. In so doing, I seek to highlight the often‐contested nature of the implementation of standards in social fields that are marked by different and distributed principles of evaluating quality, production processes, and legitimate actions in the marketplace. I also reconstruct the challenges and opportunities that exporters and farmers are facing with regard to the implementation of and compliance with standards. Finally, I elaborate on the scope for action that producers and policymakers have under these structures to retain sectoral competitiveness in a global economy of qualities.
Credit, Debt, and Everyday Financial Practices: Low‐Income Households in Two Postsocialist Cities
Authors: Stenning Alison , Smith Adrian , Rochovská Alena , Świątek Dariusz
Published: August 2010

abstract

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid within social and economic geography to questions of finance, particularly to the ways in which individuals and households domesticate developing financial institutions and products. However, there have been few analyses of these practices in the study of the postsocialist world, even though in many ways, postsocialist societies have been at the forefront of the extension of financial products and services and the ensuing remaking of economic practices. This article responds to this lacuna by exploring the experiences of everyday household financial practices in two postsocialist cities—Kraków and Bratislava—in an attempt to understand how households, particularly poor households, negotiate the remaking of financial practices as the wider landscapes of banking and access to financial services are remade. In the context of a wider project that also explores consumption, housing, care work, and other forms of labor, the article connects to ongoing work in economic geography to explore how postsocialist households manage their precarious budgets, engaging in a multiplicity of practices of lending and borrowing and credit and debt that combine the old and the new, the formal and the informal, the global and the local. These articulations reflect the ways in which households domesticate finance, such that their financial practices are a result of a combination of their agency, assets, knowledge, and geographies; their socioeconomic status; and the developing structures of financial institutions and support a conclusion that calls into question singular accounts of neoliberalization in East Central Europe.
Ultrasonographic appearance and abdominal haemorrhage associated with a juvenile granulosa cell tumour in a foal
Authors: Harper J. , Stewart A. J. , Kuhnt L. , Waguespack R. W. , Holland M. , Downs C.
Published: August 2010

Granulosa cell tumours are commonly identified in mares, but have rarely been identified in equine neonates. This report describes a septic neonatal foal that presented with haemoabdomen secondary to a ruptured ovarian granulosa cell tumour. The ultrasonographic appearance, successful surgical removal and histopathological appearance of the tumour is described. Juvenile ovarian granulosa cell tumours differ histologically from adult granulosa cell tumours. Ultrasound is a useful way to identify haemoabdomen and abdominal masses in foals. Juvenile granulosa cell tumour should be considered as a differential for this combination in neonatal foals.
Chemical Smoothing of Rough Metal Surfaces
Authors: Kim D. E. , Suh N. P.
Published: August 2010

A chemical etching method is investigated as a possible approach to smoothing metal surfaces automatically. In a chemical etching process metal is removed due to chemical reaction and the dissolved species are transported away from the surface mainly by diffusion. Controlled dynamics introduced to the etchant motion provide the conditions necessary to perform preferential material removal such that an irregular surface is smoothed. A simplified model for the smoothing process based on fundamental mass transfer understandings is presented. Experimental results of smoothing electric discharge machined 440 stainless steel specimens are also presented. This work is motivated by the need to develop a cost effective way to manufacture molds during secondary processing.
Three-Dimensional Finite Element Analysis on Open-Die Block Forging Design
Authors: Hung Chinghua , Kobayashi Shiro
Published: August 2010

Three-dimensional rigid-plastic finite element method was used to analyze the practice of open-die block forging, focusing on the effects of die configurations and forging pass designs. Four combinations of die configurations were investigated: conventional flat dies, top flat/bottom V-shaped dies, and double V-shaped dies with 120 and 135 deg included angles. Two different pass designs, 90 and 180 deg rotation angles between succeeding passes, were applied to each die set. The results include the magnitude and distribution of effective strains along the center line of the cylindrical workpiece and the final shape of the workpiece. Good agreement was observed in comparison with experimental data from physical modeling method, and several suggestions were made for choosing suitable dies.
Transient Analysis of an Asymmetric Rotor-Bearing System During Acceleration
Authors: Lee An-Chen , Kang Yuan , Tsai Kun-Lung , Hsiao Kuo-Mo
Published: August 2010

This paper deals with the transient vibration of asymmetric rotor systems during acceleration passing through several critical speeds at which synchronous or super-harmonic resonance occurs. The dynamic equations of the rotor-bearing system are formulated by the finite element model and the resulting dynamic equations are time-varying due to the effects of acceleration and asymmetry. In the formulation, a Timoshenko beam element is employed to simulate the rotating shaft and Eulerian angles are used to describe the orientations of the shaft element and disk. The numerical integration scheme for transient analysis is generated from the finite element model. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate (1) the effects of acceleration on peak amplitude and speed at which the peak occurs as the system passes through critical speeds, (2) the optimal acceleration process, which can be obtained by minimizing the peak response and the period of acceleration, (3) the speed regions where the transient instability exists.
An Ultrasonic Double-Sheet Detection System for Collators
Authors: Shiraishi M. , Fujinuma Y. , Ishikawa T. , Ishige K. , Doki H.
Published: August 2010

A new ultrasonic method of detecting double sheets in collators has been developed that overcomes several shortcomings of conventional detection techniques. An air curtain efficiently reduces the ultrasonic detector’s vulnerability to ambient temperature fluctuations. The accuracy of detection is enhanced by utilizing the low-level component of the received ultrasonic signal. A gain adjustment technique is introduced which enables detection for a wide range of paper stocks using a single threshold level.
The Optimization of Machining Operations Based on a Combined Criterion, Part 2: Multipass Operations
Authors: Agapiou J. S.
Published: August 2010

Part 1 of this paper [1] introduced a novel, rational objective function that incorporates both the production cost and total time criteria. In Part 2, the problem of determining the optimum machining conditions for multipass operations is investigated. The optimum number of machining passes is obtained through the dynamic programming technique and the optimum machining conditions for each pass are then determined based on the objective function discussed in Part 1. This approach can be very effectively applied to multistage machining since the optimum arrangement of the different operations can be determined by the dynamic programming method while the optimum cutting conditions for the operations in each machining stage are obtained using the method for single-pass while incorporating the objective function described in Part 1. A multipass turning process is theoretically analyzed and a computational procedure for obtaining the machining parameters is developed. Several examples are presented in order to illustrate the procedure and demonstrate the advantages of the proposed optimization technique for a multipass turning operation.
Optimization of Multistage Machining Systems, Part 1: Mathematical Solution
Authors: Agapiou J. S.
Published: August 2010

The optimization problem for multistage machining systems has been investigated. Due to uneven time requirements at different stages in manufacturing, there could be idle times at various stations. It may be advantageous to reduce the values of machining parameters in order to reduce the cost at stations that require less machining time. However, optimization techniques available through the literature do not effectively utilize the idle time for the different stations generated during the balancing of the system. Proposed in this paper is an optimization method which utilizes the idle time to the full extent at all machining stations, with the intention of improving tool life and thus achieving cost reduction. The mathematical analysis considers the optimization of the production cost with an equality constraint of zero idle time for the stations with idle time. Physical constraints regarding the cutting parameters, force, power, surface finish, etc., as they arise in different operations, are also considered. The aforementioned problem has been theoretically analyzed and a computational algorithm developed. The advantages and effectiveness of the proposed approach are finally established through an example.
Quetiapine-associated cholestasis causing lipoprotein-X and pseudohyponatraemia
Authors: Klinke J A , Shapira S C , Akbari E , Holmes D T
Published: August 2010

A case of intrahepatic cholestasis secondary to treatment with quetiapine in combination with lamotrigine and zopiclone, resulting in severe hypercholesterolaemia without overt lactescence of the plasma, is presented. Abundant lipoprotein-X was seen on lipoprotein electrophoresis. The patient was diagnosed and treated for hyponatraemia which was likely factitious and caused by hypercholesterolaemia. Cholestasis and hypercholesterolaemia resolved over a period of several months after the discontinuation of quetiapine.
ZETA-FUNCTIONS OF CERTAIN K3-FIBERED CALABI–YAU THREEFOLDS
Authors: GOTO YASUHIRO , KLOOSTERMAN REMKE , YUI NORIKO
Published: August 2010

We consider certain K3-fibered Calabi–Yau threefolds. One class of such Calabi–Yau threefolds is constructed by Hunt and Schimmrigk using twist maps. They are realized in weighted projective spaces as orbifolds of hypersurfaces. Our main goal of this paper is to investigate arithmetic properties of these K3-fibered Calabi–Yau threefolds. In particular, we give detailed discussions on the construction of these Calabi–Yau varieties, singularities and their resolutions. We then determine the zeta-functions of these Calabi–Yau varieties. Next we consider deformations of our K3-fibered Calabi–Yau threefolds, and we study the variation of the zeta-functions using p-adic rigid cohomology theory.
CLASSIFICATION OF GRADED LEFT-SYMMETRIC ALGEBRAIC STRUCTURES ON WITT AND VIRASORO ALGEBRAS
Authors: KONG XIAOLI , CHEN HONGJIA , BAI CHENGMING
Published: August 2010

We find that a compatible graded left-symmetric algebraic structure on the Witt algebra induces an indecomposable module V of the Witt algebra with one-dimensional weight spaces by its left-multiplication operators. From the classification of such modules of the Witt algebra, the compatible graded left-symmetric algebraic structures on the Witt algebra are classified. All of them are simple and they include the examples given by [Comm. Algebra32 (2004) 243–251; J. Nonlinear Math. Phys.6 (1999) 222–245]. Furthermore, we classify the central extensions of these graded left-symmetric algebras which give the compatible graded left-symmetric algebraic structures on the Virasoro algebra. They coincide with the examples given by [J. Nonlinear Math. Phys.6 (1999) 222–245].
ISSUES AND ADVANCES IN THE EARLY STAGE DIAGNOSIS OF OSTEOARTHRITIS
Authors: BROWN CAMERON PETER
Published: August 2010

With the progress of localized treatment procedures such as unicompartmental knee replacement, chondrocyte implantation and osteochondral grafting, it has become important to develop a means of assessing early stage cartilage and bone degradation. This review outlines the recent advances in arthroscopic tools, and discusses the major problems and issues faced in developing effective assessment methods. The central problem in joint tissue assessment is to discriminate degradation from the wide variation in normal tissue. This discrimination, however, is far from being realized by current methodologies, and is compounded by the difficulty in correlating structural features with pain and mobility in the joint. In response to these findings, an argument is provided for a new direction in quantitative tissue evaluation using an integrated chemical, structural, and functional approach, and the importance of structure–function–pain relationships.
SYNTHESIS OF TUBULAR Ge NANOSTRUCTURES
Authors: PEI L. Z. , ZHAO H. S. , YU H. Y. , HU J. L.
Published: August 2010

Hollow germanium tubular nanostructures have been obtained by a hydrothermal process at a temperature of 400°C and pressure of 7 MPa with quick cooling to room temperature. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) show that the germanium tubular nanostructures are polycrystalline and have open-end structures at the tips. The diameter of germanium tubular nanostructures is about 40–70 nm and the inner pore size is about 10 nm in average. We propose the rolling mechanism for the formation of tubular nanostructures from lamellar nanostructures to explain the possible formation process of germanium tubular nanostructures.
Low-power 3D nano/CMOS hybrid dynamically reconfigurable architecture
Authors: Zhang Wei , Jha Niraj K. , Shang Li
Published: August 2010

In order to continue technology scaling beyond CMOS, diverse nanoarchitectures have been proposed in recent years based on emerging nanodevices, such as nanotubes, nanowires, etc. Among them, some hybrid nano/CMOS reconfigurable architectures enjoy the advantage that they can be fabricated using photolithography. NATURE is one such architecture that we have proposed recently. It comprises CMOS reconfigurable logic and CMOS fabrication-compatible nano RAMs. It uses distributed high-density and fast nano RAMs as on-chip storage for storing multiple reconfiguration copies, enabling fine-grain cycle-by-cycle reconfiguration. It supports a highly efficient computational model, called temporal logic folding, which makes possible more than an order of magnitude improvement in logic density and area-delay product, significant power reduction, and significant design flexibility in performing area-delay trade-offs.

In this article, we extend NATURE in various dimensions, evaluating various FPGA approaches in the context of today's emerging technologies. First, we explore the introduction of embedded coarse-grain modules in the fine-grain NATURE architecture and present a unified dynamically reconfigurable architecture, which can significantly enhance NATURE's computation power for data-dominated applications. Second, we explore a 3D architecture for NATURE in which the nano RAM for reconfiguration storage is on one layer and the rest of the CMOS logic on another layer. This leads to further improvements in logic density and performance. Finally, we explore the possibility of using FinFETs, an emerging double-gate CMOS technology, to implement NATURE. Since power consumption is an important consideration in the deep nanometer regime, especially for FPGAs, we present a back-gate biasing methodology for flexible threshold voltage adjustment in FinFETs to significantly reduce NATURE's power consumption. Simulation results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed methods.
The consent process in medical research involving DNA databanks
Authors: Tavani Herman T. , Bottis Maria
Published: August 2010

Organized into three main parts, this paper examines some challenges for the informed-consent process in medical research where DNA databanks are employed. In Part 1, we briefly describe the principle of informed consent and show why it is ethically important. Part 2 focuses on some specific challenges that that arise for the traditional informed-consent process in population-wide genetics/genomics research, especially where data-mining techniques are used. In the third and final section, we defend a model of consent based on the notion of a "charitable trust," which we believe can help to preserve the integrity of the consent process in the context of medical and genetic research involving DNA databanks.
Beyond Testing: Empirical Models of Insurance Markets
Authors: Einav Liran , Finkelstein Amy , Levin Jonathan
Published: August 2010

We describe recent advances in the empirical analysis of insurance markets. This new research proposes ways to estimate individual demand for insurance and the relationship between prices and insurer costs in the presence of adverse and advantageous selection. We discuss how these models permit the measurement of welfare distortions arising from asymmetric information and the welfare consequences of potential government policy responses. We also discuss some challenges in modeling imperfect competition between insurers and outline a series of open research questions.
Partial Identification in Econometrics
Authors: Tamer Elie
Published: August 2010

Identification in econometric models maps prior assumptions and the data to information about a parameter of interest. The partial identification approach to inference recognizes that this process should not result in a binary answer that consists of whether the parameter is point identified. Rather, given the data, the partial identification approach characterizes the informational content of various assumptions by providing a menu of estimates, each based on different sets of assumptions, some of which are plausible and some of which are not. Of course, more assumptions beget more information, so stronger conclusions can be made at the expense of more assumptions. The partial identification approach advocates a more fluid view of identification and hence provides the empirical researcher with methods to help study the spectrum of information that we can harness about a parameter of interest using a menu of assumptions. This approach links conclusions drawn from various empirical models to sets of assumptions made in a transparent way. It allows researchers to examine the informational content of their assumptions and their impacts on the inferences made. Naturally, with finite sample sizes, this approach leads to statistical complications, as one needs to deal with characterizing sampling uncertainty in models that do not point identify a parameter. Therefore, new methods for inference are developed. These methods construct confidence sets for partially identified parameters, and confidence regions for sets of parameters, or identifiable sets.
How (Not) to Do Decision Theory
Authors: Dekel Eddie , Lipman Barton L.
Published: August 2010

We discuss the goals and means of positive decision theory and the implications for how to do decision theory. We argue that the goal of positive economic theory generally is to provide predictions and understanding and that representation theorems and other results of decision theory should be seen as ways to achieve these goals. We also argue that the interpretation of a model is relevant to whether and how we use the model, that psychological considerations are not necessary for useful decision theory but can be helpful, and that nonchoice data, interpreted properly, can be valuable in predicting choice and therefore should not be ignored.
Structural Estimation and Policy Evaluation in Developing Countries
Authors: Todd Petra E. , Wolpin Kenneth I.
Published: August 2010

This review discusses the use of discrete choice dynamic programming (DCDP) methods for evaluating policies of particular relevance to developing countries, such as policies to reduce child labor and increase school attendance, improve school quality, affect immigration flows, expand old-age pension benefits, or foster small-business investment through microfinance. We describe the DCDP framework and how it relates to static models, illustrate its application with an example related to conditional cash transfer programs, consider numerous empirical applications from the literature of how the DCDP methodology has been used to address substantively important policy issues, and discuss methods for model validation.
Identification of Dynamic Discrete Choice Models
Authors: Abbring Jaap H.
Published: August 2010

Econometric models of dynamic discrete choice processes are applied to a wide variety of economic problems. Recent research on their empirical content has brought important new insights. It has clarified the conditions for their identification from choice and covariate panel data in the absence of dynamic selection on unobservables. It has provided important new identification results for discrete-time models with unobserved heterogeneity and unobserved states. Finally, it has enhanced the attractiveness of continuous-time models, by developing new insights on the identification of continuous-time optimal stopping models. Current developments in the literature promise to shed further light on the specification and identification of models with unobserved state variables, theory-based nonproportional hazard models, continuous-time optimal stopping models with time-varying covariates, and dynamic games in discrete and continuous time.
Competition and Productivity: A Review of Evidence
Authors: Holmes Thomas J. , Schmitz James A.
Published: August 2010

Does competition spur productivity? And if so, how does it accomplish this? These have long been regarded as central questions in economics. This article reviews the literature that makes progress toward answering both questions.
Financial Structure and Economic Welfare: Applied General Equilibrium Development Economics
Authors: Townsend Robert
Published: August 2010

This review provides a common framework for researchers thinking about the next generation of micro-founded macro models of growth, inequality, and financial deepening, as well as direction for policy makers targeting microfinance programs to alleviate poverty. Topics include treatment of financial structure general equilibrium models: testing for as-if-complete markets or other financial underpinnings; examining dual-sector models with both a perfectly intermediated sector and a sector in financial autarky, as well as a second generation of these models that embeds information problems and other obstacles to trade; designing surveys to capture measures of income, investment/savings, and flow of funds; and aggregating individuals and households to the level of network, village, or national economy. The review concludes with new directions that overcome conceptual and computational limitations.
Labor Market Models of Worker and Firm Heterogeneity
Authors: Lentz Rasmus , Mortensen Dale T.
Published: August 2010

Microeconomic data on individual firms and employer-employee matches reveal substantial and persistent dispersion in firm size, productivity, and average wage paid and a positive correlation between each pair. To the extent that intrinsic differences in firm productivity explain these facts, there are several important consequences. First, the reallocation of employment from less to more productive firms will yield efficiency gains. Second, workers will find it in their interest to seek out higher-paying employers. Recent research has provided support for both hypotheses. Third, the existence of worker and employer heterogeneity offers possible gains from sorting. However, because the problem of identifying the presence of sorting is model dependent, it is too early for conclusions about its significance.
Neuromodulation by GABA Converts a Relay Into a Coincidence Detector
Authors: Chanda Soham , Xu-Friedman Matthew A.
Published: August 2010

Modulation of synaptic strength by γ-aminobutyric acid receptors (GABARs) is a common feature in sensory pathways that contain relay cell types. However, the functional impact of these receptors on information processing is not clear. We considered this issue at bushy cells (BCs) in the cochlear nucleus, which relay auditory nerve (AN) activity to higher centers. BCs express GABAARs, and synaptic inputs to BCs express GABABRs. We tested the effects of GABAR activation on the relaying of AN activity using patch-clamp recordings in mature mouse brain slices at 34°C. GABA affected BC firing in response to trains of AN activity at concentrations as low as 10 μM. GABAARs reduced firing primarily late in high-frequency trains, whereas GABABRs reduced firing early and in low-frequency trains. BC firing was significantly restored when two converging AN inputs were activated simultaneously, with maximal effect over a window of <0.5 ms. Thus GABA could adjust the function of BCs, to suppress the relaying of individual inputs and require coincident activity of multiple inputs.