89 research outputs found
Governance and economic growth
No full textBecause protection of property rights cannot be appropriated by any individual, it is widely recognized as being the state's responsibility. Moreover, recent empirical evidence suggests that protection of property rights leads to higher investment levels and faster growth. The extent of property rights protection differs significantly across countries. The author integrates the emergence of property rights within a simple growth framework. Drawing on North (1990), he presents a model where economic performance and enforcement of property rights may reinforce each other.Initial conditions determine the economy's convergence to a high-income or a low-income steady state. Existing empirical evidence offers tentative support for this theory.Judicial System Reform,Labor Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Common Property Resource Development,Economic Theory&Research,Inequality,Common Property Resource Development,Environmental Economics&Policies,Governance Indicators
The art and science of describing nature’s surrealists: Foreword from the Editors
No full textThis special issue of Zootaxa is published in honor of Dr. Albino Morimasa Sakakibara from the Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brazil, one of the most prolific living taxonomists of auchenorrhynchan Hemiptera. Dr. Sakakibara is the author of more than 100 scientific articles spanning the years 1968 to 2017. His works have encompassed various fields of biology including natural history, comparative morphology, phylogenetics, and taxonomy treating approximately 60 genera of treehoppers, leafhoppers, and spittlebugs. His outstanding record of contributions to our field also includes an extensive and successful history of graduate student training—twelve taxonomists currently working on several insect groups—along with thorough curation of the insect collection at his home institution, now constituting inarguably the most comprehensive holdings of Auchenorrhyncha in Brazil. </jats:p
CETGI : an assessment tool for global concurrent engineering : executive summary
No full textIndustrial globalisation and the increased complexity of products promote new
product development (NPD) by distributed teams. These teams facilitate the transfer
of designs to manufacturing facilities, the adaptation of products to local markets and
the access to engineering design talents. However, there are many industrial
experiences of under performing distributed teams, such as the development of the
Ford Mondeo which ran a year late and cost £4 billion. This Engineering Doctorate
project CETGI (Concurrent Engineering and Teamwork across Global Industries)
aimed to investigate and advise companies on the enabling practices of global
concurrent engineering (GCE). An assessment tool for GCE was developed,
embedding its enabling practices in a knowledge base and providing structured advice
to manufacturing companies of electro-mechanical products.
Preliminary investigation was conducted towards the development of the CETGI tool:
literature review on GCE; a benchmark study of nine current concurrent engineering
assessment tools; a comparative analysis of NPD practices in the UK and the USA; a
survey of NPD practices of global companies developing products in the UK; and
thirteen case studies of GCE projects. The CETGI tool was then developed, consisting
of an assessment process involving multifunctional teams and executives. CETGI is
different to previous tools because of its knowledge base of GCE practices and its
three analytical algorithms: the first, aggregates the individual answers; the second,
provides a customised list of prioritised actions; and the third, generates maturity
charts, providing a performance perspective and supporting benchmarking. Another
novel feature of CETGI is the Internet enabled software application that supports its
assessment process. The latter software is a multi-participant decision-making support
system. The CETGI tool has been applied to three first tier supplier companies, two
from the automotive industry and one from the transport industry aimed at fine-tuning
and validating the tool. The work focused on evaluating the reliability of the
questionnaire (constructed on the knowledge base) and establishing the validity and
the industrial usefulness of the CETGI tool. On average, the NPD executives
considered 90% of the suggested actions appropriate, selected 70% of the actions for
implementation and implemented 51% of the selected actions (based on a post-assessment
review at one company). The actions were estimated to reduce time-to-market
and product-unit costs by the NPD executives and they rated CETGI highest
in terms of promoting global product development, followed by providing an overall
picture of the current product development process.
Further research opportunities have been identified such as using the CETGI tool to
assess other business areas apart from GCE. This would require investigating best
practices in these areas and embedding the results in specific knowledge bases. The
assessment method, the structure of the knowledge base and the analytical algorithms
would remain the same
On Anopheles (Anopheles) omorii n. sp.
No full textThe author made the description of a new Anopheline mosquito which was found in a tree hole in jungle at Mt. Tochu (about 900 meters above sea level), Sizuoka prefecture. This mosquito having unspotted wing is closely allied to Anopheles (A.) barberi recorded in United States of America but clearly different from the latter species in many points as pointed out in each paragraph. To this new mosquito the author gave a scientific name, Anopheles (Anopheles) omorii.長崎大学風土病紀要 1(3), p.288-295, 1959departmental bulletin pape
Learning tree languages from text
No full textWe study the problem of learning regular tree languages from text.
We show that the framework of function distinguishability, as introduced by the author in [Theoret. Comput. Sci. 290 (2003) 1679–1711], can be generalized
from the case of string languages towards tree languages. This provides a large source of identifiable classes of regular tree languages. Each of these classes can be characterized in various ways. Moreover, we present a generic inference algorithm with polynomial update time and prove its correctness. In this way, we generalize previous works of Angluin, Sakakibara and ourselves. Moreover, we show that this way all regular tree languages can be approximately identified
An empirical analysis of pricing in patent licensing contracts
No full textWe empirically examine the determinants of the price of patent licensing. We find factors affecting the profitability of patents and bargaining power of licensors and licensees are good predictors of the royalty rate of patent licensing, while proxies for the reservation price of licensors are less informative. Our findings suggest large licensors' adverse selection to license only small and unprofitable inventions. Large, technology-intensive licensees appear to have greater bargaining power, whereas research organizations exercise weak bargaining power. More appropriable patents command higher prices. Copyright 2010 The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Associazione ICC. All rights reserved., Oxford University Press.
The Sources of Quality in the Pharmaceutical Industry
No full textThis paper analyzes the sources of quality of a pharmaceutical product. After identifying eight quality dimensions, a framework of hypothetical sources that contribute the most to shape those dimensions is established. The framework, based on Garvin’s pioneering work, is applied to case studies of laboratories operating in Argentina. Framework relevance is considered using correlation analysis. Laboratories are ranked through expert opinion by the quality of its products using the eight dimensions mentioned above; it is observed that there is no perfect parallelism in ranking along all dimensions, possibly revealing different managerial priorities and uses of resources among laboratories, as well as different sources of quality and different business strategies. Correlation analysis also suggests that the study of a pharmaceutical product is a complex task when a modern concept of quality is considered. Once the existence of different quality dimensions is accepted, the following two questions are investigated: (1) Are there specific sources of quality that support some dimensions (and not others) and that are based on identifiable organizational aspects or specific technologies? (2) What are the generic sources of quality (affecting all dimensions) and in what way do they contribute to improve performance or highlight quality dimensions? It is assumed as a starting point that among the sources of quality there are generic sources, affecting all dimensions, and specific sources, which affect only some dimensions. In concrete cases, specific quality sources are identified, although the search for specific quality sources for each dimension is not conclusive. The study of generic quality sources, however, suggests that corporate systems, corporate culture, and management policies contribute to incorporate quality in a product. Thus quality results from the interaction between generic and specific sources. In the final part of the paper, recommendations for academics and industrialists are provided, as well as some conclusions.Pharmaceutical product, Garvin’s quality dimensions, quality sources, pharmaceutical laboratories in Argentina, corporate systems, corporate culture.
Studies on the Experimental Anemia induced by the Anti-Serum of the Bone Marrow. Part 4. The Function of Megakaryocytes in the Bone-Marrow Tissue Culture
No full textThe author calculated the number of platelets in the peripheral blood of the guinea pigs given the intraperitoneal injection of bone-marrow anti-serum and determined the fuction of megakaryocytes by performing the tissue culture of the bone marrow from these test animals. The following are the results of the present experiment: 1. By the intraperitoneal injection of the bone-marrow antiserum the number of platelets in the peripheral blood of the test guinea pigs decreases beyond the physiologically normal limit. 2. The intraperitoneal injection of the anti-serum of bone marrow brings about a decrease in the number of megakaryocyte appearance in the bone marrow culture of the test animals as well as the diminution of megakaryocyte function, especially the decrease in the number of megakaryocytes carrying on the separation of platelets by projecting tentacles, and it is believed that this phenomenon is chiefly responsible for the decrease of platelet number in the peripheral blood
Pragmatics and distribution of the Japanese reflexive pronoun zibun
No full text"This dissertation provides a hypothesis on the nature of Japanese reflexive pronoun zibun 'self' which explains the distribution of zibun without employing previously proposed syntactic conditions. It claims that zibun is a simple nominal expression with reflexive meaning and which is specified for number but not specified for person and gender, and that constraints on its use are a consequence of conversational implicates that its use occasions. Zibun is a ""marked alternative"" over other pronominals (Horn 1984). Thus, the use of zibun draws attention to the fact that the speaker believes that the sameness that the reflexive property entails is noteworthy (significant, relevant). In order to rationalize the speaker's belief that the sameness is significant, the hearer tries to find out why informing that is important. The dissertation argues that hearers infer that the speaker believes that responsibility or emotion of the referent should be emphasized for some reason. The dissertation shows that the use of zibun predictably conversationally implicates that a speaker believes that the referent is responsible for or emotionally affected by the action, event or state, described in the proposition represented by some clause in which zibun occurs. There is no syntactic constraint on the antecedent of zibun. Rationales for the pragmatic-only analysis are; (i) some occurrences of zibun which have been categorized as unacceptable by previous syntactic conditions are in fact acceptable when they occur in appropriate contexts, (ii) syntactic conditions on the antecedent of zibun are not necessary, and (iii) the distribution of zibun cannot be explained without pragmatic conditions. The hypothesis makes predictions that; (i) the grammatical relation of the antecedent of zibun is not crucial to license occurrences of zibun, and, (ii) when it is not appropriate to express referent's responsibility or emotional state for some reasons, speaker may avoid to use zibun so as not to appear inappropriate (assuming rational speakers are following the Cooperative Principle (Grice 1975)). The dissertation reaches the conclusion that the pragmatic hypothesis can reasonably explain actual data of zibun which have been wrongly ruled out previously, and it also account for the unexplained phenomena of zibun which involves politeness considerations."Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-07T13:02:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
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Climate Change and Cultural Survival in the Arctic: People of the Whales and Muktuk Politics
No full textAbstract
This article explores the interface of climate change and society in a circumpolar context, particularly experienced among the Iñupiaq people (Iñupiat) of Arctic Alaska. The Iñupiat call themselves the “People of the Whales,” and their physical and spiritual survival is based on their cultural relationship with bowhead whales. Historically the broader indigenous identity, spawned through their activism, has served to connect disparate communities and helped revitalize cultural traditions. Indigenous Arctic organizations such as the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) and the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission (AEWC) are currently building upon a strong success record of their past to confront the environmental problems of their future. Employing what the author calls muktuk politics—a culturally salient reference to the bowhead whale skin and the underlying blubber—the Iñupiaq have revitalized their cultural identity by participating in international debates on climate change, whaling, and human rights.
Currently, the ICC and the AEWC identify Arctic climate change and its impact on human rights as their most important topics. The Iñupiat relationship with the land, ocean, and animals are affected by a number of elements including severe weather, climate and environmental changes, and globalization. To the Iñupiat, their current problems are different than those of the past, but they also understand that as long as there are bowhead whales they can subsist and thrive, and this is their goal. This new form of muktuk politics seeks to bring their current challenges to a wider audience by relying on more recent political experiences.</jats:p
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