From import substitution to integration into global production networks: The case of the Indian automobile industry

This paper examines the growth trajectory and the current state of the Indian automobile industry, paying attention to factors that underpinned its transition from import substitution to integration into global production networks. Market-conforming policies implemented by the government of India over the past 2 decades, which marked a clear departure from protectionist policies in the past, have been instrumental in transforming the Indian automobile industry in line with ongoing structural changes in the world automobile industry. India has emerged as a significant producer of compact cars within global automobile production networks. Compact cars exported from India have become competitive in the international market because of the economies of scale of producing for a large domestic market and product adaptation to suit domestic market conditions. Interestingly, there are no significant differences in prices of compact cars sold in domestic and foreign markets. This suggests that the hypothesis of “import protection as export promotion” does not hold for Indian automobile exports

Legionella pneumonia as a cause of atypical pneumonia in a tertiary care hospital in Sri Lanka

Atypical pneumonia which contributes to an important proportion of community acquired pneumonia and Legionella pneumophila is a noteworthy pathogen worldwide. Legionnaires’ disease, the severe form of pneumonia is predominantly caused by Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1. This study was conducted to determine the presence of Legionella pneumophila as a pathogen and the associated risk factors among the patients admitted with atypical pneumonia to a tertiary care hospital in Sri Lanka. Seventy-five adult patients diagnosed with atypical pneumonia attending professorial medical unit of Colombo South Teaching Hospital, Sri Lanka were enrolled. Risk factors related to the disease was assessed by an interviewer administered questionnaire. Expectorated sputum was processed on supplemented buffered charcoal yeast extract medium and urine specimens were tested for Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 antigen. Fifty-six percent of the patients were males and 91% were residing in urban areas. Smoking was admitted by 32% and that of alcohol consumption was in 25%. Composting and potting, distant travelling and frequent use of air conditioning was reported in 28%, 37% and 4% respectively. Majority of participants were not exposed to cooling towers, humidifiers or plumbing and not visited high risk areas. Among the study group, 21% had diabetes, 24% had ischaemic heart disease and 36% had chronic lung diseases. None of the sputum samples grew Legionella pneumophila, and all urine samples were negative for the antigen of Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1. It is concluded that, in this population of community acquired atypical pneumonia, Legionella pneumophila was not identified as a causative agent. KEYWORDS: Atypical pneumonia, community acquired pneumonia, Legionella pneumophil

Influence of reactive ion etching on the minority carrier lifetime in P-type Si

Quasi-steady-state photoconductance (QSSPC) and deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) were used to characterize the recombination properties of reactive ion etched p-type Si. The effective lifetime of the plasma-processed samples degraded after etching, with the densities of recombination centers increasing linearly with etch time, before reaching a plateau. Evidence is provided for the long-range (> 2 µm) migration of defects in the samples plasma-etched at room temperature. The relationship between rf power and lifetime degradation is also discussed. A defect with energy position at (0.31 ± 0.02) eV was detected by DLTS in RIE p-Si, whereas no defect level was measured in n-type Si. We demonstrate that this energy level could be used to adequately model the injection-dependence of the measured carrier lifetimes using the Shockley-Read-Hall model

Highly linear microstrip wideband bandpass filter with switchable notched band for wireless applications

This article presents a highly linear reconfigurable bandpass filter embedded with a switchable notch structure to get a band-notched characteristic at a specified frequency.A single PIN diode (BAP65-02) is used for the purpose of switching the notch. An optical switch, comprised of a silicon dice activated using near infrared light is also investigated as an alternative to the PIN diode. While the PIN diode or the optical switch is in the ON state this reconfigurable filter behaves as a bandpass filter with a notch at 2.4 GHz in order to reject WLAN interference while a full band response is obtained in the OFF state. The proposed filter is able to achieve good linearity using PIN diode with IIP3 of 47 dBm and there is no significant loss. A prototype is fabricated, and measured results are compared to simulations. A good agreement has been achieved between simulated and measured results

Compact UWB bandpass filter with reconfigurable notched band

A compact bandpass filter is presented for ultra-wideband (UWB) applications with a reconfigurable notched band to reject unwanted signals from the WiMAX systems. A single pin diode is used for the purpose of switching the notch. An optical switch, comprised of a silicon dice activated using near infrared light is also investigated as an alternative to the pin diode. While the switch is in the ON state this reconfigurable filter behaves as a bandpass filter with a notch at 3.5 GHz and a full band response is obtained in the OFF state. The filter offers excellent performance for the lower-band frequency of a UWB system, ranging from 3.1 to 5.0 GHz and exhibits very low passband insertion loss. Also, transmission zeros are generated at the passband edges to enhance the signal selectivity. A filter sample has been designed and fabricated to provide experimental verification on the proposed filter. A good agreement has been achieved between simulated and measured results with both the pin diode as well as the optical switch. The proposed reconfigurable filter with notched band was able to achieve 40% size reduction as compared to an embedded open-circuited stub

Optically reconfigurable microstrip UWB bandpass filters

This paper presents an optically reconfigurable microstrip ultra-wideband filter. A single optical switch comprised of a silicon wafer is activated using near infra-red light to select between either a bandpass or bandstop response. With the switch in the ON state, the circuit behaves as a bandpass filter while in the OFF state, the circuit behaves as a bandstop filter in the same frequency band. The proposed filter was designed, fabricated and tested. Its performance was evaluated through simulation and measurements

Multi-Scale Simulation Modeling for Prevention and Public Health Management of Diabetes in Pregnancy and Sequelae

Diabetes in pregnancy (DIP) is an increasing public health priority in the Australian Capital Territory, particularly due to its impact on risk for developing Type 2 diabetes. While earlier diagnostic screening results in greater capacity for early detection and treatment, such benefits must be balanced with the greater demands this imposes on public health services. To address such planning challenges, a multi-scale hybrid simulation model of DIP was built to explore the interaction of risk factors and capture the dynamics underlying the development of DIP. The impact of interventions on health outcomes at the physiological, health service and population level is measured. Of particular central significance in the model is a compartmental model representing the underlying physiological regulation of glycemic status based on beta-cell dynamics and insulin resistance. The model also simulated the dynamics of continuous BMI evolution, glycemic status change during pregnancy and diabetes classification driven by the individual-level physiological model. We further modeled public health service pathways providing diagnosis and care for DIP to explore the optimization of resource use during service delivery. The model was extensively calibrated against empirical data.Comment: 10 pages, SBP-BRiMS 201

The rise of China in the international trade network: a community core detection approach

Theory of complex networks proved successful in the description of a variety of static networks ranging from biology to computer and social sciences and to economics and finance. Here we use network models to describe the evolution of a particular economic system, namely the International Trade Network (ITN). Previous studies often assume that globalization and regionalization in international trade are contradictory to each other. We re-examine the relationship between globalization and regionalization by viewing the international trade system as an interdependent complex network. We use the modularity optimization method to detect communities and community cores in the ITN during the years 1995-2011. We find rich dynamics over time both inter- and intra-communities. Most importantly, we have a multilevel description of the evolution where the global dynamics (i.e., communities disappear or reemerge) tend to be correlated with the regional dynamics (i.e., community core changes between community members). In particular, the Asia-Oceania community disappeared and reemerged over time along with a switch in leadership from Japan to China. Moreover, simulation results show that the global dynamics can be generated by a preferential attachment mechanism both inter- and intra- communities