Pro-market reform and aerospace innovation in China

The many innovations of the Chinese aerospace industry have been and are associated with pro-market policy since the 1980s. In this paper, we will discuss the activities of the Chinese state and its comparative advantage in judgemental decision making during uncertainty. By exploring how the Chinese state has handled entrepreneurial events over the decades, we will gain insight into the driving forces of re-combinative innovation in the aerospace industry

Competing risks regression for clustered survival data via the marginal additive subdistribution hazards model

A population-averaged additive subdistribution hazards model is proposed to assess the marginal effects of covariates on the cumulative incidence function and to analyze correlated failure time data subject to competing risks. This approach extends the population-averaged additive hazards model by accommodating potentially dependent censoring due to competing events other than the event of interest. Assuming an independent working correlation structure, an estimating equations approach is outlined to estimate the regression coefficients and a new sandwich variance estimator is proposed. The proposed sandwich variance estimator accounts for both the correlations between failure times and between the censoring times, and is robust to misspecification of the unknown dependency structure within each cluster. We further develop goodness-of-fit tests to assess the adequacy of the additive structure of the subdistribution hazards for the overall model and each covariate. Simulation studies are conducted to investigate the performance of the proposed methods in finite samples. We illustrate our methods using data from the STrategies to Reduce Injuries and Develop confidence in Elders (STRIDE) trial

Evaluation Techniques For Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is an instructional model in which students work together toward a common goal. Research has clearly shown that cooperation results in higher levels of achievement. Although students may be a part of a cooperative learning environment, they are also responsible for their own individual achievement. This makes student evaluations a challenge because you are evaluating individual as well as team effort. This paper will review the alternatives for assessing the participation of individual student on a team as well as discuss the cases in which each approach was used. It identifies the positives and negatives of each approach

Disparities in Caregiver-Reported Dental Cavities and Toothaches Among Children in the Special Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program

Purpose: Dental caries is prevalent among low-income and minority children despite oral health promotion programs. The purpose of this study was to examine disparities associated with caregiver-reported cavities and toothaches among children in the United States aged 2-4 years by their eligibility for and participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. Methods: A secondary data analysis was performed using the 2016 National Survey of Children\u27s Health (NSCH) data on children aged 2-4 years (n=7,719) with complete WIC participation information. Three groups were formed based on WIC eligibility and participation status: WIC participants, income-eligible non-participants, and higher-income non-participants. Caregiver-reported cavities and toothaches were compared by WIC eligibility and participation using chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: Among all children in the data set, 2,069 were WIC eligible, 49.8% of whom participated in WIC. Participants in WIC had higher reported cavities and toothaches (10.0% and 5.2%) than income-eligible, or higher-income non-WIC participating children (8.9% and 3.2%; 4.4% and 0.1%, respectively; p \u3c 0.001). However, non-Hispanic, white WIC participants, had a higher proportion of reported cavities (14.0%) and toothaches (8.2%) than income-eligible nonparticipants (6.7% and 1.9%, respectively; p \u3c 0.05). While non-Hispanic, black WIC participating children, had nearly 3.6 times more reported cavities than income-eligible nonparticipants (9.0% vs. 2.5%, p \u3c 0.05). Conclusion: Caregiver-reported cavities and toothaches varied by sociodemographic characteristics within WIC participation and eligibility groups. These findings suggest that more research is warranted to explore factors that are contributing to oral health disparities associated with WIC eligibility and participation

Assessing the quality of peer feedback in an online peer learning community

A goal of higher education is the development of students’ evaluative judgment, that is, the capacity to make judgements of the quality of work done by oneself and others.  Over-reliance on judgements of teachers, for example by focusing on grades, can inhibit students developing this ability. Peer review is one approach that can develop evaluative judgement but an issue that may prevent its implementation is the perceived quality of peer feedback. We used an online platform, PeerWise, in a second year genetics course to investigate the quality of peer feedback and whether evaluative judgment was evident. PeerWise enables students to write, comment on, answer and rate multiple choice questions. We found it necessary to allocate some marks as an incentive for participation but 5% of the course grade resulted in high engagement with minimal intervention from the convenor. This set-up allowed students to make and share judgements anonymously in a low-stakes context. Maximum marks were awarded for writing four accurate questions, covering at least three of the four content modules, and submitting four meaningful comments. This resulted in 959 questions and 1529 comments from 248 students. A qualitative analysis of all comments led to the identification of five criteria used to assess questions: knowledge, clarity, complexity, engagement and explanation. Students demonstrated the ability to make complex and reasonable judgements about question quality invoking multiple criteria. They made constructive suggestions for improvement and reflected on their own learning, consistent with the development of evaluative judgement.&nbsp

1% Calcium Chloride Treatment In Combination With Gamma Irradiation Improves Microbial and Physicochemical Properties Of Diced Tomatoes

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a combination of a 1% calcium chloride dip with low dose irradiation on microbial populations, and biochemical and physical properties, of fresh diced tomatoes during a two-week storage period. Vine tomatoes at the light-red stage (trial 1) and Celebrity tomatoes at the table ripe stage (trial 2) were diced, dipped in 1% CaCl2, and irradiated at 1 kGy from a Co-60 source. Tomatoes were also contaminated with cocktail of nalidixic-acid resistant Salmonella strains (S. Poona, S. Hartford, S. Gaminara, S. Michigan, and S. Montevideo) and subjected to gamma irradiation. Calcium treatment alone stimulated ethylene production in the diced tomatoes, whereas irradiation treatment alone suppressed ethylene production. The combination of calcium and irradiation treatments resulted in no change in ethylene production compared to the nontreated control, but respiration rate was suppressed by both irradiation and calcium treatment. The calcium dip was found to limit irradiation-induced loss of firmness. Irradiation, by itself and in combination with calcium treatment, resulted in a \u3e3 log CFU/g decrease in total aerobic counts and psychrotrophs. Additionally, irradiation at 1.5 kGy eliminated \u3e3 log CFU/g of Salmonella organisms from tomatoes contaminated with Salmonella. Counts continued to decrease to an undetectable level over the 11 day storage period. The results indicate that the combination of calcium treatment and irradiation can reduce the risk of disease due to pathogenic organisms such as Salmonella and can eliminate the problem of softening induced by irradiation

Binaral Rivalry in the Presence of Visual Perceptual and Semantic Influences

When two different odorants are presented simultaneously to the two nostrils, we experience alternations in olfactory percepts, a phenomenon called binaral rivalry. Little is known about the nature of such alternations. Here we investigate this issue by subjecting unstable and stable olfactory percepts to the influences of visual perceptual or semantic cues as participants engage in simultaneous samplings of either two different odorants (binaral) or a single odorant and water (mononaral), one to each nostril. We show that alternations of olfactory percepts in the binaral setting persist in the presence of visual perceptual and semantic modulations. We also show that perceptual cues have a stronger effect than semantic cues in the binaral case, whereas their effects are comparable in the mononaral setting. Our findings provide evidence that an inherent, stimulus-driven process underlies binaral rivalry despite its general susceptibility to top-down influences

Human Resource Role In Work-Life Balance: A Case Of High Technology Knowledge Workers In Taiwan

This case involves the problems that young people in Taiwan are facing in high tech companies. Employees are spending many hours in their jobs and making high salaries as a result, but their social lives are suffering greatly. This paper examines the relationship between the work and social life of young Taiwanese workers in high tech firms. Although salaries and compensation packages are high, the social lives of these workers have diminished greatly. This study provides a comprehensive viewpoint from the perspective of an employee within the Human Resource department of one of these companies

Model driven testing based on test history

We consider software systems consisting of a set of components running as a sequential process. We model such software systems as a special class of transition systems. The difference with existing approaches is that we propose a test procedure based on the structure of the model and the prior test history that can be used for exhaustive testing in an efficient way. On top of that we provide a statistical stopping rule, that is independent of the underlying way of walking through the system, which allows us to stop earlier with a certain statistical reliability.</p