Impact of Changing Facets of Inter-firm Interactions on Manufacturing Excellence: A Social Network Perspective of Indian Automotive Industry.

The inherent complexity of the innovation process puts interaction among firms and their specificities concerning the patterns of interaction at the center-stage. Hence, an uncovering of the interactive pattern among firms in the industry may reveal many hidden patterns, viz., the existing dependence and dominance structure of firms and the evolving dynamical changes based their on. Guided by these, this paper studies the vertical relational structure of automotive and auto component firms in Indian automotive supply chain where a clear ‘unequal balance of power’ is observed. We find that the industry network shows some prominent scale-free structural properties and complex dynamical behaviour. While analyzing further the Indian automotive industry’s possible evolutionary features we draw innovation and sustainability characteristics of this network, its inclination towards vulnerability and other policy implications.

Successive Cancellation List Polar Decoder using Log-likelihood Ratios

Successive cancellation list (SCL) decoding algorithm is a powerful method that can help polar codes achieve excellent error-correcting performance. However, the current SCL algorithm and decoders are based on likelihood or log-likelihood forms, which render high hardware complexity. In this paper, we propose a log-likelihood-ratio (LLR)-based SCL (LLR-SCL) decoding algorithm, which only needs half the computation and storage complexity than the conventional one. Then, based on the proposed algorithm, we develop low-complexity VLSI architectures for LLR-SCL decoders. Analysis results show that the proposed LLR-SCL decoder achieves 50% reduction in hardware and 98% improvement in hardware efficiency.Comment: accepted by 2014 Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computer

Spatial Growth Volatility and Age-structured Human Capital Dynamics in Europe.

In a semi-parametric spatial vector autoregressive setting this paper investigates the role of age-structured human capital on output comovements in Europe. Using the proportion of age-structured human capital growth and its degree of appropriations in output production as twin measures of distance, we find significant positive spatial growth volatility/persistence.Spatial growth volatility, Non-linear growth, Age-structured human capital, Semi-parametric VAR.

A Note on Shock Persistence in Total Factor Productivity Growth

We study implications of persistence of shocks in total factor productivity (TFP) growth under Bayesian framework for a set of African countries over the period 1970-2003. Contrary to convention, we find that stochastic unit root is present for most of the African countries and that there is time-varying dependence structure in the underlying processes. The implication of our finding is that the persistence process governing TFP series is non-linear, stationary for some period and (mildly) explosive for others pointing to the fact that linear policy rules to counteract stochastic shocks in TFP may not prove useful. The repeat of TFP cycles is traced to this behaviour.Total factor productivity persistence, stochastic unit root, time varying dependence, Bayesian mechanism, Africa

Age-structured Human Capital and Spatial Total Factor Productivity Dynamics

This paper models total factor productivity (TFP) in space and proposes an empirical model for TFP interdependence across spatial locations. The interdependence is assumed to occur due to age-structured human capital dynamics. A semi-parametric spatial vector autoregressive framework is suggested for modeling spatial TFP dynamics where the role of demographic state and technological change are explicitly incorporated in the model to influence their spatial TFP co-movements. Empirical scrutiny in case of Asian countries suggests that cross-country human capital differences in their accumulation and appropriation pattern significantly influenced TFP volatility interdependence. The finding of complementarity in TFP in spatial locations calls for joint policy program for improving aggregate and individual country welfare.Total factor productivity, Spatial growth, Non-linearity, Human capital, Age-structure, Semi-parametric VAR

Perinnöllisyys taakkana : Lasten käytösongelmien syyt suomalaispsykiatriassa 1920-luvulta 1950-luvulle

This article analyses interpretations of the causes of children's behavioural problems in early child psychiatry in Finland from the 1920s until the 1950s. The era was pre-psychodynamic, and psychiatrists stressed biological explanations, which were based on hereditary factors. The source material consists of patient records of children diagnosed with psychopathy in Pitkaniemi Hospital, which operated as one of the state mental hospitals. The focus is on the ways in which the causes of behavioural problems were described, paying special attention to mentions of socioeconomic factors, and adopting a present-centred perspective on analysing the past. Although psychiatrists described details like family background and parental occupations, they did not necessarily use them to point out connections between socioeconomic factors and behavioural problems. On the contrary, in many cases, there was no indicated correlation. This is not to say that socioeconomic factors did not exist or were not acknowledged, but rather that they were discussed in a different light. The assumption of biologically oriented psychiatry, namely that behavioural problems were primarily hereditary, is prevalent in the case records. Some children improved while in hospital and subsequently returned home, or were placed with other families, or in children's homes. Those who were perceived to be permanently antisocial were placed in reform schools. The change in a child's behaviour seems to have been crucial in forming a prognosis, which implies that there was a clear belief in the curative atmosphere of the hospital, providing that the child's character was corrigible. The focus on socioeconomic factors contrasts with the ways in which psychiatrists at that time perceived and documented the causes of behavioural problems, and helps explain why something, which seems evident in retrospect, was not apparent at the time.Peer reviewe