Made in China: The Sweatshop Behind the Bratz

The report describes living and working conditions at the Hua Tai 4k factory in Shenzhen City, China. It is part of the large Hua Cheng group and supplies Bratz dolls mostly for California-based MGA Entertainment Company

Robust large-port-count hybrid switches with relaxed control tolerances

The control tolerances of large-port-count optical switches with up to 128×128 ports using the MZI-SOA hybrid design are investigated. The first quantitative analysis is presented showing tolerant control requirements of the hybrid switch design.The research leading to these results has received funding from the UK EPSRC INTERNET, STAR, and COPOS II projects and the European Community’s FP7 programme under grant agreement ICT 257210 PARADIGM.This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available at https://www.osapublishing.org/abstract.cfm?uri=CLEO_SI-2015-JTh2A.38

The feasibility of building large scale optical switches using a novel MZI-SOA hybrid approach

For the first time, the feasibility of nanosecond large-scale optical switches is demonstrated using a novel MZI-SOA hybrid approach. In a filter-free recirculating loop, the potential performance of up to 128x128 port switch is demonstrated.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from OSA Publishing via http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/ACPC.2014.AF2B.

More on convexity and smoothness of operators

AbstractLet X and Y be Banach spaces and T:Y→X be a bounded operator. In this note, we show first some operator versions of the dual relation between q-convexity and p-smoothness of Banach spaces case. Making use of them, we prove then the main result of this note that the two notions of uniform q-convexity and uniform p-smoothness of an operator T introduced by J. Wenzel are actually equivalent to that the corresponding T-modulus δT of convexity and the T-modulus ρT of smoothness introduced by G. Pisier are of power type q and of power type p, respectively. This is also an operator version of a combination of a Hoffman's theorem and a Figiel–Pisier's theorem. As their application, we show finally that a recent theorem of J. Borwein, A.J. Guirao, P. Hajek and J. Vanderwerff about q-convexity of Banach spaces is again valid for q-convexity of operators

On Littlewood-Paley Functions

We prove that, for a compactly supported L-q function Phi with vanishing integral on Rn, the corresponding square function operator SF is bounded on L-p for vertical bar 1/p - 1/2 vertical bar \u3c min{(q-1)/2, 1/2}

On Littlewood-Paley Functions

We prove that, for a compactly supported L-q function Phi with vanishing integral on Rn, the corresponding square function operator SF is bounded on L-p for vertical bar 1/p - 1/2 vertical bar \u3c min{(q-1)/2, 1/2}

Queer(ing) Taiwan and its future: from an agenda of mainstream self-enlightenment to one of sexual citizenship

As parts of an ongoing reflection on the tongzhi (roughly equivalent to lesbian/gay/queer, hereafter abbreviated as l/g/q) developments in Taiwan, three critical theses are put forward in this essay. The first is a historical understanding of the excitingly prosperous l/g/q emergence in the 1990s. I offer here a contextual analysis which views this phenomenal rise as the amplified effects of what I call a ‘self-enlightening’ process pursued by the mainstream society since the democratization process started in the late 1980s. Yet as fortunate as it seems, this coincidence also dictated the specific form the l/g/q movement has taken as well as caused its apparent ‘cool-off’ near the year 2000. The second is the follow-up critical observation, along the line already mapped out, on the latest change of direction – i.e. what I call the ‘civic turn’ of the l/g/q movement since 2000. This in effect further proves my thesis put forth in the first section and also points at a general perspective on the relative strength (or lack of it) of the Taiwan society versus political power. At the end, O distinguish the l/g/q civil movement in Taiwan from its US counterpart by showing the local transformations of this largely imported discourse with the purpose of providing a glocal comparative framework. To further demonstrate the glocal difference, I also anticipate the historical significance of this new phase of development itself as well as for Taiwan in general