Telecommunications business venturing in China : identification of investment orientations using deal reporting

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-102).China's recent entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December 2001 has lent speed to an ongoing series of market reforms that has opened up the massive Chinese domestic market to the world. The thought of China selling its products and services freely in global markets in exchange for opening up its own growing domestic market of 1.2 billion people is staggering and demands for business and policy decision makers to have an understanding of China's unique investment landscape. Centering on technology venturing in the telecommunications sector in mainland China, this research identifies and analyzes patterns of deal-making and strategies that motivate business investments in the technology space in mainland China. Three investment orientations - cost- minimization, domestic market-driven and joint development - are proposed and verified using the research data. Data was collected on all publicly-reported deals in China, published in business reporting services in the English language including the China Business Review, Reuters, Investext, Dow Jones, and The Economist Intelligence Unit. Objective data on deal attributes was matched with subjective and evaluative data on strategies and expected deal significance. By performing content analysis and statistical analysis on the data collected, results were obtained regarding the investment orientations in mainland China of two companies, UTStarcom Inc. and Nortel Networks Corp. It was found that significant differences existed in the objective and subjective attributes of telecommunications business ventures in China.(cont.) The two companies that were studied exhibited all proposed investment orientations, including the third joint development orientation that is emerging and directing investments into Sino-foreign partnership opportunities that jointly developed 3G products for the international market. There is a decreasing trend in number of Sino-foreign import contracts and an increasing trend in Sino-foreign exports in telecoms. These results point to the emergence of Chinese telecom companies that compete strongly in the Chinese marketplace and in international markets. Three deal drivers are identified from the deals that were studied, along with several possible risk-bearing changes that might result from policy influences in China. Difficulties in tracking deals are described and the implications of the research findings from a business and policy perspective are discussed.by Tony Whey Yit Lim.S.M

The Impact of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) on International Airline Demand in Asia Pacific

The aim of this dissertation is to analyse the impact of exogenous factors on efficiency of airlines based in the Asia Pacific using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach. In measuring the efficiency of different airlines, the effects of the environment (exogenous factors) and the effects of productive efficiency are isolated. Exogenous factors refer to essentials outside the control of the firms while productive efficiency signifies the individual airline’s profitability state of affairs through a lengthy period of time. The focal point of this study revolves around the epidemic period of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the widespread which put the global airline industry and especially the Asia Pacific, into turmoil from February 2003, and lasted almost 6 months into the year. In June 2003, the height of the SARS pandemic saw passenger boardings at major hubs dwindled significantly, threatening even the most profitable airlines to file for bankruptcy. Because SARS mostly affected travel hubs such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Bangkok, Singapore and outside of Asia Pacific, Canada, airlines included in this study are concentrated on these few airport hubs. Representing the airline industry within the Northeast Asia (NEA) region are Cathay Pacific Airways (CX) of Hong Kong and China Airlines (CI) of Taiwan. In Southeast Asia (SEA), airlines involved in this study are Singapore Airlines (SQ) and Thai Airways International (TG). Also, the basis of this study is to ascertain of these four most affected airlines, which counter the impact of SARS more efficiently and how long the lagging effect SARS has on these airlines. According to Yu (1998), there are two approaches to account for the effects of exogenous factors: 1) Stochastic Frontier Method: a one-step procedure which includes exogenous variables directly in estimating the efficiency measures; 2) Data Envelopment Analysis: a two-step approach which firstly estimates the relative gross efficiencies using both inputs and outputs and then, analyses the effects of exogenous variables on the gross efficiency. In this study, however, the Data Envelopment Analysis technique will be employed in ascertaining the efficiency of these selected airlines in Asia Pacific during turbulent times. A comparison will be carried out between these four major carriers to establish their relative efficiency to rebound from the unprecedented impact of SARS. It will be seen how the fastest growing region, the Asia Pacific, can counter adverse effect of exogenous factors and continue with the upward trends in both passenger mass and cargo traffic while most established airlines in America and Europe spiraled downwards in times of crisis. The Malmquist DEA methods are subsequently adopted to calculated indices of total factor productivity (TFP) change, scale efficiency change,technological change, technical efficiency change and pure technical efficiency change

Learning gains of students in differing delivery modes of physiology laboratory classes

Inquiry-based laboratory classes provide opportunities for students to reinforce knowledge and develop skills in scientific methodologies (Colthorpe et al., 2017). However, with many courses now delivered in dual modes, it is unclear whether gains are equivalent when classes are delivered face-to-face or online. This study evaluated students’ perceptions of gains from inquiry-based laboratory classes in alternate delivery modes. Biomedical science students undertaking ‘Systems Physiology’ enrolled in internal (n=341) or external (n=117) modes. The course has a blended design, incorporating inquiry-based laboratory classes delivered either face-to-face or via Zoom. Students worked in groups to design and present an experiment proposal. Internal students undertook their experiment and analysed the data, whereas external students analysed data generated by prior students. All students completed an individual laboratory report. Through open-ended questions, students identified learning gains they achieved. Responses were thematically analysed against an existing framework (Brinson, 2015). Internal students reported gaining skills in data acquisition and presentations more than external students. Whereas, external students more frequently reported gaining skills in formulating aims and hypotheses. Students’ grades were identical in each mode. Although students appear to cope well with differing delivery modes, external students may need targeted support to assist development of specific skills. REFERENCES Brinson, JR. (2015). Learning outcome achievement in non-traditional (virtual and remote) versus traditional (hands-on) laboratories: A review of the empirical research. Computers & Education, 87, 218-237. Colthorpe, K., H. M. Abraha, K. Zimbardi, L. Ainscough, J. G. Spiers, H.-J. C. Chen, & N. A. Lavidis. (2017). Assessing students’ ability to critically evaluate evidence in an inquiry-based undergraduate laboratory course. Advances in Physiology Education, 41(1), 154-162

Head Lice Infestation and Its Relationship with Hygiene and Knowledge among Urban School Children in Yogyakarta

Introduction: Pediculosis capitis is a common infestation in school children and is a worldwide public health concern. Despite this worldwide spread, incidence studies remain few. There is also a misconceptionthat head lice infestation is rarely found in the urban environment.Objectives: The objective of this study is to determine the proportion of head lice infestation among urban school children in Yogyakarta and study its relationship with hygiene and knowledge.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted upon 2 schools in Yogyakarta on 154 pupils. Children range from ages 9 to 13 years. Data was collected from the schools by trained persons. A detailed questionnaire was fi lled for each pupil prior to hair examination.Results: In this research, we report the proportion of head lice infestation among urban school children in Yogyakarta and assess its risk factors. Nineteen pupils (12.3%) were infected with head lice, 5 boys(6.3%) and 14 girls (18.7%). There was a signifi cant relationship between head lice infestation and sex (P<0.05). However, no signifi cant relationship was found between head lice infestation with hygiene andknowledgeConclusion: The results show a total proportion of 12.3% among urban school children in Yogyakarta.Keywords: pediculosis capitis, urban, hygiene, knowledge, school children

Graded Nodal/Activin Signaling Titrates Conversion of Quantitative Phospho-Smad2 Levels into Qualitative Embryonic Stem Cell Fate Decisions

Nodal and Activin are morphogens of the TGFbeta superfamily of signaling molecules that direct differential cell fate decisions in a dose- and distance-dependent manner. During early embryonic development the Nodal/Activin pathway is responsible for the specification of mesoderm, endoderm, node, and mesendoderm. In contradiction to this drive towards cellular differentiation, the pathway also plays important roles in the maintenance of self-renewal and pluripotency in embryonic and epiblast stem cells. The molecular basis behind stem cell interpretation of Nodal/Activin signaling gradients and the undertaking of disparate cell fate decisions remains poorly understood. Here, we show that any perturbation of endogenous signaling levels in mouse embryonic stem cells leads to their exit from self-renewal towards divergent differentiation programs. Increasing Nodal signals above basal levels by direct stimulation with Activin promotes differentiation towards the mesendodermal lineages while repression of signaling with the specific Nodal/Activin receptor inhibitor SB431542 induces trophectodermal differentiation. To address how quantitative Nodal/Activin signals are translated qualitatively into distinct cell fates decisions, we performed chromatin immunoprecipitation of phospho-Smad2, the primary downstream transcriptional factor of the Nodal/Activin pathway, followed by massively parallel sequencing, and show that phospho-Smad2 binds to and regulates distinct subsets of target genes in a dose-dependent manner. Crucially, Nodal/Activin signaling directly controls the Oct4 master regulator of pluripotency by graded phospho-Smad2 binding in the promoter region. Hence stem cells interpret and carry out differential Nodal/Activin signaling instructions via a corresponding gradient of Smad2 phosphorylation that selectively titrates self-renewal against alternative differentiation programs by direct regulation of distinct target gene subsets and Oct4 expression

Exponentiated Weibull Burr Type X Distribution’s Properties and Its Applications

This study proposes a new distribution called exponentiated Weibull Burr type X distribution which provides greater flexibility in fitting the survival data. We derive several statistical properties of the proposed distribution, which consist of the quantile function, moment, order statistics, and Renyi entropy. We use maximum likelihood approach to estimate the proposed distribution’s parameters. Simulation study is then conducted with varying samples sizes and parameter values for examining the performance of the suggested distribution. Lastly, real data are used to illustrate the flexibility and performance of the proposed distribution, its sub-models, and some extension of Burr type X distribution. The results reveal that the suggested distribution yields a better model fit in comparison with other competing models. In conclusion, the proposed distribution able to model a wide range of survival data, including data with decreasing, increasing, bathtub, and unimodal hazard functions. Perhaps it may perform better than its sub-models in fitting the survival data

A new exponentiated beta burr type X distribution : model, theory, and applications

In recent years, many attempts have been carried out to develop the Burr type X distribution, which is widely used in fitting lifetime data. These extended Burr type X distributions can model the hazard function in decreasing, increasing and bathtub shapes, except for unimodal. Hence, this paper aims to introduce a new continuous distribution, namely exponentiated beta Burr type X distribution, which provides greater flexibility in order to overcome the deficiency of the existing extended Burr type X distributions. We first present its density and cumulative function expressions. It is then followed by the mathematical properties of this new distribution, which include its limit behaviour, quantile function, moment, moment generating function, and order statistics. We use maximum likelihood approach to estimate the parameters and their performance is assessed via a simulation study with varying parameter values and sample sizes. Lastly, we use two real data sets to illustrate the performance and flexibility of the proposed distribution. The results show that the proposed distribution gives better fits in modelling lifetime data compared to its sub-models and some extended Burr type X distributions. Besides, it is very competitive and can be used as an alternative model to some nonnested models. In summary, the proposed distribution is very flexible and able to model various shaped hazard functions, including the increasing, decreasing, bathtub, and unimodal