Shanzhai products and sustainable design

This paper investigates a possible solution to the need for sustainable design through a study of shanzhai products notable for their low price and quality and sometimes, even by their exaggerated design. Their existence reflects a need in China’s post-communist society to provide its population with the kinds of material goods typically associated with capitalist economies in which the advances of science and technology have been applied to the research, design and manufacture of desirable products. Political and economic expediency has meant that because of its need to ‘catch up’ with western markets, China has increasingly tended to copy western designs which it makes affordable to its own population by avoiding research and development costs. This paper will selectively examine and define the concepts and principles of shanzhai products and compare them with those of sustainable design. Although Shanzhai is satisfying in the short-term some of the materialist demands of the Chinese population, it may also be seen as detrimental to the longer-term issues of resources, sustainability and innovation

Circular 75

Record keeping is an important tool in the management of any productive enterprise. In the area of reindeer herding, consistent and accurate record keeping can provide valuable information for making profitable herd management decisions. Making the right decisions can mean the difference between a non-productive herd and one that yields high profits. In this paper, it will be shown how keeping records can contribute to decision making and how computers can help the record keeping process

The political economy of privatization : an empirical analysis of bank privatization in Argentina

The authors study the political economy of bank privatization in Argentina. The results of their study strongly support the hypothesis that political incentives affect the likelihood of privatization. They find that: a) provinces whose governors belonged to the fiscally conservative Partido Justicialista were more likely to privatize; b) fiscal and economic crises increased the likelihood of privatization; and c) poorly performing banks were more likely to be privatized. They tested the hypotheses for a specific industry in a specific country, making it possible to control for enterprise performance and institutional characteristics. It seems reasonable to expect that similar results might hold in other industries and countries.Banks&Banking Reform,Decentralization,Municipal Financial Management,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Municipal Financial Management,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,National Governance,Housing Finance,Banks&Banking Reform

Why privatize? : the case of Argentina's public provincial banks

Argentina has been a leader among developing countries in restructuring its banking sector. The authors analyze the performance of those banks before and after privatization and estimate fiscal savings associated with privatizingArgentina's banks rather than keeping them public and later recapitalizing them. The authors describe the process of privatization, including the creation of residual entities for the assets and liabilities of public provincial banks that private buyers found unattractive and the creation of a special fund (the Fondo Fiduciario) to convert the short-term liabilities of the residual entities into longer-term obligations. They argue that the Fondo, created through cooperation between the Argentine federal government and the World Bank, was key in making privatization of the banks politically feasible. Argentina privatized roughly half of its public provincial banks. The Argentine experience suggests that bank privatization may succeed only when accompanied by a sound, incentive-compatible system of prudential regulation. The regulatory environment affects a bank s solvency. Improved regulation and supervision alone does not deliver the same benefits as improved regulation and supervision with privatization. The provincial banks that remained in the public sector did not demonstrate the same performance gains as privatized provincial banks. The decision to maintain a public provincial bank is a costly one. Policymakers should expect privatization to pass through some or all of the following steps: 1) With respect to pre-privatization audits, expect losses hidden in these banks to be larger than those indicated in prior audits. 2) If residual entities are created, expect them to hold a large share of the old public provincial bank, if the quality of its loan portfolio was low. 3) Do not expect the price paid for the privatized entity (the so-called good bank) to be great, at least compared with assets and liabilities in the residual entity. 4) If the residual entity is large, the province will be confronted with substantial short-term liabilities. But with assistance and an aggressive asset recovery strategy, governments should be able to navigate their way through short-term difficulty. 5) The costs of privatization are less than the costs of future recapitalization, even if the near-term management of the residual entity does not go well.Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Economic Theory&Research,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism

The Effect of ACE Inhibition on the Pulmonary Vasculature in Combined Models of Chronic Hypoxia and Pulmonary Arterial Banding in Sprague Dawley Rats

Microfocal CT was used to image the pulmonary arterial (PA) tree in rodent models of pulmonary hypertension (PH). CT images were used to measure the arterial tree diameter along the main arterial trunk at several hydrostatic intravascular pressures and calculate distensibility. High-resolution planar angiographic imaging was also used to examine distal PA microstructure. Data on pulmonary artery tree morphology improves our understanding of vascular remodeling and response to treatments. Angiotensin II (ATII) has been identified as a mediator of vasoconstriction and proliferative mitotic function. ATII has been shown to promote vascular smooth muscle cell hypertrophy and hyperplasia as well as stimulate synthesis of extracellular matrix proteins. Available ATII is targeted through angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs), a method that has been used in animal models of PH to attenuate vascular remodeling and decrease pulmonary vascular resistance. In this study, we used rat models of chronic hypoxia to induce PH combined with partial left pulmonary artery occlusion (arterial banding, PLPAO) to evaluate effects of the ACEI, captopril, on pulmonary vascular hemodynamic and morphology. Male Sprague Dawley rats were placed in hypoxia (FiO2 0.1), with one group having underwent PLPAO three days prior to the chronic hypoxia. After the twenty-first day of hypoxia exposure, treatment was started with captopril (20 mg/kg/day) for an additional twenty-one days. At the endpoint, lungs were excised and isolated to examine: pulmonary vascular resistance, ACE activity, pulmonary vessel morphology and biomechanics. Hematocrit and RV/LV+septum ratio was also measured. CT planar images showed less vessel dropout in rats treated with captopril versus the non-treatment lungs. Distensibility data shows no change in rats treated with captopril in both chronic hypoxia (CH) and CH with PLPAO (CH+PLPAO) models. Hemodynamic measurements also show no change in the pulmonary vascular resistance with captopril treatment in both CH and CH+PLPAO

Bank privatization in Argentina : a model of political constraints and differential outcomes

Based on results from country case studies, many researchers have claimed that political constraints affect bank privatization transactions, which in turn affect the post-privatization performance of the banking sector. But no study has either econometrically tested how political constraints affect bank privatization transactions or theretically modeled the privatization transaction. The authors present a simple theoretical framework that models the inherent tradeoffs faced by governments and potential buyers in privatization transactions involving banks. The potential buyer is concerned about the probability that the bank will remain solvent, about the profits it will earn after privatization, and about the price paid for the assets and liabilities. The government is concerned about the price received for the assets, about layoffs, and about service coverage after privatization. The evidence from bank privatization transactions in Argentina in the 1990s supports several of their theoretical predictions. In particular, provinces with highfiscal deficits were willing to accept layoffs and to guarantee a larger part of the privatized banks'portfolio in return for a higher price. The tequila crisis (Mexico's economic crisis in 1994-95) meant that politicians could protect fewer jobs and had to assume a greater share of their public banks'assets. Evidence of better performance at banks privatized after Mexico's crisis suggests that, by tying politicians'hands, the crisis may have brought unforeseen benefits. This conjecture awaits further empirical validation, but the authors hope that by explicitly incorporating the incentives politicians face, analysis can begin to address the question of why some privatizations succeed more than others.Economic Theory&Research,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,Economic Theory&Research,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism

Development of a coded 16-ary CPFSK coherent demodulator

Theory and hardware are described for a proof-of-concept 16-ary continuous phase frequency shift keying (16-CPFSK) digital modem. The 16 frequencies are spaced every 1/16th baud rate for 2 bits/sec/Hz operation. Overall rate 3/4 convolutional coding is incorporated. The demodulator differs significantly from typical quadrature phase detector approaches in that phase is coherently measured by processing the baseband output of a frequency discriminator. Baud rate phase samples from the baseband processor are decoded to yield the original data stream. The method of encoding onto the 16-ary phase nodes, together with convolutional coding gain, results in near quad PSK (QPSK) performance. The modulated signal is of constant envelope; thus the power amplifier can be saturated for peak performance. The spectrum is inherently bandlimited and requires no RF filter