Interfaces, modularity and ecosystem emergence: How DARPA modularized the semiconductor ecosystem

Scholars have identified the pivotal role that modularity plays in promoting innovation. Modularity affects industry structure by breaking up the value chain along technical interfaces, thereby allowing new entrants to specialize and innovate. Less well-understood is where modularity comes from. Firms seem to behave consistently with the theory in some settings, especially the information technology sector, but not in others, such as automobiles. Here we show how the government has a role to play in generating open interfaces needed for modularity, utilizing a case study of the semiconductor industry from 1970 to 1980. We show how the Defense Department\u27s support for this effort aligned with its mission-based interest in semiconductors. We thus contribute a new source of open standards to the modularity literature, as well as a new analytical perspective to the public research funding literature

Are the Stock Markets “Rigged”? An Empirical Analysis of Regulatory Change

Volatile events in the stock market such as the 2010 Flash Crash have sparked concern that financial markets are “rigged” in favor of trading firms that use high frequency trading (“HFT”) systems. We analyze a regulatory change implemented by the SEC in 2007 by examining its effect on a key market metric, the bid-ask spread, an investor cost, and find that the regulatory shift, indeed, disadvantages investors. We link the implementation of this change to a shift in the volume of trades from a low-cost venue to a high-cost venue. We argue that this outcome is predicted by the incentives of the venues, non-profit stock exchanges owned by different types of members. The lessvolatile, lower-cost New York Stock Exchange was owned by underwriters and included a specialist system that is less vulnerable to HFT tactics that can disadvantage investors

Is Open Source Software "Better" Than Closed Source Software? Using Bug-Fix Rates to Compare Software Quality

If free software is also better software, as is claimed, we should all be downloading programs one day. While software quality itself is hard to define and measure, one can compare the rate of change of quality of open and closed source programs by comparing three pairs of comparable programs. Estimates of a hazard rate model find that the open source version of two programs are modified more quickly in response to bug reports. The two "faster response" open source programs are supported by communities of user-developers, whereas a third "slower response" program was written by programmers who were paid to develop the software for others. Thus open source software is found to undergo improvements more rapidly when it is produced and maintained by its users

Building for Joy in the Digital World

User experience of digital platforms and technologies tends to be quite ‘thin’, characterized by low-quality engagements such as addictive tendencies or browsing on autopilot. In this paper, we take an interdisciplinary approach to identifying more cognitive and active dimensions of ‘thick’ user experience, introducing a new design and User Experience framework which is centred around the notion of joy. We consider existing frameworks which focus on dimensions such as delight, happiness, satisfaction, pleasure, adoption, and retention. We argue that many harmful kinds of engagement either do not impact negatively on these assessments, or even result in higher scores. We explain how we are working at developing measurements that operationalize different dimensions of joy, drawing from a series of case studies of different digital platforms and applications

Accounting Disclosure At The Organization-society Interface: A Meta-theory And Empirical Evidence

This dissertation consists of three studies related to accounting disclosure at the interface of the organization and society. The first study investigates the overlapping perspectives of legitimacy theory, institutional theory, resource dependence theory, and stakeholder theory and integrates these theories into a more cohesive meta-theory of the organization-society interface. The second study examines whether a corporation\u27s charitable contributions represent a corporate social performance strategy or a legitimation strategy. More specifically, study two investigates, from two competing perspectives, how corporate executives rationalize their philanthropic actions. The third study analyzes the relationship between the current tax laws and the fulfillment of corporate foundations\u27 social functions. Taken together, these three studies build upon prior theoretical and empirical work to advance social and environmental accounting research

International Student Perceptions of Campus Services

International students are a growing population at many institutions of higher education in the United States, and they face unique challenges in navigating both higher education and the United States as a whole. Though there is significant research about international students, few studies have examined how international students perceive student services, and fewer have explored student services outside of international student support services. This qualitative study was conducted to better understand how international students at Oregon State University perceive campus services, specifically services received outside of the Office of International Services. Four participants participated in the study, and six common themes emerged from their narratives: campus climate, interactions with staff, effective communication, identity, on-campus involvement, and meaningful relationships. From these results, four recommendations for practitioners were offered. These recommendations included building knowledge of and capacity to support international students across the whole campus, creating intentional and inclusive communication practices, developing more inclusive programs, and collaborating with international educators on campus. Key Words: International students, campus climate, campus services, student services, institutional suppor

The feasibility of pelvic floor training to treat urinary incontinence in women with breast cancer : a telehealth intervention trial

Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of recruiting into a pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) program delivered via telehealth to treat urinary incontinence (UI) in women with breast cancer on aromatase inhibitors. Methods: We conducted a pre-post single cohort clinical trial with 54 women with breast cancer. Participants underwent a 12-week PFMT program using an intra-vaginal pressure biofeedback device: femfit®. The intervention included eight supervised individual PFMT sessions over Zoom™ and a 12-week home exercise program. The primary outcome of this study was feasibility, specifically consent rate. Secondary outcomes which included prevalence and burden of UI measured using the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire–Urinary Incontinence Short Form (ICIQ-UI SF), and pelvic floor muscle (PFM) strength measured as intravaginal squeeze pressure were compared using McNemar’s and paired t tests. Results: The mean age of participants was 50 years (SD ± 7.3). All women who were eligible to participate in this study consented (n = 55/55, 100%). All participants reported that the program was beneficial and tailored to their needs. The results showed a statistically significant decline in the prevalence (percentage difference 42%, 95% CI 28, 57%) and burden (ICIQ-UI SF score mean change 9.4, 95% CI 8.5, 10.4) of UI post intervention. A significant increase in PFM strength was observed post-intervention (mean change 4.8 mmHg, 95% CI 3.9, 5.5). Conclusion: This study indicated that PFMT delivered via telehealth may be feasible and potentially beneficial in treating stress UI in women with breast cancer. Further studies such as randomized controlled trials are required to confirm these results. © 2022, The Author(s)

2013-2014 Master Class - Elmar Oliveira (Violin)

https://spiral.lynn.edu/conservatory_masterclasses/1045/thumbnail.jp

Updated Perspectives on the Role of Biomechanics in COPD: Considerations for the Clinician

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) demonstrate extra-pulmonary functional decline such as an increased prevalence of falls. Biomechanics offers insight into functional decline by examining mechanics of abnormal movement patterns. This review discusses biomechanics of functional outcomes, muscle mechanics, and breathing mechanics in patients with COPD as well as future directions and clinical perspectives. Patients with COPD demonstrate changes in their postural sway during quiet standing compared to controls, and these deficits are exacerbated when sensory information (eg, eyes closed) is manipulated. If standing balance is disrupted with a perturbation, patients with COPD are slower to return to baseline and their muscle activity is differential from controls. When walking, patients with COPD appear to adopt a gait pattern that may increase stability (eg, shorter and wider steps, decreased gait speed) in addition to altered gait variability. Biomechanical muscle mechanics (ie, tension, extensibility, elasticity, and irritability) alterations with COPD are not well documented, with relatively few articles investigating these properties. On the other hand, dyssynchronous motion of the abdomen and rib cage while breathing is well documented in patients with COPD. Newer biomechanical technologies have allowed for estimation of regional, compartmental, lung volumes during activity such as exercise, as well as respiratory muscle activation during breathing. Future directions of biomechanical analyses in COPD are trending toward wearable sensors, big data, and cloud computing. Each of these offers unique opportunities as well as challenges. Advanced analytics of sensor data can offer insight into the health of a system by quantifying complexity or fluctuations in patterns of movement, as healthy systems demonstrate flexibility and are thus adaptable to changing conditions. Biomechanics may offer clinical utility in prediction of 30-day readmissions, identifying disease severity, and patient monitoring. Biomechanics is complementary to other assessments, capturing what patients do, as well as their capability