Technological Specialization and Convergence of Small Countries: The Case of the Late-industrializing Asian NIEs

This paper examines the changing pattern of technological specialization of the four small, newly industrializing economies (NIEs) from East Asia as they move up the economic development ladder. In addition, the paper also investigates whether there is convergence or divergence between these NIEs and two reference groups of advanced economies -- eight small, advanced European countries and the G7. We find that the East Asian NIEs had a higher degree of technological concentration than both the group of 8 advanced small European economies and the group of G7 countries, although the differences had narrowed over time. The East Asian NIEs’ technological specialization pattern has also been diverging from those of the small advanced European countries, while converging among themselves (as well as towards the G7 until recently).Technological Specialization; Innovation; Patent Statistics; Newly Industrialized Economies

Singapore as an innovative city in East Asia : an explorative study of the perspectives of innovative industries

The city-state of Singapore has achieved rapid economic development in the past by its positioning as an efficient business hub in Asia. To remain competitive in the global knowledge economy, however, Singapore needs to move beyond efficiency by developing a strong"innovative"edge as well. This paper examines the challenges that Singapore faces in seeking to do so through an explorative survey of 40 firms from three innovative sectors: high-tech manufacturing industries, knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS), and creative content industries. Overall, while the survey confirms Singapore's continuing competitive strength in efficiency infrastructure, it also finds a favorable perception of Singapore as an innovative city. Indeed, many of the industry actors indicated that an efficient business infrastructure is a prerequisite for locating their innovative activities in Singapore, suggesting that the relationship between innovation and efficiency is complementary, rather than substitutional. While the study found that intellectual property and its protection are widely recognized by actors in all three sectors, interesting differences exist. In particular, intellectual property protection appears to be of greater concern to the high-tech research and development-intensive manufacturing sector and the creative contents sector than to the KIBS sector. Another interesting difference is that while competition in high-tech innovation tends to be global, competition in creative content tends to have a stronger local or regional dimension. Public policy in East Asia has traditionally emphasized the development of technological innovation capabilities in the manufacturing sector. In light of the findings, public policymakers may need to be more sensitive to the nuanced differences in policies needed to promote the new creative content industries and the associated supporting KIBS.ICT Policy and Strategies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Economic Theory&Research,Health Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies

'I do and I understand': The importance of reflective placements for the self-perceived work readiness of health sciences students

POPLHLTH 302: Health Service Placement is a community health placement program that forms the capstone course for the Bachelor in Health Sciences (BHSc) at the University of Auckland. It aims to enable Population Health students to develop through experience the competencies that they will need to be employed in a broad range of roles in the health sector, including health policy analysis, health management, health information and health promotion. It provides students with the opportunity to gain a critical understanding of an organisation through day-to-day engagement with the provision of health services, and thereby to transition from university to work and to develop life-long learning attitudes and skills. Eighty-three students enrolled in the course completed a questionnaire before and after their placement about their skills, confidence and readiness to participate in the health workforce, and their knowledge of it and the health needs of the NZ population. A mixed methods analysis of the data confirmed that students’ perceptions of their work-readiness improved over the course of the placement, in particular, where transferable skills such as confidence, time management, networking, the application of theory in practice, and team work were concerned

The impact of the constitution on transforming the process of statutory interpretation in South Africa.

Ph. D. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2014.No abstract available

Trousse d’outils pour des bibliothèques à l’écoute de la communauté

La trousse offre une orientation théorique et pratique à tous les stades de la démarche de planification des services de bibliothèque, depuis le développement d\u27une compréhension de la communauté et la détermination de ses besoins jusqu\u27à l\u27élaboration des politiques, la planification des services, le service quotidien aux clients, la formation du personnel et l\u27évaluation de la bibliothèque. En plus d\u27être une ressource fort utile aux administrateurs et aux bibliothécaires qui travaillent avec des communautés socialement exclues, le contenu de la trousse d\u27outils devrait également s\u27avérer utile à tout membre du personnel qui cherche à développer une pratique axée sur la communauté, quels que soient les groupes sociaux ou socio- économiques qu\u27il sert le plus directement

Correlation between hematological parameters, blood urea level and mortality of COVID-19 patients.

Aim: Present study was aimed to analyze difference of hematological parameters and blood urea level between Recovered and Dead cases of COVID-19. Material & Methods: A hospital based study was undertaken wherein hematological parameters and blood urea level of 65 cases were analyzed. Results: Recovered patients, 16 (42.1%) showed higher levels of neutrophils with corresponding 22 (57.9%) patients showing normal level of lymphocytes, 25 (65.7%) with normal hemoglobin and 35 (92%) with normal blood urea. On other hand, among 27 Died cases, 26 (96.2%) showed higher counts of neutrophils, 1 patient showed normal lymphocytes (3.8%) and 26 (96.2%) with low count of lymphocytes. Conclusion: In majority of cases, recovered patients showed normal range of lymphocytes (20-45%), hemoglobin and blood urea levels, whereas mortality was observed associated with deficiency of lymphocytes (except one patient all belo

Novel Nanostructured Organosilicate Nanoparticle Coatings for Chem-Bio Sensing [abstract]

Plenary speakerWe present novel nanostructured organosilicate particulate based films and demonstrate that these materials have a great potential for chemical-biological sensor development. With unprecedented high surface areas (> 1400 m2/g) and optical transparency together with its easy surface functionalization, these materials can be readily interfaced with existing immunoassays for the rapid and trace detection of both chemical and biological warfare agents. The ultra high surface area associated with these films stems from its unique nanostructure consisting of nanoparticles (2-5nm) in a “raspberry” structure in combination with interconnected nanopores (3-10nm). This unique nanostructure has been exploited to immobilize high areal density of sensor probes to improve the sensing performance. Two orders of magnitude increase in binding density was achieved when fluorescently tagged protein A molecules were immobilized upon these surfaces compared to flat substrates (glass and Silicon). Our on-going work applies these materials to develop platforms for multiplexed sensitive detection of biological and chemical agents at point of care for both army and civilian use

Exploring HIV infection and susceptibility to measles among older children and adults in Malawi: a facility-based study

SummaryBackgroundHIV infection increases measles susceptibility in infants, but little is known about this relationship among older children and adults. We conducted a facility-based study to explore whether HIV status and/or CD4 count were associated with either measles seroprotection and/or measles antibody concentration.MethodsA convenience sample was recruited comprising HIV-infected patients presenting for follow-up care, and HIV-uninfected individuals presenting for HIV testing at Chiradzulu District Hospital, Malawi, from January to September 2012. We recorded age, sex, and reported measles vaccination and infection history. Blood samples were taken to determine the CD4 count and measles antibody concentration.ResultsOne thousand nine hundred and thirty-five participants were recruited (1434 HIV-infected and 501 HIV-uninfected). The majority of adults and approximately half the children were seroprotected against measles, with lower odds among HIV-infected children (adjusted odds ratio 0.27, 95% confidence interval 0.10–0.69; p=0.006), but not adults. Among HIV-infected participants, neither CD4 count (p=0.16) nor time on antiretroviral therapy (p=0.25) were associated with measles antibody concentration, while older age (p<0.001) and female sex (p<0.001) were independently associated with this measure.ConclusionsWe found no evidence that HIV infection contributes to the risk of measles infection among adults, but HIV-infected children (including at ages older than previously reported), were less likely to be seroprotected in this sample

Plasmodium knowlesi malaria in Vietnam: some clarifications

A recently published comment on a report of Plasmodium knowlesi infections in Vietnam states that this may not accurately represent the situation in the study area because the PCR primers used may cross-hybridize with Plasmodium vivax. Nevertheless, P. knowlesi infections have been confirmed by sequencing. In addition, a neighbour-joining tree based on the 18S S-Type SSUrRNA gene shows that the Vietnamese samples clearly cluster with the P. knowlesi isolates identified in Malaysia and are distinct from the corresponding P. vivax sequences. All samples came from asymptomatic individuals who did not consult for fever during the months preceding or following the survey, indicating that asymptomatic P. knowlesi infections occur in this population, although this does not exclude the occurrence of symptomatic cases. Large-scale studies to determine the extent and the epidemiology of P. knowlesi malaria in Vietnam are further needed