Labor Compliance Assessment Executive Summary (Mainland Headwear Holdings Limited (Dongguan))

This document is part of a digital collection provided by the Martin P. Catherwood Library, ILR School, Cornell University, pertaining to the effects of globalization on the workplace worldwide.  Special emphasis is placed on labor rights, working conditions, labor market changes, and union organizing.FLA_Labor_Compliance_Assessment_Dongguan.pdf: 24 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Simulation-based high-level synthesis of Nyquist-rate data converters using MATLAB/SIMULINK

This paper presents a toolbox for the simulation, optimization and high-level synthesis of Nyquist-rate Analog-to-Digital (A/D) and Digital-to-Analog (D/A) Converters in MATLAB®. The embedded simulator uses SIMULINK® C-coded S-functions to model all required subcircuits including their main error mechanisms. This approach allows to drastically speed up the simulation CPU-time up to 2 orders of magnitude as compared with previous approaches - based on the use of SIMULINK® elementary blocks. Moreover, S-functions are more suitable for implementing a more detailed description of the circuit. For all subcircuits, the accuracy of the behavioral models has been verified by electrical simulation using HSPICE. For synthesis purposes, the simulator is used for performance evaluation and combined with an hybrid optimizer for design parameter selection. The optimizer combines adaptive statistical optimization algorithm inspired in simulated annealing with a design-oriented formulation of the cost function. It has been integrated in the MATLAB/SIMULINK® platform by using the MATLAB® engine library, so that the optimization core runs in background while MATLAB® acts as a computation engine. The implementation on the MATLAB® platform brings numerous advantages in terms of signal processing, high flexibility for tool expansion and simulation with other electronic subsystems. Additionally, the presented toolbox comprises a friendly graphical user interface to allow the designer to browse through all steps of the simulation, synthesis and post-processing of results. In order to illustrate the capabilities of the toolbox, a 0.13)im CMOS 12bit@80MS/s analog front-end for broadband power line communications, made up of a pipeline ADC and a current steering DAC, is synthesized and high-level sized. Different experiments show the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC2003-02355RAICONI

Estimating cluster-level local average treatment effects in cluster randomised trials with non-adherence

Non-adherence to assigned treatment is a common issue in cluster randomised trials (CRTs). In these settings, the efficacy estimand may be also of interest. Many methodological contributions in recent years have advocated using instrumental variables to identify and estimate the local average treatment effect (LATE). However, the clustered nature of randomisation in CRTs adds to the complexity of such analyses. In this paper, we show that under certain assumptions, the LATE can be estimated via two-stage least squares (TSLS) using cluster-level summaries of outcomes and treatment received. Implementation needs to account for this, as well as the possible heteroscedasticity, to obtain valid inferences. We use simulations to assess the performance of TSLS of cluster-level summaries under cluster-level or individual-level non-adherence, with and without weighting and robust standard errors. We also explore the impact of adjusting for cluster-level covariates and of appropriate degrees of freedom correction for inference. We find that TSLS estimation using cluster-level summaries provides estimates with small to negligible bias and coverage close to nominal level, provided small sample degrees of freedom correction is used for inference, with appropriate use of robust standard errors. We illustrate the methods by re-analysing a CRT in UK primary health settings.Comment: 21 pages, 6 Figure

Fast word-level power models for synthesis of FPGA-based arithmetic

Published versio

Jeux sportifs, codes et construction identitaire : Règles explicites des mécanismes internes et règles implicites du pratiquant

L’inscription dans une activité sportive est vectrice d’identité au même titre que l’engagement politique ou la pratique d’une religion. Le pratiquant, placé dans un contexte culturel donné, ici les activités ludomotrices, est amené à incorporer un système de codes, de valeurs et de représentations véhiculés par des logiques internes d’une part et des mécanismes implicites d’autre part. C’est au travers du filtre d’analyse, qui conjugue l’étude du pratiquant et des structures dans lesquelles il agit, que nous explorons ici l’identité jouée dans les jeux et les sports afin de mieux appréhender les conditions d’expression et d’émancipation du joueur agissant.Joining a sporting activity is conveying identities to the same extent as engaging in political activities or practicing a religion. The practitioner who is placed into a specific cultural context, is driven to embody a system of codes, values and representations mediated by internal logics on one hand and implicit mechasisms on the other. Through a filter of analysis that combines the study of the practitionner and the study of the structure within which she evolves, this article is exploring the identities played into games and sports in order to provide a better assessment of the conditions of expression and emancipation of the acting player

Aldehyde Dehidrogenase Level and Fatty Acid Ethyl Ester as Biochemical Markers Persist Longer Than Ethanol in Wistar Rats After Chronic Alcohol Consumption

Alcohol consumption in human has increased from year to year in Indonesia and more recently, anincreasing number of cases of alcohol intoxication, alcoholic liver disease, and death were observed.The purpose of this experimental study was to examine the significance of two known biochemicalmarkers of alcohol given by mouth in the Wistar rats. The study design used was the “Truerandomized experimental post test only control group design". The rats were randomly distributedaccording to the experimental design and were treated daily for six weeks (chronic intake) with 5%and 20% alcohol. This study used 15 rats with 5 rats for treatment group treated with 5% alcohol, 5rats for treatment group treated with 20% alcohol, and 5 rats as control group treated with distilledwater. The biochemical markers were aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) and Fatty Acid Ethyl Esters(FAEE). ALDH and FAEE were two biochemical markers of ethanol which are sensitive and specificfor alcohol consumption. The study was conducted in two phases. Initially, rats were treated orallyeveryday for six weeks with 5% and 20% alcohol, and then the blood level of ethanol, ALDH andFAEE were measured. Blood samples were collected at 6 and 24 hours after the last oral intake ofchronic alcohol administration. Qualitative analysis was carried out to detect the presence of ethanol,ALDH, and FAEE in the treatment groups and quantitative analysis to determine their levels in theblood of Wistar rats. Statistical analysis of ALDH was done by using parametric test and the presenceof FAEE persisting longer than ethanol by non-parametric test. The results showed that ALDHpersisted and increased significantly following chronic consumption of alcohol in the rats. Similarly,FAEEs persisted longer than ethanol after alcohol intake. After six hours, the ALDH level increasedby 108.14% in the rat treated chronically with 5% alcohol and by 85.07% in rat treated with 20%alcohol. After 24 hours, FAEE also persisted longer in the blood than ethanol following treatmentwith alcohol 5%. ALDH levels increased by 83.11% after chronic treatment with 5% alcohol and by112.05% in the rats treated with 20% alcohol. In the blood collected 24 hours after the last treatmentwith 5% alcohol, ALDH increased by 95.11% and by 86.79% in the rats treated with 20% alcohol.FAEE persisted longer than ethanol in the blood following administration of 5 % and 20% alcoholboth at 24 hours following chronic treatment. The longer persisting ALDH and FAEE were new andgood biochemical blood markers for chronic alcohol consumption in the Wistar rats

System-level optimization of baseband filters for communication applications

In this paper, a design approach for the high-level synthesis of programmable continuous-time baseband filters able to achieve optimum trade-off among dynamic range, distortion behavior, mismatch tolerance and power area consumptions is presented. The proposed approach relies on building programming circuit elements as arrays of switchable unit cells and defines the synthesis as a constrained optimization problem with both continuous and discrete variables, this last representing the number of enabled cells of the arrays at each configuration. The cost function under optimization is, then, defined as a weighted combination of performance indices which are estimated from macromodels of the circuit elements. The methodology has been implemented in MATLAB™ and C++, and covers all the classical approximation techniques for filters, most common circuit topologies (namely, ladder simulation and cascaded biquad realizations) and both transconductance-C (Gm-C) and active-RC implementation approaches. The proposed synthesis strategy is illustrated with a programmable equal-ripple ladder Gm-C filter for a multi-band power-line communication modem.P.R.O.F.I.T. FIT-070000-2001-84

The Difference of Satisfaction Level in BPJS Health Insurance Patient and Non Insurance Patient Toward Health Service

National Health Insurance (JKN) developed in Indonesia is part of the National Social Insurance System (SJSN). One way to assess the services quality is to measure the patient satisfaction level. This research is a quantitative research with the cross sectional research design. The subjects of this research were the BPJS health insurance patients and non insurance patients with 200 people as the samples. The data was analyzed by the independent t-test, gap analysis, CSI (Customer satisfation index) and IPA (Importance performance analysis). The result showed that significant (ρ value >0,05) in all dimensions which mean that there is no difference of patient satisfaction level in Social Security Organizing Body (BPJS) participants and non insurance patients toward health services in Negara General Hospital. The biggest satisfaction in non insurance patients is on the Assurance variable (-1,002) and the smallest satisfaction is on the Tangibles variable (-1,357) and the biggest satisfaction of BPJS health insurance patients is on Assurance variable (-1,085) and their smallest satisfaction is on Responsiveness variable (-1,367). The non insurance patients gap is (-0,217) and the BPJS health insurance patients gap is (-1,206), both of them were classified into low satisfaction level. The result of Importance performance analysis value of non insurance patient showed Responsiveness attributes that should be prioritized and improved while in BPJS health patients showed Responsiveness and Reliability attributes that should be prioritized and improved by Negara General Hospital

Multi-level interference resonances in strongly-driven three-level systems

We study multi-photon resonances in a strongly-driven three-level quantum system, where one level is periodically swept through a pair of levels with constant energy separation $E$. Near the multi-photon resonance condition $n\hbar\omega = E$, where $n$ is an integer, we find qualitatively different behavior for $n$ even or odd. We explain this phenomenon in terms of families of interfering trajectories of the multi-level system. Remarkably, the behavior is insensitive to fluctuations of the energy of the driven level, and survives deep into the strong dephasing regime. The setup can be relevant for a variety of solid state and atomic or molecular systems. In particular, it provides a clear mechanism to explain recent puzzling experimental observations in strongly-driven double quantum dots.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure