Showing papers on "Context (language use) published in 1997"

English as a Global Language

Abstract: Preface 1. Why a global language? 2. Why English? The historical context 3. Why English? The cultural foundation 4. Why English? The cultural legacy 5. The future of global English References Index List of tables.

Sustainable competitive advantage: combining institutional and resource- based views

Abstract: This article suggests that the context and process of resource selection have an important influence on firm heterogeneity and sustainable competitive advantage. It is argued that a firm’s sustainable advantage depends on its ability to manage the institutional context of its resource decisions. A firm’s institutional context includes its internal culture as well as broader influences from the state, society, and interfirm relations that define socially acceptable economic behavior. A process model of firm heterogeneity is proposed that combines the insights of a resource-based view with the institutional perspective from organization theory. Normative rationality, institutional isolating mechanisms, and institutional sources of firm homogeneity are proposed as determinants of rent potential that complement and extend resource-based explanations of firm variation and sustainable competitive advantage. The article suggests that both resource capital and institutional capital are indispensable to sustainable competitive advantage. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Reducing buyer search costs: implications for electronic marketplaces

Abstract: Information systems can serve as intermediaries between the buyers and the sellers in a market creating an "electronic marketplace" that lowers the buyers' cost to acquire information about seller prices and product offerings. As a result, electronic marketplaces reduce the inefficiencies caused by buyer search costs, in the process reducing the ability of sellers to extract monopolistic profits while increasing the ability of markets to optimally allocate productive resources. This article models the role of buyer search costs in markets with differentiated product offerings. The impact of reducing these search costs is analyzed in the context of an electronic marketplace, and the allocational efficiencies such a reduction can bring to a differentiated market are formalized. The resulting implications for the incentives of buyers, sellers, and independent intermediaries to invest in electronic marketplaces are explored. Finally, the possibility to separate price information from product attribute information is introduced, and the implications of designing markets promoting competition along each of these dimensions are discussed.

Strategic orientation of the firm and new product performance

Abstract: The authors seek to understand which of three different strategic orientations of the firm (customer, competitive, and technological) is more appropriate, when, and why it is so in the context of d...

Lifetime Co-occurrence of DSM-III-R Alcohol Abuse and Dependence With Other Psychiatric Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey

Abstract: Objective: To study patterns of co-occurrence of lifetimeDSM-III-Ralcohol disorders in a household sample. Methods: Data came from the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS), a nationally representative household survey. Diagnoses were based on a modified version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Results: Respondents with lifetimeNCS/DSM-III-Ralcohol abuse or dependence had a high probability of carrying at least 1 other lifetimeNCS/DSM-III-Rdiagnosis. Retrospective reports have suggested that most lifetime co-occurring alcohol disorders begin at a later age than at least 1 other NCS/DSM-III-Rdisorder. Earlier disorders are generally stronger predictors of alcohol dependence than alcohol abuse and stronger among women than men. Lifetime co-occurrence is positively, but weakly, associated with the persistence of alcohol abuse among men and of alcohol dependence among both men and women. Conclusions: Caution is needed in interpreting the results due to the fact that diagnoses were made by nonclinicians and results are based on retrospective reports of the age at onset. Within the context of these limitations, though, these results show that alcohol abuse and dependence are often associated with other lifetimeDSM-III-Rdisorders and suggest that, at least in recent cohorts, the alcohol use disorders are usually temporally secondary. Prospective data and data based on clinically confirmed diagnoses are needed to verify these findings.

The particle swarm: social adaptation of knowledge

Abstract: Particle swarm adaptation is an optimization paradigm that simulates the ability of human societies to process knowledge The algorithm models the exploration of a problem space by a population of individuals; individuals' successes influence their searches and those of their peers The algorithm is relevant to cognition, in particular the representation of schematic knowledge in neural networks Particle swarm optimization successfully optimizes network weights, simulating the adaptive sharing of representations among social collaborators The paper introduces the algorithm, begins to develop a social science context for it, and explores some aspects of its functioning

Attachment and reflective function: their role in self-organization.

Abstract: The paper traces the relationship between attachment processes and the development of the capacity to envision mental states in self and others. We suggest that the ability to mentalize, to represent behavior in terms of mental states, or to have “a theory of mind” is a key determinant of self-organization which is acquired in the context of the child’s early social relationships. Evidence for an association between the quality of attachment relationship and reflective function in the parent and the child is reviewed and interpreted in the context of current models of theory of mind development. A model of the development of self-organization is proposed which has at its core the caregiver’s ability to communicate understanding of the child’s intentional stance. The implications of the model for pathological self-development are explored, with specific reference to the consequences of maltreatment.

PCR primers to amplify 16S rRNA genes from cyanobacteria.

Abstract: We developed and tested a set of oligonucleotide primers for the specific amplification of 16S rRNA gene segments from cyanobacteria and plastids by PCR. PCR products were recovered from all cultures of cyanobacteria and diatoms that were checked but not from other bacteria and archaea. Gene segments selectively retrieved from cyanobacteria and diatoms in unialgal but nonaxenic cultures and from cyanobionts in lichens could be directly sequenced. In the context of growing sequence databases, this procedure allows rapid and phylogenetically meaningful identification without pure cultures or molecular cloning. We demonstrate the use of this specific PCR in combination with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis to probe the diversity of oxygenic phototrophic microorganisms in cultures, lichens, and complex microbial communities.

Adaptive control using multiple models

Abstract: Intelligent control may be viewed as the ability of a controller to operate in multiple environments by recognizing which environment is currently in existence and servicing it appropriately. An important prerequisite for an intelligent controller is the ability to adapt rapidly to any unknown but constant operating environment. This paper presents a general methodology for such adaptive control using multiple models, switching, and tuning. The approach was first introduced by Narendra et al. (1992) for improving the transient response of adaptive systems in a stable fashion. This paper proposes different switching and tuning schemes for adaptive control which combine fixed and adaptive models in novel ways. The principal mathematical results are the proofs of stability when these different schemes are used in the context of model reference control of an unknown linear time-invariant system. A variety of simulation results are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed methods.

Data quality in context

Abstract: ATA-QUALITY (DQ) PROBLEMS ARE INCREASINGLY EVIdent, particularly in organizational databases. Indeed, 50% to 80% of computerized criminal records in the U.S. were found to be inaccurate, incomplete, or ambiguous. The social and economic impact of poor-quality data costs billions of dollars. [5-7, 10]. Organizational databases, however, reside in the larger context of information systems (IS). Within this larger context, data is collected from multiple data sources and stored in databases. From this stored data, useful information is generated for organizational decision-making. A new study reveals businesses are defining data quality with the consumer in mind.

Long-term effects of home visitation on maternal life course and child abuse and neglect : Fifteen-year follow-up of a randomized trial

Abstract: Context. —Home-visitation services have been promoted as a means of improving maternal and child health and functioning. However, long-term effects have not been examined. objective. —To examine the long-term effects of a program of prenatal and early childhood home visitation by nurses on women's life course and child abuse and neglect. Design. —Randomized trial. Setting. —Semirural community in New York. Participants. —Of 400 consecutive pregnant women with no previous live births enrolled, 324 participated in a follow-up study when their children were 15 years old. Intervention. —Families received a mean of 9 home visits during pregnancy and 23 home visits from the child's birth through the second birthday. Data Sources and Measures. —Women's use of welfare and number of subsequent children were based on self-report; their arrests and convictions were based on self-report and archived data from New York State. Verified reports of child abuse and neglect were abstracted from state records. Main Results. —During the 15-year period after the birth of their first child, in contrast to women in the comparison group, women who were visited by nurses during pregnancy and infancy were identified as perpetrators of child abuse and neglect in 0.29 vs 0.54 verified reports ( P P =.02), 65 vs 37 months between the birth of the first and a second child ( P =.001), 60 vs 90 months' receiving Aid to Families With Dependent Children ( P =.005), 0.41 vs 0.73 behavioral impairments due to use of alcohol and other drugs ( P =.03), 0.18 vs 0.58 arrests by self-report ( P P Conclusions. —This program of prenatal and early childhood home visitation by nurses can reduce the number of subsequent pregnancies, the use of welfare, child abuse and neglect, and criminal behavior on the part of low-income, unmarried mothers for up to 15 years after the birth of the first child.

Know-how and asset complementarity and dynamic capability accumulation : The case of R&D

Abstract: Dynamic capabilities enable firms to create new products and processes and respond to changing market conditions. This empirical investigation of dynamic R&D capabilities deals with the role of complementary know-how and other assets in the context of changing conditions in the U.S. petroleum industry during the 1970s and early 1980s. The analysis suggests that, in response to rising oil prices, firms with larger amounts of complementary technological knowledge and physical assets also undertook larger amounts of R&D on coal conversion (a synthetic fuels process). © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Computationally efficient implementation of combustion chemistry using in situ adaptive tabulation

Abstract: A computational technique is described and demonstrated that can decrease by three orders of magnitude the computer time required to treat detailed chemistry in reactive flow calculations. The method is based on the in situ adaptive tabulation (ISAT) of the accessed region of the composition space - the adaptation being to control the tabulation errors. Test calculations are performed for non-premixed methane - air combustion in a statistically-homogeneous turbulent reactor, using a kinetic mechanism with 16 species and 41 reactions. The results show excellent control of the tabulation errors with respect to a specified error tolerance; and a speed-up factor of about 1000 is obtained compared to the direct approach of numerically integrating the reaction equations. In the context of PDF methods, the ISAT technique makes feasible the use of detailed kinetic mechanisms in calculations of turbulent combustion. The technique can also be used with reduced mechanisms, and in other approaches for calculating rea...

Whose Text? Whose Context?

Abstract: After a brief account of an old study on sociopolitical vs formalist styles of literary criticism and the lessons it taught about relating cultural objects to context, I turn to more recent work on talk-in-interaction and engage three themes: (1) That the events of conversation have a sense and import to participants which are at least partially displayed in each successive contribution, and which are thereby put to some degree under interactional control. Accordingly, academic accounts of the import of conversational `texts' can be endogenously grounded, and this is a worthy analytic aspiration; (2) The pursuit of this goal mandates relevant senses of context to be consulted for analysis, and these are senses and aspects of context which are demonstrably relevant to the participants in the event being examined, not necessarily ones relevant to the inquirer doing the analysis; and (3) Its technical grounds and mandate aside, this is a useful contraint on analysis in disciplining work to the indigenous pre...

The social psychology of protest

Abstract: Social psychological research has taught us a lot about why people protest. This article provides a theoretical and empirical overview. Discussed are grievances, efficacy, identification, emotions and social embeddedness, followed by the most recent approaches, which combine these concepts into dual pathway models. Finally, two future directions are discussed: (1) to shed light on the paradox of persistent participation, and (2) to clarify how perceptions of sociopolitical context affects protest participation.

Innovation in East Asia: The Challenge to Japan

Abstract: Part 1 Introduction - East Asia's technological development: the challenge to Japan objectives of the study research methods theoretical concerns book structure lessons for other countries. Part 2 East Asian regional dynamics: understanding the region's progress economic growth regional development trade and technology the importance of electronics the flying geese model overseas Chinese models the role of the US economy technological reliance on Japan investments in the dragons outward investment by the four NIEs the role of the dragons in East Asia. Part 3 The latecomer firm: analytical framework defining technology and learning latecomers, leaders and followers technology acquisition channels the simple model latecomer technological learning linking technology to the market latecomers and innovation theory product life cycles and latecomer firms innovation, imitation and learning key research questions to explore. Part 4 The Republic of Korea - catching up in large corporations: compressing the cycle of technological learning policies for industrial development policies for education stages of technological development phases of development in electronics strengths and weaknesses in electronics institutions for learning foreign technology the OEM and ODM system size and scope of the "chaebol" learning to innovate - Anam Industrial Samsung - leadership in semiconductors Samsung - following in consumer electronics Samsung - fast learning in telecommunications innovation management challenges continuing latecomer orientation. Part 5 Taiwan - small firm innovation clusters: the comparison with South Korea the historical context achievements in electronics phases of electronics development strategic groups in Taiwan foreign firms and joint ventures the major manufacturing groups from OEM to ODM to OBM high technology start-ups government-sponsored start-ups a model of industrial clustering in Taiwan behind the frontier innovation. Part 6 Singapore - a test case of leapfrogging: learning with TNCs the leapfrogging argument Singapore's economic development policies for electronics electronics and the economy corporate technology strategies semiconductors the hard disk drive (HDD) industry consumer electronics a latecomer entrant in computers Singapore's technological advance. Part 7 Hong Kong - "laissez-faire" technological development: market-led industrialization the historical context origin of the electronics industry policies for electronics performance in electronics industry structure and advantages expansion into China strategies for innovation - Kong Wah RJP - closing the technology gap Motorola - TNC technological integration Varitronix - a university spin off Hong Kong's technological potential. Part 8 Conclusions and implications: interpreting the findings limits to the electronics case. (Part contents).

Determinants of Medication Compliance in Schizophrenia: Empirical and Clinical Findings

Abstract: Advances in psychopharmacology have produced medications with substantial efficacy in the treatment of positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia and the prevention of relapse or symptom exacerbation after an acute episode. In the clinical setting, the individual patient's acceptance or rejection of prescribed pharmacological regimens is often the single greatest determinant of these treatments' effectiveness. For this reason, an understanding of factors that impede and promote patient collaboration with prescribed acute and maintenance treatment should inform both pharmacological and psychosocial treatment planning. We review the substantive literature on medication adherence in schizophrenia and describe a modified health belief model within which empirical findings can be understood. In addition to factors intrinsic to schizophrenia psychopathology, medication-related factors, available social support, substance abuse comorbidity, and the quality of the therapeutic alliance each affect adherence and offer potential points of intervention to improve the likelihood of collaboration. Because noncompliance as a clinical problem is multidetermined, an individualized approach to assessment and treatment, which is often best developed in the context of an ongoing physician-patient relationship, is optimal. The differential diagnosis of noncompliance should lead to interventions that target specific causal factors thought to be operative in the individual patient.

Mass extinctions and their aftermath

Abstract: This is a systematic review of the major mass extinctions in the history of life. It covers all groups of organisms - plant, animal, terrestrial, and marine - that have become extinct alongside the geological and sedimentological evidence for environmental changes during the biotic crises. All proposed extinction mechanisms - climate change, meteorite impact, volcanisms - are critically assessed. In this text the demise of the dinosaurs is put into the proper context of other extinction events. This book is intended for undergraduates in Europe and graduate students in the US, studying geology, palaeontology, or evolutionary biology, and their teachers. It should also be of interest to research scientists in adjacent subjects.

Soil phosphorus: its measurement, and its uptake by plants

Abstract: Phosphorus (P) is the most important nutrient element (after nitrogen) limiting agricultural production in most regions of the world. It is extremely chemically reactive, and more than 170 phosphate minerals have been identified. In all its natural forms, including organic forms, P is very stable or insoluble, and only a very small proportion exists in the soil solution at any one time. Plant-available P may be considered in either its quantitative or intensive dimension. The quantity of available P is time-specific and crop-specific, because it is the amount of P that will come into the soil solution and be taken up by the crop during its life cycle. The intensity of available P (availability) is most easily identified with its concentration in the soil solution. The soil property controlling the relationship between the solid phase P and its concentration in solution is known as the buffering capacity. The solid phase P involved in this relationship is only a small proportion of the total P, and is known as labile P. It is usually measured by isotopic exchange, but this exchangeable P component does not include the sparingly soluble compounds that also replenish the soil solution as its concentration is depleted by plant uptake. The buffering capacity is the ability of the soil solution to resist a change in its P concentration as P is removed by plant uptake or added in fertilisers or organic materials. Buffering capacity is synonymous with sorptivity, which is a preferable term in the context of the reactivity of P fertiliser with soil. It is usually measured from an adsorption isotherm. By fitting a suitable equation, such as the Langmuir, the total sorption capacity as well as the sorption strength can be determined. Both parameters are important in understanding P availability in soils. Buffering capacity has a major effect on the uptake of labile P because it is inversely related to the ease of desorption of solid phase P and its diffusion. Available P therefore is a direct function of the quantity of labile P and an inverse function of buffering capacity. This has been demonstrated in plant uptake studies. Similarly, the most effective methods of measuring available P (soil tests) are those which remove a proportion of labile P that is inversely related to buffer capacity. Soil tests which measure the concentration of P in solution actually measure availability rather than available P, and their efficacy on a range of soils will depend on the uniformity of the soils" buffer capacities. The most effective soil test usually consists of an anionic extractant. Acidic lactate or fluoride have been found most effective in New South Wales, on a wide range of soils, except calcareous soils which neutralise the acidic component (usually hydrochloric or acetic acid) of the extractant. Sodium bicarbonate (pH 8 · 5) has been found effective on calcareous soils and is widely used throughout the world. It has proved unreliable on NSW soils, and may need more thorough evaluation on non-calcareous soils in other parts of Australia.

System for integrating an on-line service community with a foreign service

Abstract: A system and method for integrating an on-line service community with a foreign service (24) such as the Internet World Wide Web. An extension to a user's preferred Web browser (190) is manifested as a toolbar (196) comprised of control buttons and a viewer on a computer user's screen. By interacting with the control buttons of the toolbar (196) and the menus of the viewer, on-line service content (198) is delivered to the user in response to the URLs (22) specified by the user as he or she browses the Web. In addition, control buttons on the toolbar (196) present opportunities for interacting with other community members. Although the user may change URLs (22) and Web sites frequently, the present invention maintains a context for the user's interactions so that on-line service content (198) may be presented and interactions with other community members facilitated.

Advancing the Theory of Adaptive Structuration: The Development of a Scale to Measure Faithfulness of Appropriation

Abstract: Adaptive Structuration Theory AST is rapidly becoming an influential theoretical perspective in research on advanced information technologies. However, there still exists a paucity of methods to capture critical AST constructs. This paper describes the development of an instrument to capture the extent to which users of an advanced information technology believe they have appropriated its structures faithfully. The development of such instruments is considered critical if the theoretical base provided by AST is to be fully exploited in understanding the use of advanced information technologies. The development procedure, which occurred in the context of the use of an electronic meeting system, was carried out in three phases that began with initial item development and proceeded through an exploratory to a confirmatory phase. Three experiments, two in the exploratory phase and one in the confirmatory phase, were performed. In the final phase, structural equation modeling techniques were used to confirm the convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity of the resulting five-item scale.

Paradoxes of the Competition State: The Dynamics of Political Globalization

Abstract: THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE NATION-STATE INTO A ‘COMPETITION state’ lies at the heart of political globalization. In seeking to adapt to a range of complex changes in cultural, institutional and market structures, both state and market actors are attempting to reinvent the state as a quasi-‘enterprise association’ in a wider world context, a process which involves three central paradoxes. The first paradox is that this process does not lead to a simple decline of the state but may be seen to necessitate the actual expansion of de facto state intervention and regulation in the name of competitiveness and marketization.

Integrating genetic approaches into the discovery of anticancer drugs

Abstract: The discovery of anticancer drugs is now driven by the numerous molecular alterations identified in tumor cells over the past decade. To exploit these alterations, it is necessary to understand how they define a molecular context that allows increased sensitivity to particular compounds. Traditional genetic approaches together with the new wealth of genomic information for both human and model organisms open up strategies by which drugs can be profiled for their ability to selectively kill cells in a molecular context that matches those found in tumors. Similarly, it may be possible to identify and validate new targets for drugs that would selectively kill tumor cells with a particular molecular context. This article outlines some of the ways that yeast genetics can be used to streamline anticancer drug discovery.

Phylogenetic Methods Come of Age: Testing Hypotheses in an Evolutionary Context

Abstract: The use of molecular phylogenies to examine evolutionary questions has become commonplace with the automation of DNA sequencing and the availability of efficient computer programs to perform phylogenetic analyses. The application of computer simulation and likelihood ratio tests to evolutionary hypotheses represents a recent methodological development in this field. Likelihood ratio tests have enabled biologists to address many questions in evolutionary biology that have been difficult to resolve in the past, such as whether host-parasite systems are cospeciating and whether models of DNA substitution adequately explain observed sequences.

Statistical Classification Methods in Consumer Credit Scoring: A Review

Abstract: Credit scoring is the term used to describe formal statistical methods used for classifying applicants for credit into "good" and "bad" risk classes. Such methods have become increasingly important with the dramatic growth in consumer credit in recent years. A wide range of statistical methods has been applied, though the literature available to the public is limited for reasons of commercial confidentiality. Particular problems arising in the credit scoring context are examined and the statistical methods which have been applied are reviewed.

Parenting and children's internalization of values : a handbook of contemporary theory

Abstract: Partial table of contents: HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF PARENTAL INFLUENCE AND BIDIRECTIONALITY. A History of Research on Parenting Strategies and Children's Internalization of Values (J. Grusec). DEVELOPMENTAL CONTEXT OF PARENTING STRATEGIES AND VALUE INTERNALIZATION. Internalization, Autonomy, and Relationships: Development During Adolescence (W. Collins, et al.). PARENTING STRATEGIES AND CHILD OUTCOMES. Attachment and the Transmission of Values (I. Bretherton, et al.). PARENTING COGNITIONS: IMPLICATIONS FOR PARENTAL INFLUENCE AND BIDIRECTIONALITY. Parenting Cognitions and Child Outcomes: An Overview and Implications for Children's Internalization of Values (J. Grusec, et al.). PARENTAL INFLUENCE IN SOCIAL AND BIOLOGICAL CONTEXT. Value Transmission in an Ecological Context: The High-Risk Neighborhood (J. Garbarino, et al.). Indexes.