承接国际服务外包、技术溢出与本土企业创新能力提升

近几年服务外包产业发展迅速,并产生广泛的经济效应。本文基于江苏省三个服务外包基地城市为样本的微观企业调查数据,实证研究了软件行业承接国际服务外包获得的技术溢出对创新能力提升的作用。研究结果表明,承接国际软件外包获得了技术溢出,企业创新能力得到提升。在技术外溢的多种可能途径中,人力资本作用最为突出,发包方技术转移较为显著,政府服务通过影响企业人力资本水平等途径间接影响服务外包的技术外溢,提升了本土企业创新能力。     

Adaptive phase I/II clinical trials for drug combination assessment in oncology using the outcomes of each cycle

Many new anticancer agents can be combined with existing drugs, as combining a number of drugs may be expected to have a better therapeutic effect than monotherapy owing to synergistic effects. Furthermore, to drive drug development and to reduce the associated cost, there has been a growing tendency to combine these as phase I/II trials. With respect to phase I/II oncology trials for the assessment of dose combinations, in the existing methodologies in which efficacy based on tumor response and safety based on toxicity are modeled as binary outcomes, it is not possible to enroll and treat the next cohort of patients unless the best overall response has been determined in the current cohort. Thus, the trial duration might be potentially extended to an unacceptable degree. In this study, we proposed a method that randomizes the next cohort of patients in the phase II part to the dose combination based on the estimated response rate using all the available observed data upon determination of the overall response in the current cohort. We compared the proposed method to the existing method using simulation studies. These demonstrated that the percentage of optimal dose combinations selected in the proposed method is not less than that in the existing method and that the trial duration in the proposed method is shortened compared to that in the existing method. The proposed method meets both ethical and financial requirements, and we believe it has the potential to contribute to expedite drug development.     

Influence of Female Genital Cutting on Sexual Experience in Southern Ethiopia

Female genital cutting (FGC) is a persistent social norm in the Liben district of southern Ethiopia. This study explores whether the sexual experiences of married men and women differ by women's FGC status. Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 28 women with different types of FGC (or no FGC) and 21 husbands. Compared to others, women with more severe FGC reported traumatic sexual experiences and decreased sexual desire. Nonetheless, participants largely endorsed FGC for daughters, revealing pressure to maintain the practice. Opportunities for change exist, as women and men recognized the sexual pleasure and healthy birth experiences of uncut women.     

Living up to Policy Coherence for Development? The OECD's disciplines on tied aid financing

Tied aid credits are a way for donors to look to boost the international competitiveness of domestic enterprises while simultaneously contributing to development in recipient countries. Though regulated through the Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits, tied aid credits claim a place among the instruments of development policy and are eligible as Official Development Assistance (ODA). This raises the question of whether the international regulatory framework is equipped to safeguard the presumed development goals. This article examines the internal coherence of the tied aid disciplines of the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) with the development principles coined by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC). Thereby, the extent to which the OECD lives up to its own promise of Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) is scrutinized.     

Daily Inhalation Rate and Time‐Activity/Location Pattern in Japanese Preschool Children

Lack of data on daily inhalation rate and activity of children has been an issue in health risk assessment of air pollutants. This study aimed to obtain the daily inhalation rate and intensity and frequency of physical activity in relation to the environment in Japanese preschool children. Children aged four–six years (n= 138) in the suburbs of Tokyo participated in this study, which involved three days' continuous monitoring of physical activity using a tri‐axial accelerometer and parent's completion of a time/location diary during daily life. The estimated three‐day mean daily inhalation rate (body temperature, pressure, saturated with water vapor) was 9.9 ± 1.6 m³/day (0.52 ± 0.09 m³/kg/day). The current daily inhalation rate value of 0.580 m³/kg/day proposed for use in health risk assessment in Japan is confirmed to be valid to calculate central value of inhaled dose of air pollutants in five‐ to six‐year‐old children. However, the 95th percentile daily inhalation rate of 0.83 m³/kg/day based on measurement for five‐year‐old children is recommended to be used to provide an upper bound estimate of exposure that ensure the protection of all five‐ to six‐year‐old children from the health risk of air pollutants. Children spent the majority of their time in sedentary and light level of physical activity (LPA) when indoors, while 85% of their time when outdoors was spent in LPA and moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity. The results suggest the need to consider variability of minute respiratory ventilation rate according to the environment for more refined short‐term health risk assessment.     

A life of fear: Sex workers and the threat of HIV in Uganda

Schoemaker J, Twikirize J. A life of fear: sex workers and the threat of HIV in Uganda The way individuals perceive their risk to certain threats influences their adoption of preventive behaviour. This study explored sex workers' perception of risk of HIV infection within the context of other serious threats. The study was carried out in Kampala, Uganda, using peer ethnography. Sex workers were well aware of their risk of HIV infection but this risk was eclipsed by other more immediate and frightening threats. Sex workers' willingness to gamble with HIV is explained by the fact that their existence is already very dangerous, and taking risks is an inherent part of their trade. Decriminalising sex work could make their lives somewhat safer, motivating them to better protect themselves, but this is unlikely to happen in Uganda. Attempting to enforce some coercive control mechanisms would not work, given the pervasive corruption in law enforcement and the judiciary, the institutions that would be responsible for implementing such control.     

Responding to child deaths: the work of Australia's Victorian Child Death Review Committee

The Victorian Child Death Review Committee (VCDRC) in Australia is a multidisciplinary Ministerial Advisory Committee established to review the deaths of children either currently child protection clients or known to the statutory child protection system. The Committee provides advice about each child death as well as insights into what are the surrounding patterns and issues. Key to this role is examining the contribution of the service sectors to the protection of children and the routine practices that are in place to respond to children and vulnerability. This paper provides a snapshot of the cases referred to the VCDRC and the key messages for practice drawn from them. What emerges is that often the threshold for when statutory child protection services must be involved in child and family matters can be ambiguous and that agreement about intervention, the level and nature of need or risk, and when cumulative harm and neglect require statutory responses are not always shared between agencies. It is clear that the lack of common frameworks about what constitutes child protection intervention challenges services. It is recommended that there be and used agreed definitions and frameworks to ensure shared understandings and collaborative responses across the service and legal systems.     

Women's participation in self‐help groups as a pathway to women's empowerment: A case of Nepal

Non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) and the government of Nepal have made some effort to reduce poverty in Nepal by creating women's affiliation groups, some of which are micro‐credit organizations. Using capabilities as defined by Amartya Sen (Development as freedom, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2000), which includes employment opportunities, women's ownership in productive resources such as land and/or homes, educational opportunities, and women's participation in decision‐making in the family, this study evaluated the extent to which women's ethnic group or caste affiliation affected a woman's likelihood of being empowered by participation in these groups. We analyzed a sample of 8,973 women which was taken from the 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey. Previous research has demonstrated that participation in gender‐based groups is correlated with higher economic status. This study adds to the literature on women's affiliation groups by investigating the impact of structural factors, such as caste and ethnicity, on women's self‐help group participation (women's groups and credit groups).