An Application of Markov Chain Analysis to the Game of Squash*

If the score in a squash game is tied late in the game, one player has a choice of how many additional points (from a prespecified set of possibilities) are to be played to determine the winner. This paper constructs a Markov chain model of the situation and solves for the optimal strategy. Expressions for the optimal strategy are obtained with a symbolic algebra computer package. Results are given for both international and American scoring systems. The model and analysis are very suitable for educational purposes. The resulting Markov chain is small enough that it can be easily presented in a classroom setting, yet the model is sufficiently complex that algebraic manipulation is nearly hopeless. The final results illustrate the power of the combination of mathematical and computer modeling applied to a problem of practical interest.     

Market orientation research: a qualitative synthesis and future research agenda

The prominence of market orientation as a core organizational concept, as well as recent discussions about its contributions and shortcomings, suggest that it is time to assess the large and expanding body of research surrounding the construct. Our research takes a systematic qualitative approach to assessing extant research on market orientation, identifying problems, patterns, and paradoxes in the literature. Specifically, we provide an integration of the burgeoning empirical research on market orientation, based on a thorough synthesis of articles published over more than 25 years of inquiry. Bringing together the different strands of inquiry that have guided knowledge accumulation on market orientation, we are able to identify major theoretical gaps and omissions in the literature. We also find that while market orientation research has made considerable strides over the years, much work still needs to be done as voids remain that need to be addressed in future investigations.

     

Expatriate Managers,Product Relatedness,and IJV Performance: A Resource and Knowledge-based Perspective

Drawing from the resource and knowledge-based perspectives, we examine the role expatriates play as a critical managerial resource within the multinational's international joint-venture (IJV). By using a large sample (3772 IJV annual performance years) of Japanese IJVs in the USA from 1991 to 2001, we find that expatriate deployment shows a curvilinear (inverted-U) relationship with IJV performance. Further, this relationship is positively moderated by product relatedness between the parent and the IJV.     

Entrepreneurial Firms and Downstream Alliance Partnerships: Impact of Portfolio Depth and Scope on Technology Innovation and Commercialization Success

To achieve technology innovation and commercialization (TIC) success under complex, protracted, and uncertain product development cycles, entrepreneurial firms engage in downstream alliance partnerships with mainstream industry players. In this study, we examine two specific characteristics of the entrepreneurial firm's downstream alliance portfolio (depth and scope) and their impact on TIC success. Employing a sample of 728 biotech firms and their partnerships with pharmaceutical companies, we find that while portfolio depth and scope separately have positive impact on success, the relationship between portfolio scope and success is additionally moderated by portfolio depth. Further, insights from post hoc interviews also suggest that though it is challenging for entrepreneurial firms to incorporate both depth and scope in alliance partnerships, those that optimally combine both can achieve higher TIC success.     

Severity and determinants of stunting in children under age 2 years in Odisha (India): a tribal v/s non-tribal analysis

Prevalence of stunting among India’s tribal under-five children has witnessed a 3% annual decline in the last 8 years. Cross-sectional data of 1000 children (287 tribal and 713 non-tribal) aged 0–23 months from Odisha’s Rapid Survey of Children (RSOC, 2014) was analysed to identify the predictors of stunting and severe stunting among tribal children and to suggest policy and programme implications. Results show significant determinants of childhood stunting to be birth order, maternal illiteracy and determinants for severe stunting were maternal age <18 years at marriage and <20 years at birth, and <3 antenatal clinic visits. Severe stunting in tribal children was predicted by basic causes: poverty and maternal age <20 years at first birth and age <18 years at marriage. Findings strongly suggest to accelerate efforts towards reducing childhood stunting in Odisha more specifically among tribal children for whom a special strategy is urgently warranted.     

Harassment Patterns and Risk Profile in Spanish Trans Persons

This article describes the harassment patterns and the risk profile in trans people living in Spain. A sample of 212 trans persons, aged 10–62, participated in this cross-sectional study. Results showed a high percentage of harassment (59.9%) and frequency of daily harassment (12.6%), especially verbal attacks (59%) that occurred in public spaces (49.1%) and within educational contexts (46.2%). Harassment is more prevalent in trans women than men. Those who disclose their gender identities at a younger age experience higher percentages and frequency of harassment than those who disclose at an older age. They also suffer more harassment of different types. The risk profile of harassment indicates that older trans women are more likely to suffer harassment than younger ones, and the risk decreases each year they delay their gender identity disclosure. The elimination of transphobic attitudes and the promotion of gender justice should be priority strategies in Spain.     

ACCOUNTING FOR STATE APPROACHES TO ASYLUM SEEKERS IN AUSTRALIA AND MALAYSIA: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF “NATIONAL” IDENTITY AND “EXCLUSIVE” CITIZENSHIP IN THE STRUGGLE AGAINST “IRREGULAR” MOBILITY

This article uses the case studies of Australia and Malaysia to examine how diverse states in the Asia-Pacific region approach asylum seekers in practice and in discourse. Using a social constructionist approach to identity, the article highlights how governments in each country have grappled with “irregular” migration and the challenges it poses for national identity through processes of “othering” and “exclusion.” This comparison shows that the process of excluding asylum seekers on the basis of identity is not a Western phenomenon, but one extending to countries across the region. It is maintained that state discourses around asylum seekers within the two countries are framed in similar arguments centred around the concepts of “irregular” mobility, “national” identity, and “exclusive” citizenship. More specifically, it is demonstrated that both the Malaysian and Australian governments have projected asylum seekers in the public realm primarily as “illegal” through their undocumented mobility, and within this discourse as “threats” to national identity and security and therefore “unworthy” of citizenship privileges through resettlement or local integration. It is argued that each government has used trajectories specific to their own nation-building process to make their arguments more relevant and appealing to their constituents. A key premise of this article holds that an understanding of the rationale underpinning each government's asylum approach will contribute to establishing more open and constructive regional dialogue around the asylum issue.     

Effect of low back pain on social and professional life of drivers of Kolkata

Abstract Occupational driving has often been associated with a high prevalence of back pain. Buses constitute the backbone of the local transportation; so many people are engaged in the profession. The present study was to investigate the prevalence of low back pain (LBP) and due to that problem whether their social and professional life hampers or not. The present study was undertaken among 160 government undertaking male bus drivers. Modified Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire was performed with physical assessment. Then Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Questionnaire (QLBPDQ) was performed to evaluate the extent to which social and professional life is restricted by back pain. Afterwards, the sit-and-reach test and investigation of sitting postures was done. From the analysis of questionnaire it was revealed that drivers had to spend 8-10 hours daily for 6 days in a shift. It was further observed that all of them mainly suffering from LBP. From the QLBPDQ analysis it was found that LBP restricted their social and professional life. Sit and reach test and posture analysis also support this finding. This result is an absolute reflection of the alarming situations of the Kolkata bus drivers. It can be concluded that the bus drivers are highly stressed due to the hazardous working conditions, which in turn may additionally affects their health and overall work performance in the long run.     

A verisimilitude of pessimism: Scottish prisoner mug-shots, 1883–1927

This paper examines the stigmatisation of identity. Historic prisoner mug shots taken in two Scottish prisons during the late Victorian period constitute a part of archival base of this study from which generalisations to the contemporary world are conjectured. Cultural criminologists propose crime is normatively framed. Mug shots belong with a larger symbolism within a discourse of crime and culture. This article examines the scientific and cultural environs within which a dangerous semiotic of the mug shot image originated. The ‘gaze’ of the mug shot, it is argued, suffers from class stigmata circulating elite Victorian scientific laboratories and drawing-rooms. Criminal anthropology, it is argued, constructed visual sources as tools for reaching certainty, but in this project generated processes of social closure. Morphological deviations from the norm defined the ‘criminal body’.