Knowledge sourcing and firm performance in an industrializing economy: The case of Taiwan (1992-2003)

We examine the impact of R&D and technology imports on firm performance in Taiwan’s manufacturing industry in a policy context of industrial upgrading. To do so, we estimate a Translog production function on two panels (covering 1992-1995 and 1997-2003), using stochastic frontier models. We find that the effects of both knowledge inputs become significant in a larger number of industries in the second panel. These results suggest that the policies encouraging innovation implemented from 1991 onwards paid off in the second half of the 1990s, with innovation driving firm sales. In traditional industries, the effect of innovation can be interpreted as an effort to catch up with the global technology frontier. In the electronics and high-technology industries, it rather testifies of the emergence of a new domain of specialization for Taiwan – which was largely enabled by the aforementioned innovation policies.Manufacturing Industries, Newly Industrialized Countries, Technology Imports - Stochastic Frontier Estimation.

Using the Asymptotically Ideal Model to estimate the impact of knowledge on labour productivity: An application to Taiwan in the 1990s.

This paper examines the impact of embodied and disembodied knowledge on labour productivity in Taiwan’s manufacturing industry, using the Asymptotically Ideal Model. The model is estimated on a panel of 27,754 firms observed from 1992 to 1995, using three estimations procedures: fixed-effect regression, random-effect GLS, and Hausman-Taylor estimation. Our findings show that, in traditional industries, labour productivity is mostly driven by embodied knowledge, whereas in high-tech industries, labour productivity depends on both embodied and disembodied knowledge. The latter result may be the consequence of the Industrial Upgrading Statute implemented in Taiwan after 1991.Asymptotically Ideal Model; Disembodied Knowledge; Embodied Knowledge; Labour Productivity; Newly Industrialized Countries.

Doing R&D and Importing Technology : an Empirical Investigation on Taiwan’s manufacturing firms

The objective of this paper is to identify the determinants of the decision to innovate in Taiwan. Three “innovation strategies” are considered : doing R&D only, importing technology only, and combining both. We estimate a Bivariate Probit on a panel of more than 27000 Taiwanese manufacturing firms observed from 1992 to 1995. Results suggest that the decision to R&D over the period was influenced by the prior changes in exportations at the industry level, whereas the decision to import technology is affected by the current changes. We identify a non-linear relationship between firm size and innovation. Moreover, older firms tend to innovate less, whereas market structure doesn’t affect the decision to innovate. These two results change when only high-tech industries are considered : the effect of firm’s age becomes insignificant, whereas a more concentrated market structure is shown to increase the probability to innovate.R&D;importation of technology;market structure;technological opportunities;high-tech industries;panel data;bivariate Probit.

Knowledge sourcing and firm performance in an industrializing economy: the case of Taiwan in the 1990s.

This paper examines the impact of R&D and technology imports on firm performance in Taiwan’s manufacturing industry. Using a panel of 27,754 firms observed from 1992 to 1995, we estimate Translog production functions in twenty 2-digit industries. We implement four estimations procedures: fixed-effect regression, random-effect GLS, Hausman-Taylor estimator, and Stochastic Frontier Estimation. Our most reliable estimates, obtained with fixed effect and Hausman-Taylor models, show that knowledge inputs have a significant impact on firm sales in a small number of industries, and suggest that R&D and technology imports are more likely to be complements rather than substitutes.Manufacturing Industries; Newly Industrialized Countries; Technology Imports.

Innovation Strategy and Total Factor Productivity Growth : Micro Evidence from Taiwanese Manufacturing Firms

This paper investigates the relationship between firms’ innovation practices and performance in Taiwan. Using a panel of 4000 firms, we examine the effects of importing technology (versus doing R&D) on Total Factor Porductivity (TFP) growth. The relationship between these two innovation strategies is also explored. We find that R&D strongly contributes to the growth of TFP, whereas the importation of technology is only weakly significant, which makes it difficult to qualify the type of relationship (complementarity or substitutability) that exists between the two innovation strategies.Importation of technology;Newly industrializzed countries;Productivity growth;Firm-level panel data; Manufacturing industries

A 3D cell death assay to quantitatively determine ferroptosis in spheroids

The failure of drug efficacy in clinical trials remains a big issue in cancer research. This is largely due to the limitations of two-dimensional (2D) cell cultures, the most used tool in drug screening. Nowadays, three-dimensional (3D) cultures, including spheroids, are acknowledged to be a better model of the in vivo environment, but detailed cell death assays for 3D cultures (including those for ferroptosis) are scarce. In this work, we show that a new cell death analysis method, named 3D Cell Death Assay (3DELTA), can efficiently determine different cell death types including ferroptosis and quantitatively assess cell death in tumour spheroids. Our method uses Sytox dyes as a cell death marker and Triton X-100, which efficiently permeabilizes all cells in spheroids, was used to establish 100% cell death. After optimization of Sytox concentration, Triton X-100 concentration and timing, we showed that the 3DELTA method was able to detect signals from all cells without the need to disaggregate spheroids. Moreover, in this work we demonstrated that 2D experiments cannot be extrapolated to 3D cultures as 3D cultures are less sensitive to cell death induction. In conclusion, 3DELTA is a more cost-effective way to identify and measure cell death type in 3D cultures, including spheroids.</jats:p

Conformal Anomaly Of Submanifold Observables In AdS/CFT Correspondence

We analyze the conformal invariance of submanifold observables associated with $k$-branes in the AdS/CFT correspondence. For odd $k$, the resulting observables are conformally invariant, and for even $k$, they transform with a conformal anomaly that is given by a local expression which we analyze in detail for $k=2$Comment: 11 p

Mixed Magnetic and Electric Dipole Transition in s-Triazine

We have shown that the radiation pattern for absorption to the lowest energy excited singlet state of s‐triazine corresponds to that of a mixed electric and magnetic dipole transition. This was done by demonstrating, for the first time with an organic, the classic procedure of obtaining absorption coefficients for different k, ε̂, and Ĥ for a uniaxial arrangement of molecules. We find the 30 014 cm^(−1) transition of s‐triazine to be 26% magnetic and 74% electric dipole, hence the state symmetry is ^1 E in the crystal field, and ^1 E″ in the free molecule (D_(3h) )

Identification of methotrexate as a heterochromatin-promoting drug.

Heterochromatin is a tightly packed form of DNA involved in gene silencing, chromosome segregation, and protection of genome stability. Heterochromatin is becoming more recognized in tumor suppression and may thus serve as a potential target for cancer therapy. However, to date there are no drugs that are well established to specifically promote heterochromatin formation. Here, we describe a screening method using Drosophila to identify small molecule compounds that promote heterochromatin formation, with the purpose of developing epigenetic cancer therapeutics. We took advantage of a Drosophila strain with a variegated eye color phenotype that is sensitive to heterochromatin levels, and screened a library of 97 FDA approved oncology drugs. This screen identified methotrexate as the most potent small molecule drug, among the 97 oncology drugs screened, in promoting heterochromatin formation. Interestingly, methotrexate has been identified as a JAK/STAT inhibitor in a functional screen, causing reduced phosphorylation of STAT proteins. These findings are in line with our previous observation that unphosphorylated STAT (uSTAT) promotes heterochromatin formation in both Drosophila and human cells and suppresses tumor growth in mouse xenografts. Thus, Drosophila with variegated eye color phenotypes could be an effective tool for screening heterochromatin-promoting compounds that could be candidates as cancer therapeutics