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Despite the significance of transition in the growth stages, there is a lack of evidence on the different characteristics of firm size in terms of the sources of TFP growth. This study applies a stochastic frontier analysis to Korean firms to decompose the sources of total factor productivity growth into technical progress, technical efficiency changes, scale changes and allocative efficiency changes. Specifically, this study analyses the determinants of TFP growth by firm size (i.e. small-, mid- and large-sized firms) and explores firm-size-specific factors that influence their productivity growth rates. Our results suggest that contributions of four components to TFP growth by firm-size classes show somewhat different patterns. These results imply that each class has different sets of challenges in terms of improving productivity growth potentials. The main findings are expected to lay foundations for designing elaborate firm-size-dependent policies to spur the evolutionary process of a firm's capacity building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the spillover effect of spatial proximity on international tourism in all 195 countries using data from the World Bank. We use a spatial proximity measure to calculate the number of neighbors that each country has and how the neighboring nations' international tourist arrivals "unintentionally" affect each country's international tourism. We define spatial proximity using both the conventional contiguity measure and the minimum-distance measure (MDM) of proximity: the two closest points between countries on their outer boundaries. By constructing spatial lag models (SLM) and spatial error models (SEM), we capture the spillover effects between neighbors. Our findings suggest that a country's international tourism flows over the period of 1995–2019 are strongly influenced by international tourist arrivals to the nation's neighboring countries; ranging from 8.1% to 45.8%, depending on the model used. Particularly, the spillover effect was more prominent for the period from 2015–2019, as compared to 1995–1999, implying increasing dependence among neighboring countries in international tourism, which directly contrasts the common assumption that technology is making geographic distance less relevant. This paper provides several important implications for both scholars and practitioners, although further study is required to determine the effects of historical interactions and spatial relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Simple Summary: Prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is a transmembrane protein that is highly expressed in prostate cancer cells. For patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who do not respond to conventional treatment, PSMA targeting radiopharmaceutical therapy (RPT) has recently been in the spotlight. [177Lu]Ludotadipep is a novel PSMA-targeting therapeutic agent designed with an albumin motif in order to increase the circulation time and uptake in the tumors. The safety and efficacy of [177Lu]Ludotadipep were evaluated through a phase I trial. [177Lu]Ludotadipep, which enables targeted delivery of beta-particle radiation to prostate tumor cells, had been suggested as a promising therapeutic option for mCRPC. From November 2020 to March 2022, a total of 30 patients were enrolled for single dose of [177Lu]Ludotadipep RPT, 6 subjects in each of the 5 different activity groups of 1.9 GBq, 2.8 GBq, 3.7 GBq, 4.6 GBq, and 5.6 GBq. [177Lu]Ludotadipep was administered via venous injection, and patients were hospitalized for three days to monitor for any adverse effects. Serum PSA levels were followed up at weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 12, and PSMA PET/CT with [18F]Florastamin was obtained at baseline and again at weeks 4 and 8. The subjects required positive PSMA PET/CT prior to [177Lu]Ludotadipep administration. Among the 29 subjects who received [177Lu]Ludotadipep, 36 treatment emergent adverse events (TEAEs) occurred in 17 subjects (58.6%) and 4 adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in 3 subjects (10.3%). Of the total 24 subjects who had full 12-week follow-up data, 16 (66.7%) showed decrease in PSA of any magnitude, and 9 (37.5%) showed a decrease in PSA by 50% or greater. A total of 5 of the 24 patients (20.8%) showed disease progression (PSA increase of 25% or higher from the baseline) at the 12th week following single dose of [177Lu]Ludotadipep. These data thus far suggest that [177Lu]Ludotadipep could be a promising RPT agent with low toxicity in mCRPC patients who have not been responsive to conventional treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study applies a distance‐based measurement outlining market boundaries for competition in the lodging industry and investigates the effects of competition across a range of distances. Predetermined administrative boundaries have been the conventional metric used when estimating competition effects in a given geographical area in the lodging industry. For this study, distances are calculated using the location information of 45,623 hotels in the United States extracted from the Smith Travel Research Hotel Census. Our findings suggest a U‐shaped relationship: hotel room prices fall as relative distance increases, due to increasing negative price pressure, until a threshold distance is reached (a radius of 20 km), after which price pressure falls and prices begin to increase. These research findings have implications for hotel managers with respect to competitor management and for hotel investors interested in locating and developing future accommodation establishments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of turbocharger (T/C) rotational inertia on engine and turbine performance under transient and steady engine conditions were analyzed in a 2.0 L 4-cylinder turbocharged-gasoline direct injection (T-GDI) engine. The test T/Cs consisted of heavy and light compressor wheels (C/W) and turbine wheels (T/W). The study was conducted in two research stages. First, transient engine load tests were conducted to evaluate the effect of T/C rotational inertia on transient response of the T/C, combustion performance, and fuel consumption. Seconds, steady engine load tests were conducted to find out if a light inertia T/C can run at higher efficiency under the same exhaust pulsating flow conditions within one engine cycle. In order to evaluate the engine on-board turbine instantaneous performances in the units of crank angle degree (CAD), T/C rotation speed and pressure data were measured in the experiment. The instantaneous exhaust gas mass flow rate and the temperature of upstream and downstream of the turbine were extracted by 1-D simulation. Turbine efficiency and mass flow rate parameters were calculated by combining these data. In the results, there existed positive effects of light inertia T/C on response and specific fuel consumption under transient conditions. It was also found that the light inertia T/C could show higher T/C speed fluctuation under the same exhaust pulsating flow conditions. Consequently, blade speed ratio (BSR) and turbine efficiency of light inertia T/C were partially higher than that of conventional one. However, it was not led to higher engine efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Convolutional-neural-network (CNN)-based methods are continuously used in various industries with the rapid development of deep learning technologies. However, an inference efficiency problem was reported in applications that require real-time performance, such as a mobile device. It is important to design a lightweight network that can be used in general-purpose environments such as mobile environments and GPU environments. In this study, we propose a lightweight network efficient shot detector (ESDet) based on deep training with small parameters. The feature extraction process was performed using depthwise and pointwise convolution to minimize the computational complexity of the proposed network. The subsequent layer was formed in a feature pyramid structure to ensure that the extracted features were robust to multiscale objects. The network was trained by defining a prior box optimized for the data set of each feature scale. We defined an ESDet-baseline with optimal parameters through experiments and expanded it by gradually increasing the input resolution for detection accuracy. ESDet training and evaluation was performed using the PASCAL VOC and MS COCO2017 Dataset. Moreover, the average precision (AP) evaluation index was used for quantitative evaluation of detection performance. Finally, superior detection efficiency was demonstrated through the experiment compared to the conventional detection method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study identifies the relationship between local stakeholder pressures and Korean foreign subsidiaries' corporate social responsibility (CSR). Analyzing the survey data of 177 Korean foreign subsidiaries yielded two important findings. First, local primary stakeholders have a positive impact on responsive CSR activities, but have no influence on strategic CSR activities. Second, local secondary stakeholders in host countries have a strong influence on both responsive and strategic CSR activities. Secondary stakeholders have more influence on strategic than on responsive CSR activities. This article suggests a change in managerial philosophy toward primary and secondary stakeholders, which may have important implications for multinational enterprises (MNEs) in achieving greater success with the design of their CSR activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a balanced feedforward current-sense current-compensation (CSCC) common-mode (CM) active electromagnetic interference (EMI) filter (AEF). The advantages of the feedforward CSCC-type AEF are theoretically demonstrated. The operation of the proposed AEF is completely analyzed, and practical design guidelines are developed regarding performance and stability. The proposed AEF is applied to an L–C–L EMI filter for a 2.2 kW resonant inverter, and CM noises are further reduced by 3 to 18 dB from 150 kHz to 10 MHz. The problem of CM-to-differential mode noise transformation due to an unbalanced AEF structure is also investigated by the measurements using a vector network analyzer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An active-clamped current-fed converter can achieve not only lossless clamping but also zero-voltage switching. In particular, a boost-half-bridge (BHB) converter is one of the most suitable candidates for high-current, high-step-up applications owing to its low transformer turn ratio, reduced voltage rating of diodes, zero magnetizing dc offset, and symmetrical structure for all components. In this letter a quasi-resonant switching technique for a BHB converter with active clamping is proposed to significantly reduce turn-off switching losses. Experimental results for a 16 V, 1.2 kW prototype validate the effectiveness of the proposed concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rapid and efficient method for the synthesis of O-fluoromethyl aliphatic and aromatic ethers is presented. This method is so mild that it can be used for the preparation of positron emission tomography (PET) radiopharmaceuticals bearing O-[18F]fluoromethyl groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, countries around the world are adopting policies that emphasize the importance of partnerships for disaster resilience. The overarching questions that this paper investigates are how to form and sustain (1) effective collaborative arrangements involving governments, businesses, non-governmental organizations and communities to ensure development of disaster resilient communities, and (2) governance institutions that can effectively mobilize geographically dispersed disaster response resources with fragmented ownership. We have reviewed case studies of alternative inter-sectoral collaborative arrangements that were formed to (1) promote the development of resilient communities and critical physical and social systems; (2) mitigate or respond to emerging crises; or (3) facilitate post-disaster recovery and learning. We have developed grounded propositions articulating the antecedents of performance of inter-sectoral collaborative arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of key socio-demographic attributes and trip characteristics in travel motivations of domestic tourists to island destinations. A total of 1780 useful survey responses were collected over a period of 6 months via an assisted survey. Analysis using independent samplet-test and one-way ANOVA revealed that only the “travel companionship status” in respondents' trip characteristics significantly influences the travel motivations of domestic tourists. Particularly, family and friends were found to be a major influence on the travel motivations of domestic tourists. The study concludes that the travel motivations of domestic tourists are more influenced by who individuals choose to travel with, therefore reflecting the issue of local conditions. The findings support Gilbert's (1991,Progress in tourism, recreation and hospitality management. London: Belhaven) theory of family influence in travel decisions. However, it adds that where the population is relatively young, friends can also be a major influence. Theoretical and managerial implications are then discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We propose a behavioral circuit model to precisely predict optical responses of an active-matrix liquid crystal (LC) display (LCD) using a patterned vertical alignment (PVA) mode. To get more accurate simulation results, we propose two LC groups with different time constants for a pixel after observing the LCD pixels by using a high-speed camera. In addition, we include a time-delay concept into our behavioral model for brightening or rising transitions. We describe the behavior of the PVA-LCD by using the analog hardware description language Verilog-A. We simulate the PVA-LCD panel by importing the behavioral circuit model in the circuit simulator SmartSPICE. The simulation results of the transient optical responses show excellent matches with the measurement ones. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The concept of production efficiency has been studied since the 1960s, but consumption activity as well may be inefficient for various reasons, such as product complexity, lack of information, the bounded rationality of the consumer and imperfect markets, to name a few. This study proposes a conceptual framework for measuring the consumption efficiency of differentiated products, based on traditional utility theory. It employs stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) in an empirical analysis. It makes use of hedonic price theory to link traditional utility theory and the SFA framework. When the developed model is applied to the Korean personal computer market, empirical results indicate the levels and distribution of consumption efficiency in that market. The findings afford us a better understanding of the characteristics of the innovation process in that market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]