Western Merchants and Intra-Asian Trade: John Henry Duus at Treaty port Hakodate (Part One 1861-68)

This article examines the business activities of John Henry Duus, a long-standing foreign resident of the treaty port of Hakodate. In the first of this two-part article, I trace Duus’ background and focus in on his efforts to conduct business at Hakodate in the 1860s. Though Duus’ efforts to foster trade between Japan and western countries proved largely fruitless, he played an important role as a local agent for Chinese and China-based western firms and thus was active in fostering intra-Asian trade. As an Asia-born Anglo-Dane who first came to Hakodate as a British merchant but later switched allegiances to Denmark and served as Danish consul, Duus’ career also points to the cosmopolitan background of western treaty porters at the more peripheral treaty ports such as Hakodate.

Inovação em Micro e Pequenas Empresas: Recursos e Capacidades

ABSTRACT Objective: the article aims to identify the relevant resources for the composition of managerial and transactional capabilities in the context of micro and small enterprises (MSEs). Method: through a literature review, the resources associated with the innovation were identified: leadership, people management, information and knowledge, relationships with clients, suppliers, and society, and results. The resources were collected and measured using a structured questionnaire made available by the Local Agent for Innovation program, applied to 447 MSEs in the state of Pernambuco, between 2015 and 2017. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to verify how these resources contribute to the composition of capabilities. Results: the results demonstrate that the managerial capability is composed of the relationship with society and suppliers, leadership, the sharing of information and knowledge, and people management. Transactional capability is made up of the relationship with customers and the results obtained by the firm. Conclusions: although MSEs have restrictions on access to technologies, their organizational resources seem to contribute to the development of innovation capability and to obtain competitive advantage.

Innovation in Micro and Small Enterprises: Resources and Capabilities

ABSTRACT Objective: the article aims to identify the relevant resources for the composition of managerial and transactional capabilities in the context of micro and small enterprises (MSEs). Method: through a literature review, the resources associated with the innovation were identified: leadership, people management, information and knowledge, relationships with clients, suppliers, and society, and results. The resources were collected and measured using a structured questionnaire made available by the Local Agent for Innovation program, applied to 447 MSEs in the state of Pernambuco, between 2015 and 2017. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to verify how these resources contribute to the composition of capabilities. Results: the results demonstrate that the managerial capability is composed of the relationship with society and suppliers, leadership, the sharing of information and knowledge, and people management. Transactional capability is made up of the relationship with customers and the results obtained by the firm. Conclusions: although MSEs have restrictions on access to technologies, their organizational resources seem to contribute to the development of innovation capability and to obtain competitive advantage.

Nonlinear Uncertainties Canceling in Multi-Agent Systems Enabled by Cooperative Adaptation

This paper deals with uncertainties problem in multi-agent systems with novel cooperative adaptation approach. Since uncertainties in multi-agent systems are interconnected, local agent often faces uncertainties not only from itself but also from neighbors. The proposed approach is that a local agent estimates uncertainties from itself and neighboring agents and then changes control strategy. The uncertainties or the equivalences of neighbors can be estimated based on their available outputs; thus, the local agent can adapt to them to cancel out these effects. Stability analysis is also derived that characterizes the transient and steady state performance of multi-agent system. The simulation presents the details of the proposed cooperative adaptation mechanism by compared typical cooperative control.

Concurrent and sustainable development of a local-scale digital heritage inventory through action research at Bat, Oman

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a concurrent implementation of sustainable inventory for the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn in the interior of Oman. Design/methodology/approach – A digital heritage inventory (DHI) was developed through an action research to realize demands of the local agent and to co-design the solution. The Ministry of Heritage and Culture of Oman, the local agent, demanded to have archaeological information of the sites shared with foreign expeditions, which had worked at the sites for decades, for efficient heritage management, scientific research, outreach, and education. To this end, the Bat Digital Heritage Inventory (BatDHI) was implemented by a combination of network-access-ready database application, open source geographical information systems, and a web-based map service to incorporate and visualize previous works, which were concurrently cross-checked and updated by ground-truth surveys. Findings – The online inventory made it possible to update information during archaeological fieldwork in real time and accelerated the decision-making process in heritage management by prompt data updates and visualization. Research limitations/implications – The DHI is extendable for other sites or regions. It should also be considered to install Arches, an open-source suite of digital heritage inventories. Practical implications – The BatDHI was implemented through the action research mentioned in the design/methodology/approach section and yielded the implications mentioned in the findings section. Originality/value – This paper is a challenging application of transdisciplinary approach to the sustainable heritage management, in which researchers and societal stakeholders collaborate for co-design of research agendas, co-production of knowledge, and co-dissemination of outcomes.

Investigation of demodex species frequency in patients with a persistent itchy ear canal treated with a local steroid

Objective:To investigate the frequency of demodex species in the external acoustic meatus in patients with an itchy ear canal.Methods:Patients were assigned to one of three groups. Group one consisted of 54 patients with an itchy ear canal who were using a local agent, while group two was composed of 51 patients with an itchy ear canal who were not using a local agent. Group three consisted of 50 healthy individuals without an itchy ear canal.Results:Demodex species test results were positive in nine (5.8 per cent) of the cases. Six of these positive cases were in group one, two in group two and one in group three. The frequency of demodex species in the external acoustic meatus was similar between those patients with an itchy ear canal who did not use a local agent and the healthy individuals (p = 0.571), but it was significantly higher in those using a local steroid compared with those not using a local agent (p = 0.046).Conclusion:Although demodex species was not significantly higher in patients with an itchy ear canal compared with the control group, use of a local steroid increased the parasite frequency in the external ear canal of affected patients.