International Telephone Research Articles

Preparation and implementation of the “Greater Albania” project: historical and geopolitical aspects (1944-1980s)

The Kosovo issue is currently “settled” by the actual functioning of the Republic of Kosovo and by providing it with all the attributes of statehood during the Belgrade-Pristina negotiations (completeness of territory, border, customs, army, independent telecommunications and electricity system, international telephone number, etc.). When studying the Kosovo problem, it is logical to raise the question: why and how it was resolved in this particular way, what were the internal and external factors that ensured the stunning success of the separatist Pristina, which achieved an unprecedented permission for the Albanians, bypassing international and domestic law, for another national self-determination in the form creation of a second state? Often, when talking about the Kosovo confl ict, the hot phase of which occurred in 1998–1999, the main focus is on the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and their Western and non-Western patrons. However, no paramilitary unit that is relatively small in number, extremely weak in military training, and has a sabotage and punitive nature, even with external support, is capable of achieving a goal of this level in such a short period of time. It would take decades to prepare for its implementation — and they were at the disposal of Albanian tribal leaders and socially signifi cant fi gures who managed to ensure their interests in this way (the issue was not caring for the Albanian people, only gaining infl uence and extracting specifi c material benefi ts). Albanian organizations of the interwar period (Kosovo Committee, 1918–1925) and the leaders of the bandits, who psychologically and emotionally consolidated the practice of terror against the Serbs of Kosmet, laid a “strong foundation”. However, post-war Albanian emigration played a key role in the Kosovo confl ict of the 1990s. Moreover, Albanian emigration is also not a random phenomenon; it has a consistent development and direct historical continuity from Albanian organizations since the end of the 19th century. The article analyzes the Albanian nationalist organizations created in Kosovo and Metohija at the fi nal stage of the Second World War, as well as the political organizations of the Albanian emigration of the post-war period, identifying the continuity of ideology and practice that laid a solid foundation and created the conditions for the emergence of the Kosovo Liberation Army and political movements that ensured the creation of the Republic of Kosovo.

The Corporate Dimension of the Cold War in Hungary: ITT and the Vogeler/Sanders Case Reconsidered

Abstract In 1949, two executives at the Hungarian subsidiary of the U.S. conglomerate International Telephone & Telegraph (ITT), Robert Vogeler of the United States and Edgar Sanders of Great Britain, along with five Hungarian nationals, were arrested, tortured, given peremptory trials, and imprisoned for espionage and economic sabotage. This article reexamines the case in light of the diplomatic efforts to secure their release. The case needs to be understood in the context of U.S. intelligence agencies’ policies during the early Cold War. Numerous organizations that were not necessarily well coordinated embarked on intelligence-gathering and a variety of covert operations, some of which were undertaken with the cooperation of multinational corporations such as ITT. Vogeler and Sanders were indeed guilty of many of the charges leveled against them, and their ordeal was significant because it revealed the ineffectiveness of Cold War policies to influence behavior behind the Iron Curtain during the Stalin era.

Editor's Note

Editor's Note

Telecommunication ties and gender ideologies in the age of globalization: International telephone networks and gender attitudes in 47 countries

Scholars have posed different hypotheses on the impact of global telecommunications on value orientations. We analyze and characterize the global telecommunication network and test a series of hypotheses on the relationship between gender values and three types of telephone connections: ties with the global society, ties with Western nations, and ties within groups of nations sharing similar cultural, religious, political, or geographical traits. We use multilevel models and data on two levels, between-country telecommunications network data from TeleGeography, and individual-level data ( N = 70,225) on people living in 47 countries from the World Value Survey, waves III and IV. Countries with high degrees of communication insulation, measured as a high percentage of within-group ties of all global telephone links, hold less egalitarian attitudes toward gender equality. This negative effect of group insulation depresses the egalitarian effects of younger birth cohort, college education, and higher income. Embeddedness in a localized information diffusion network and isolated from global communication is associated with less egalitarian attitude toward gender equality. But neither global ties nor ties with Western countries are linked with gender attitudes.

Business ethics index: the impact of political affiliation

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to measure differences on the business ethics index (BEI) between respondents of different political affiliations (i.e. democrats, republicans and independents). The BEI was originally developed as an indicator of consumers’ sentiments toward the ethicality of business practices.Design/methodology/approachData collection was conducted by ORC International Telephone CARAVAN®. The study was conducted using two probability samples of 1,008 adults (18 years old and older) living in the continental United States.FindingsThe data demonstrate that republicans feel more positive on all three components (i.e. personal/past, vicarious/past, and future) and on the overall BEI compared to democrats and independents.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations of the study include that the data include political affiliation and not actual voting behavior. One can assume there is a high correlation between the two; however, many US voters do not actually take the time to vote might attenuate this relationship. A future application of the BEI will attempt to capture real voting patterns and not only political affiliation.Practical implicationsThe data confirm the political and ideological schism evident in the US at the present time. At a time where almost all the centers of political power (Presidency, Senate and Parliament) are being controlled by the GOP, republican voters are more optimistic about the future ethical behavior of businesses.Social implicationsBeyond political ideology, ethical behavior by business is crucial to the integrity of the economic system both at the national and international level.Originality/valueThis is the first time that consumers’ ethical perceptions, as measured by the BEI, were associated with people’s political affiliations.

The Electrical Engineer Who Clarified Glass [Scanning our Past

Charles Kuen Kao Life Fellow of the IEEE and Nobel Laureate, died from Alzheimer's disease on September 23, 2018 in CA, USA, after a rich life of work and family in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Hong Kong. The Nobel committee in physics honored him in 2009 “for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication.” He spent his engineering career at the International Telephone & Telegraph Company's (ITT's) Standard Telecommunications Laboratories (STL) in and near London, where he organized and championed the development of single-mode fiber optic systems in the 1960s.

Telephone networks, BBSes, and the emergence of the transnational ‘warez scene’

ABSTRACTThis article analyzes how software pirates who formed the ‘warez scene’ appropriated telephone network infrastructures and Bulletin Board System (or BBS) technology to circulate computer software across national borders. This paper is shedding more light on the roots of contemporary internet-based software piracy by investigating how appropriation of international telephone networks contributed to the globalization of digital software distribution. It also highlights the mundane aspects of the organization of media convergence on the junction between analog and digital technologies. Here I argue that the use of telephone networks as a means of transnational software distribution is an instance of actors setting up a convergent media environment driven by the cultural logic of a specific subculture. My paper provides an overview of BBS technology to demonstrate how it linked analog and digital domains and then outlines its cultural significance, ultimately discussing the appropriation of BBSes and their role in transnational expansion of ‘the scene’.

A survey to understand public opinion regarding animal use in medical training.

A random survey was performed by ORC International Telephone CARAVAN®, on 24-27 March 2016, by trained interviewers. The aim of this survey was to gain further understanding of public perceptions in the United States of laboratory animal use, specifically for the purposes of medical training. Five statements were read in random order to the participants, who were then asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement. Survey responses were obtained from 1011 participants. For the combined statements: "If effective non-animal methods are available to train a) medical students and physicians, b) emergency physicians and paramedics, and c) paediatricians, those methods should be used instead of live animals", most respondents (82-83%) agreed. For the statement: "You want your doctor to be trained by using methods that replicate human anatomy instead of live animals", most respondents (84%) agreed. For the statement: "If effective non-animal methods are available, it is morally wrong or unethical to use live animals to train medical students, physicians and paramedics", 67% of respondents agreed. Responses were similar among the 15 pre-specified demographic subgroups. Given that effective non-animal training methods are readily available, the survey suggests that a substantial majority of the public wants the use of animals in medical training to cease.

La modernización en la industria de equipo telefónico en España durante el segundo franquismo. CITESA 1965-1975

This article bring us closer to the telephone equipment industry in Spain, at a turning point in its development, leading to controversy about the impact of multinationals in host countries. It focuses on a crucial period that includes from the creation of Telecommunication and Electronic International Company (CITESA) as a branch of Standard Electrical S. A. (SESA) and associate company of International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT) during the growth economic of the sixties to the last years of the Francoism. The insertion of CITESA in the ITT group granted privileged access to him to new technological developments. There is the key of CITESA to be the manufacturing arm of the operator National Telephone Company of Spain (CTNE) in the special conditions of the Spanish market. The article is founded substantially on primary sources, without forget the contemporary history studies have provided.

Local SDH transmission network design

We know that today's society is the information society. The highly developed information society requires thatthe communication network can provide a wide variety of telecommunication services. The amount of informationtransmitted, exchanged and processed through the communication network will increase, which requires the moderncommunication network to be digitalized, integrated, intelligent and personalized. The transmission system is animportant part of the communication network, directly restricting the development of the communication network.One of the most important developments in the world to develop the information superhighway, with one of thekey is to set up a large capacity transmission fiber network, continuously improve the transmission line on thesignal rate, widening the transmission band. It is like expanding capacity to accommodate a large number of traffi cin highways. At the same time the user wants the transmission network to have a worldwide interface standard, toaccess to global village, in where every user can easily communicate anytime and anywhere. Synchronous DigitalHierarchy (SDH) is a comprehensive information transmission network that integrates multiplexing, line transmissionand switching functions and is operated by a unifi ed network management system. It is a synchronous informationtransmission network developed by Bell Communication Technology Research Institute’s optical network (SONET).The International Telegraph and Telephone Advisory Committee (now ITU-T) received the SONET concept in 1988and renamed it SDH, making it a general technology system that applies not only to fiber but also to microwaveand satellite transmission. It is applied for eff ective management of network, real-time service monitoring, dynamicnetwork maintenance, interoperability between different vendors and other functions, greatly improves networkresource utilization, reduce management and maintenance costs, flexible and reliable and efficient networkoperation and maintenance. So it is in the center of attention in world's information fi eld of transmission technologydevelopment and application.

Analysis of Binary Image Coding Methods for Outdoor Applications of Wireless Vision Sensor Networks

The processing of images at the vision sensor nodes (VSN) requires a high computation power and their transmission requires a large communication bandwidth. The energy budget is limited in outdoor applications of wireless vision sensor networks (WVSN). This means that both the processing of images at the VSN and the communication to server must be energy efficient. The wireless communication of uncompressed data consumes huge amounts of energy. Data compression methods are efficient in reducing data in images and can be used for the reduction in transmission energy. We have evaluated seven binary image coding techniques. Our evaluation is based on the processing complexity and energy consumption of the compression methods on the embedded platforms. The focus is to come up with a binary image coding method, which has good compression efficiency and short processing time. An image coding method with such attributes will result in reduced total energy requirement of the node. We have used both statistically generated images and real captured images, in our experiments. Based on our results, we conclude that International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee Group 4, gzip_pack and JPEG-LS are suitable coding methods for the outdoor applications of WVSNs.

FEATURES OF COMPUTER TECHNICAL RESEARCH OF THE INFORMATION IN THE MEMORY OF SIM, USIM AND R-UIM-CARDS

The paper considers the features of expert research of elementary files contents of SIM, USIM and R-UIM-cards, the information on which is absent in the current edition of technique 10.9.10 «Technique of computer technical research of information in the memory of SIM-cards». Effective standards which regulate the structure of files in SIM, USIM and R-UIM-cards, are specified. For today there are three types of identification modules of cellular communication customers: SIM-cards for networks of standard GSM, R-UIM-cards for networks ofstandard CDMA and USIM-cards for networks ofstandards UMTS and LTE. The hierarchical structure of a SIM-card corresponds to the hierarchical structure of a smart card of standard ISO/IEC 7816-4 and consists from three types of files: the main file (MF), the intended file (DF) and an elementary file (EF). For addressing or identification of each concrete file the identifier of a file is used which consists of two bytes. The first byte ofthe identifier definesfile type. The attention is paid to the elementary file EFspn in which the name of a cellular communication operator is stored. The theoretical and practical information concerning research of the content of the intended file DFpHONEBCOK is presented in which the telephone book of an USIM-card is stored. It’s specified that elementary file EFSMS is stored in the memory of a R-UIM-card in other intended file in comparison with SIM and USIM-cards. The research algorithm of contents EFSMS file in memory of a R-UIM-card is offered. The attention that in identification number of a R-UIM-card some Ukrainian CDMA-operators specify a mobile code of the country 255 instead of the international telephone code of Ukraine 380, is paid. Keeping in mind the presented information will help to avoid expert errors during computer technical research of the information in the memory of SIM, USIM and R-UIM-cards.

A survey on general and temperature management of post cardiac arrest patients in large teaching and university hospitals in 14 European countries—The SPAME trial results

IntroductionInternational guidelines recommend a bundle of care, including targeted temperature management (TTM), in post cardiac arrest survivors. Aside from a few small surveys in different European countries, adherence to the European Resuscitation Council (ERC) and European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) recommendations are unknown. MethodsThis international European telephone survey was conducted to provide an overview of current clinical practice of post cardiac arrest management with a main focus on TTM. We targeted large teaching and university hospitals within Europe as leading facilities and key opinion leaders in the field of post cardiac arrest care. Selected national principal investigators conducted the survey, which was based on a predefined questionnaire, between December 2014 and March 2015, before the publication of the ERC Guidelines 2015. ResultsThe return rate was 94% from 268 participating intensive care units (ICU). The majority had a predefined standard operating procedure (SOP) protocol for post cardiac arrest patients. Altogether, 68% of the ICUs provided TTM at a target temperature of 32–34°C for 24h, and 33% had changed the target temperature to 36°C. The minority provided a written SOP for neurological prognostication, which was generally initiated 72h after return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC). Electroencephalography and somatosensory evoked potentials were used by most ICUs for early prognostication. Treating more than fifty patients a year was significantly associated with providing written SOPs for TTM and prognostication (p<0.01), as well as the use of a computer feedback device (p=0.03) for TTM. ConclusionThis international European telephone survey revealed a high rate of implementation of TTM in post cardiac arrest patients in university and teaching hospitals. Most participants also provided a SOP, but only a minority had a SOP for neurological prognostication.

Special Issue: Smart Satellite Systems

Special Issue: Smart Satellite Systems

International Telephone Calls and the Regulatory Environment in COMESA

Using telephone call data assembled from a number of African countries, a model is employed to estimate the role of the regulatory environment as defined by the ITU. The GMM models predict that the absolute size of the impact of regulatory improvements on outgoing call volumes is probably larger than that of prices. The paper concludes with suggestions to regulatory arms within the COMESA region for improvements.

BILATERAL MARKET STRUCTURES AND REGULATORY POLICIES IN INTERNATIONAL TELEPHONE MARKETS

We develop models of bilateral oligopoly with traffic exchanges to study the competition and regulatory policies in the international telephone markets. Under the requirement of uniform settlement rates, the proportional return rule (PRR) inflates the rates and hence neutralizes PRR's effect on calling prices. Retail competition and PRR increase net settlement payments. Market efficiency is improved when there are multiple channels for traffic exchanges. Using a panel of 47 countries that exchanged traffic with the United States between 1992 and 2004, we test the effects of bilateral market structures and the U.S. policies. The empirical results support our theoretical findings.

The Preference Survey Module: A Validated Instrument for Measuring Risk, Time, and Social Preferences

This paper presents an experimentally validated survey module to measure six key economic preferences - risk aversion, discounting, trust, altruism, positive and negative reciprocity - in a reliable, parsimonious and cost-effective way. The survey instruments included in the module were the best predictors of preferences revealed in incentivized choice experiments. We also offer a streamlined version of the module that has been optimized and piloted for applications where time efficiency and simplicity are paramount, such as international telephone surveys.

The Preference Survey Module: A Validated Instrument for Measuring Risk, Time, and Social Preferences

This paper presents an experimentally validated survey module to measure six key economic preferences – risk aversion, discounting, trust, altruism, positive and negative reciprocity – in a reliable, parsimonious and cost-effective way. The survey instruments included in the module were the best predictors of preferences revealed in incentivized choice experiments. We also offer a streamlined version of the module that has been optimized and piloted for applications where time efficiency and simplicity are paramount, such as international telephone surveys.

Actual and Potential Competition in International Telecommunications

By allowing carriers to route telephone calls over low-cost private lines, international simple resale (ISR) makes it possible for carriers to provide international telephone service without owning an international circuit. When approved, ISR reduces entry barriers and can increase competition. Using data from US markets from 1995 to 2004, we estimate the effects of ISR on entry and retail prices. Results show that ISR has a limited (and imprecisely estimated) impact on entry and actual competition. However, controlling for actual competition, ISR authorization causes an average reduction in prices of 32.7 percent. Markets with relatively high carrier surplus experience an additional reduction in the price by 0.4 percentage points, and prices are 3.4 percentage points lower in markets with relatively high private line capacity. Our findings suggest that ISR promotes potential competition and lower prices in markets where the threat of hit-and-run entry is more credible.

Obituary: Alfred Leo Maria Fettweis (1926–2015)

Alfred Fettweis, a giant in the fields “circuits and systems” and “multidimensional systems theory”, passed away on August 20, 2015 in Bochum, Germany. Our community has lost a pioneer in the field who always had been closely connected to our journal “Multidimensional Systems and Signal Processing”, for which he served as a founding board member from 1990 to 1993. It is only a sad coincidence that the sequence of his many personal contributions to MSSP will end with a joint paper together with one of us in this issue. Alfred Fettweis had close scientific cooperation and many exchange of ideas with Nirmal K. Bose, the founding editor of this journal, and his advice with respect to the evolution of MSSP had been always appreciated. Born on November 27, 1926 in Eupen, Belgium, Alfred Fettweis received the degrees of Ingenieur Civil Electricien and Docteur en Sciences Appliquees from Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, in 1951 and 1963, respectively. During the time between 1951 and 1963 he was employed as an engineer at the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation (ITT) in Belgium and in the USA (1954–1956)—an experience from which he accrued valuable practical skill and experience. This phase of his professional life in an industrial environment strongly influenced his later career as a scientist. He always emphasized that scientific results, including even theoretical ones, should have a practical impact.