Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Specter of Global China: Politics, Labor, and Foreign Investment in Africa

Globalisation increasingly means interest in work and employment inside China is giving way to how Chinese enterprises operate outside the country. Most research attention has focused on developing countries, where Chinese firms have been more ascendant. Africa has figured significantly in this story, as the continent has received major amounts of Chinese investment, especially in infrastructure and mining. Relatedly a narrative has developed pitching China as the new imperialist power in Africa (Ampiah and Naidu, 2008; Carmody, 2011). Research countering this line has been produced (Brautigam, 2009) but limited attention has been given to the narratives of actors in workplaces on the ground. Lee’s book smashes this complacency, producing extensive interview evidence from managers, trade unionists, workers and politicians conducted during fieldwork undertaken across a lengthy eight-year period in two sectors: mining and construction. There is no other book like this currently, and, as such, The Specter of Global China is compulsory reading for anyone interested in comparative development, work and employment in Chinese companies today. The book is structured into six chapters: a contextual introduction, theory chapter, and chapters on contrasting regimes of production, management regimes and workers’ challenges to capital – chapter 5, which highlights strikes, widespread informality of theft, alongside a critical assessment of the work of NGOs. A concluding chapter reappraises the importance of Lee’s theoretical approach and speculates on China’s global expansion as ‘an event’. There is also an excellent Appendix (‘An Ethnographer’s Odyssey: The Mundane and the Sublime of Researching China in Zambia’), where Lee recounts struggles over access, and her journey to uncover characteristics of work and employment in multinational corporations (MNCs) in Zambia. This can be read as a standalone parable on ethnography. Theoretically, Lee emphasises varieties of capital, not capitalism, dismissing the idea of integrated national narratives. As such she stresses the importance of empirical context where work and workers’ struggles are embedded in what she sees as ‘three moments of capital’: accumulation, production and ethos (echoing Weber’s cultural ‘spirit of capitalism’). Through the empirical chapters, contrasts are made between MNC investments from different nations, and private and state capital, and the different pressures they 822936WES0010.1177/0950017018822936Work, employment and societyBook review book-review2019
Unemployment and new business formation – new insights into a complex relationship

ABSTRACT The article analyses the interrelation between unemployment and new business formation using panel data for a large cross-section of countries. We find robust evidence for a positive influence of unemployment, domestic credit to the private sector and business-friendly regulation on new business formation. Our examination does, however, indicate no support for the view that new business formation significantly reduces national unemployment rates.
Inhibition of Lipid Raft-dependent Signaling by a Dystrophy-associated Mutant of Caveolin-3*

Specific point mutations in caveolin-3, a predominantly muscle-specific member of the caveolin family, have been implicated in limb-girdle muscular dystrophy and in rippling muscle disease. We examined the effect of these mutations on caveolin-3 localization and function. Using two independent assay systems, Raf activation in fibroblasts and neurite extension in PC12 cells, we show that one of the caveolin-3 point mutants, caveolin-3-C71W, specifically inhibits signaling by activated H-Ras but not by K-Ras. To gain insights into the effect of the mutant protein on H-Ras signaling, we examined the localization of the mutant proteins in fibroblastic cells and in differentiating myotubes. Unlike the previously characterized caveolin-3-DGV mutant, the inhibitory caveolin-3-C71W mutant reached the plasma membrane and colocalized with wild type caveolins. In BHK cells, caveolin-3-C71W associated with caveolae and in differentiating muscle cells with the developing T-tubule system. In contrast, the caveolin-3-P104L mutant accumulated in the Golgi complex and had no effect on H-Ras-mediated Raf activation. Inhibition by caveolin-3-C71W was rescued by cholesterol addition, suggesting that the mutant protein perturbs cholesterol-rich raft domains. Thus, we have demonstrated that a naturally occurring caveolin-3 mutation can inhibit signaling involving cholesterol-sensitive raft domains.
Open at Birth? Why New Firms Do (or Don’t) Use Open Innovation

Open innovation is about firms harnessing knowledge flows across firm boundaries, but limited research has examined the nature and antecedents of these flows for startup firms. From a new sample of startup firms making 3D printers, we show how their degree of openness for inbound and outbound knowledge flows relates to the firms’ initial capabilities and founding strategies. From this, we suggest that the patterns of openness are influenced more by initial factor endowments than a firm-specific process of emergent strategy development.
The European Parliament's Role: Towards New Copenhagen Criteria for Existing Member States?

The new own‐initiative report the European Parliament is preparing has three aims: to provide a formal evaluation of the recent initiatives by the Commission and the Council; to present a viable alternative; and to do so in the form of a legislative report, so as to obtain a formal reaction from the Commission. The institutions have proposed several possible solutions to the crisis of the Rule of Law in the EU. It is time to put them into a coherent system. The report will focus on five issues: the body for a permanent country‐by‐country monitoring of democracy, the Rule of Law and fundamental rights in the EU; the role of the Agency for Fundamental Rights; whether and how infringement procedures should be revisited in this context; what a proper pre‐Article 7 Treaty on European Union (TEU) procedure should look like; and what a valid legal basis for the proposed changes should be. This article is part of the September 2016 Symposium titled ‘The Great Rule of Law Debate in the EU’, which also includes The Great Rule of Law Debate in the EU by Dimitry Kochenov, Amichai Magen and Laurent Pech (DOI: ), Cracks in the Foundations: Understanding the Great Rule of Law Debate in the EU by Amichai Magen (DOI: ), Better Late than Never? On the European Commission's Rule of Law Framework and its First Activation by Dimitry Kochenov and Laurent Pech (DOI: ), Strengthening the Rule of Law in the EU: The Council's Inaction by Peter Oliver and Justine Stefanelli (DOI: ), Upholding Shared Values in the EU: What Role for the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights? by Gabriel N. Toggenburg and Jonas Grimheden (DOI: )
Induced phenotype targeted therapy: radiation-induced apoptosis-targeted chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND Tumor heterogeneity and evolutionary complexity may underlie treatment failure in spite of the development of many targeted agents. We suggest a novel strategy termed induced phenotype targeted therapy (IPTT) to simplify complicated targets because of tumor heterogeneity and overcome tumor evolutionary complexity. METHODS We designed a caspase-3 specific activatable prodrug, DEVD-S-DOX, containing doxorubicin linked to a peptide moiety (DEVD) cleavable by caspase-3 upon apoptosis. To induce apoptosis locally in the tumor, we used a gamma knife, which can irradiate a very small, defined target area. The in vivo antitumor activity of the caspase-3-specific activatable prodrug combined with radiation was investigated in C3H/HeN tumor-bearing mice (n = 5 per group) and analyzed with the Student's t test or Mann-Whitney U test. All statistical tests were two-sided. We confirmed the basic principle using a caspase-sensitive nanoprobe (Apo-NP). RESULTS A single exposure of radiation was able to induce apoptosis in a small, defined region of the tumor, resulting in expression of caspase-3. Caspase-3 cleaved DEVD and activated the prodrug. The released free DOX further activated DEVD-S-DOX by exerting cytotoxic effects on neighboring tumor or supporting cells, which repetitively induced the expression of caspase-3 and the activation of DEVD-S-DOX. This sequential and repetitive process propagated the induction of apoptosis. This novel therapeutic strategy showed not only high efficacy in inhibiting tumor growth (14-day tumor volume [mm(3)] vs radiation alone: 848.21 ± 143.24 vs 2511.50 ± 441.89, P < . 01) but also low toxicity to normal cells and tissues. CONCLUSION Such a phenotype induction strategy represents a conceptually novel approach to overcome tumor heterogeneity and complexity as well as to substantially improve current conventional chemoradiotherapy with fewer sequelae and side effects.
Functional Antibodies against VAR2CSA in Nonpregnant Populations from Colombia Exposed to Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax

ABSTRACT In pregnancy, parity-dependent immunity is observed in response to placental infection with Plasmodium falciparum. Antibodies recognize the surface antigen, VAR2CSA, expressed on infected red blood cells and inhibit cytoadherence to the placental tissue. In most settings of malaria endemicity, antibodies against VAR2CSA are predominantly observed in multigravid women and infrequently in men, children, and nulligravid women. However, in Colombia, we detected antibodies against multiple constructs of VAR2CSA among men and children with acute P. falciparum and Plasmodium vivax infection. The majority of men and children (>60%) had high levels of IgGs against three recombinant domains of VAR2CSA: DBL5ε, DBL3X, and ID1-ID2. Surprisingly, these antibodies were observed only in pregnant women, men, and children exposed either to P. falciparum or to P. vivax. Moreover, the anti-VAR2CSA antibodies are of high avidity and efficiently inhibit adherence of infected red blood cells to chondroitin sulfate A in vitro, suggesting that they are specific and functional. These unexpected results suggest that there may be genotypic or phenotypic differences in the parasites of this region or in the host response to either P. falciparum or P. vivax infection outside pregnancy. These findings may hold significant clinical relevance to the pathophysiology and outcome of malaria infections in this region.
Idiosyncratic volatility, illiquidity and the expected stock returns: exploring the relationship with quantile regression

This paper takes a new look at the trade-off between idiosyncratic risk and expected stock returns in the emerging market. This study examines the properties and portfolio management implication of conditional idiosyncratic volatility in Taiwan Securities Market. The paper finds that idiosyncratic risk has a significantly negative impact on stock returns in the lower state quantile. It is idiosyncratic volatility that drives the forecastability of the stock market. The author shows that positive effect of idiosyncratic risk on expected returns in higher state quantile explains when investors hold sub-optimally diversified portfolios. Further evidence suggests that Fu (2009) and Angelidis, and Tessaromatis’s (2009) findings are largely explained by lower state regime with high idiosyncratic risks. Illiquidity also are significantly related to expected return. The author also finds that stock returns are increasing with the level of idiosyncratic risk and decreasing in a stock’s liquidity. However, while both illiquidity and idiosyncratic risk play a role in determining returns, the impact of idiosyncratic risk is much stronger and liquidity enhance the expected return.
A Survey Of Performance Appraisal Practices In Public Secondary Schools In Ugunja District, Kenya

xi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 Background of the Study . 1 1.1.1 The Concept of Performance Appraisal . 4 1.1.2 Performance Appraisal Practices . 5 1.1.3 Goal-setting theory . 5 1.1.4 Secondary Schools in Ugunja-Kenya . 8 1.2 Research Problem . 8 1.3 Research Objective . 9 1.4 Value Of The Study. 9 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW . 11
OP9 Feeder Cells Are Superior to M2-10B4 Cells for the Generation of Mature and Functional Natural Killer Cells from Umbilical Cord Hematopoietic Progenitors

Adoptive natural killer (NK) cell therapy relies on the acquisition of large numbers of mature and functional NK cells. An option for future immunotherapy treatments is to use large amounts of NK cells derived and differentiated from umbilical cord blood (UCB) CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), mainly because UCB is one of the most accessible HSC sources. In our study, we compared the potential of two stromal cell lines, OP9 and M2-10B4, for in vitro generation of mature and functional CD56+ NK cells from UCB CD34+ HSC. We generated higher number of CD56+ NK cells in the presence of the OP9 cell line than when they were generated in the presence of M2-10B4 cells. Furthermore, higher frequency of CD56+ NK cells was achieved earlier when cultures were performed with the OP9 cells than with the M2-10B4 cells. Additionally, we studied in detail the maturation stages of CD56+ NK cells during the in vitro differentiation process. Our data show that by using both stromal cell lines, CD34+ HSC in vitro differentiated into the terminal stages 4–5 of maturation resembled the in vivo differentiation pattern of human NK cells. Higher frequencies of more mature NK cells were reached earlier by using OP9 cell line than M2-10B4 cells. Alternatively, we observed that our in vitro NK cells expressed similar levels of granzyme B and perforin, and there were no significant differences between cultures performed in the presence of OP9 cell line or M2-10B4 cell line. Likewise, degranulation and cytotoxic activity against K562 target cells were very similar in both culture conditions. The results presented here provide an optimal strategy to generate high numbers of mature and functional NK cells in vitro, and point toward the use of the OP9 stromal cell line to accelerate the culture procedure to obtain them. Furthermore, this method could establish the basis for the generation of mature NK cells ready for cancer immunotherapy.
Reovirus Activates Transforming Growth Factor β and Bone Morphogenetic Protein Signaling Pathways in the Central Nervous System That Contribute to Neuronal Survival following Infection

ABSTRACT Viral infections of the central nervous system (CNS) are important causes of worldwide morbidity and mortality, and understanding how viruses perturb host cell signaling pathways will facilitate identification of novel antiviral therapies. We now show that reovirus infection activates transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling in a murine model of encephalitis in vivo. TGF-β receptor I (TGF-βRI) expression is increased and its downstream signaling factor, SMAD3, is activated in the brains of reovirus-infected mice. TGF-β signaling is neuroprotective, as inhibition with a TGF-βRI inhibitor increases death of infected neurons. Similarly, BMP receptor I expression is increased and its downstream signaling factor, SMAD1, is activated in reovirus-infected neurons in the brains of infected mice in vivo. Activated SMAD1 and SMAD3 were both detected in regions of brain infected by reovirus, but activated SMAD1 was found predominantly in uninfected neurons in close proximity to infected neurons. Treatment of reovirus-infected primary mouse cortical neurons with a BMP agonist reduced apoptosis. These data provide the first evidence for the activation of TGF-β and BMP signaling pathways following neurotropic viral infection and suggest that these signaling pathways normally function as part of the host's protective innate immune response against CNS viral infection.
Blockholders’ Ownership and Audit Fees: The Impact of the Corporate Governance Model

Abstract This paper examines how two prominent corporate governance models, namely the shareholder and stakeholder models, have different effects on the relation between agency conflicts and the supply, and demand of audit services. Shareholder (stakeholder) countries rely heavily on public (private) information to reduce information asymmetry for outside investors in the context of high (low) litigation risk. We expect audit fees to reflect the level of agency conflicts in shareholder countries as well as the needs for information of the major blockholders in stakeholder countries. Using a sample of 7982 firm-year observations from 19 countries, we find a U-shaped relation between controlling shareholding and audit fees for shareholder countries and an inverted U-shaped relation between controlling shareholding and audit fees for stakeholder countries. These results are consistent across different firm-level governance arrangements.
Protein Aggregates Are Recruited to Aggresome by Histone Deacetylase 6 via Unanchored Ubiquitin C Termini

Background: Misfolded protein aggregates are recruited to the aggresome by a protein complex consisting of histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6). Results: The ubiquitin-binding domain (ZnF-UBP) of HDAC6 binds to ubiquitin C termini generated by ataxin-3. Conclusion: The exposure of ubiquitin C termini within protein aggregates enables HDAC6 recognition. Significance: This study provides the role of HDAC6 in aggresome formation and suggests a novel ubiquitin-mediated signaling pathway. The aggresome pathway is activated when proteasomal clearance of misfolded proteins is hindered. Misfolded polyubiquitinated protein aggregates are recruited and transported to the aggresome via the microtubule network by a protein complex consisting of histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) and the dynein motor complex. The current model suggests that HDAC6 recognizes protein aggregates by binding directly to polyubiquitinated proteins. Here, we show that there are substantial amounts of unanchored ubiquitin in protein aggregates with solvent-accessible C termini. The ubiquitin-binding domain (ZnF-UBP) of HDAC6 binds exclusively to the unanchored C-terminal diglycine motif of ubiquitin instead of conjugated polyubiquitin. The unanchored ubiquitin C termini in the aggregates are generated in situ by aggregate-associated deubiquitinase ataxin-3. These results provide structural and mechanistic bases for the role of HDAC6 in aggresome formation and further suggest a novel ubiquitin-mediated signaling pathway, where the exposure of ubiquitin C termini within protein aggregates enables HDAC6 recognition and transport to the aggresome.
Distinct roles of Rab11 and Arf6 in the regulation of Rab11‐FIP3/arfophilin‐1 localization in mitotic cells

Rab11 family interacting protein 3/arfophilin‐1 is a dual effector of Rab11 and Arf6 and exhibits Rab11‐dependent localization to recycling endosomes in interphase. Furthermore, FIP3 undergoes dynamic redistribution to the intercellular bridge during cytokinesis. However, regulation of FIP3 redistribution and its local function by Rab11 and Arf6 has remained controversial. In this study, we developed a procedure for detecting endogenous FIP3, Arf6, and Rab11 and determined that FIP3 is localized near the intercellular bridge during cytokinesis, and to the Flemming body (the midbody) immediately before abscission; Rab11 is localized near the intercellular bridge, but not to the Flemming body; and Arf6 is localized to the Flemming body. Time‐lapse analyses showed that FIP3 is transported to the intercellular bridge during cytokinesis, together with Rab11; before abscission, FIP3 becomes localized to the Flemming body, where Arf6 is already present. After abscission, FIP3 and Arf6 are incorporated into one of the daughter cells as a Flemming body remnant. Based on these observations, we propose that FIP3 localization to recycling endosomes in interphase and their transport to the intercellular bridge during cytokinesis depend on Rab11, and targeting of FIP3‐positive endosomal vesicles to the Flemming body in the abscission phase depends on Arf6.
Osteoporosis after liver transplantation

Osteoporosis remains a serious potential complication of liver transplantation, although its incidence may be significantly reduced by the use of lower doses of glucocorticoids. Additional factors likely to contribute to its pathogenesis include other immunosuppressive agents, particularly cyclosporin A and FK506, vitamin D insufficiency, secondary hyperparathyroidism, hypogonadism and pre‐existing bone disease. Bone density assessment and spinal X‐rays should be performed before transplantation to assess subsequent fracture risk and vitamin D and gonadal status assessed. Measures should be taken to optimise bone health prior to transplantation; in those with low bone mineral density and/or previous fragility fracture, prophylaxis against bone loss after transplantation should be considered. Although anti‐fracture efficacy has not been established for any agent there is evidence, mainly in patients undergoing other forms of solid organ transplantation, that repeated infusions of pamidronate may be effective in preventing bone loss.
'It's like a bag of pick and mix--you don't know what you are going to get': young people's experience of neurofibromatosis Type 1.

AIMS To explore the day-to-day experience of young people living with neurofibromatosis type 1 in the UK, focusing on the role that appearance plays in this experience. BACKGROUND neurofibromatosis type 1 is a genetic condition, which is highly variable and unpredictable. It can result in varying degrees of visible difference (disfigurement). Both the effect of NF1 on appearance and its uncertainty can prove particularly difficult for those affected. However, very little research to date has investigated the psychosocial impact of neurofibromatosis type 1 on young people or their experiences of managing it. DESIGN Exploratory qualitative interview study. METHODS Nine young people aged 14-24, with a confirmed diagnosis of neurofibromatosis type 1, took part in semi-structured interviews between March-September 2011. Interview transcripts were thematically analysed. FINDINGS Three key themes were identified from the data: (1) 'Different things to different people' reflecting the variability in the condition; (2) 'Relationships and reactions' relating to individuals' social experience; and (3) 'Understanding and misunderstanding' reflecting participants' experiences with organizations and social structures. CONCLUSIONS Findings suggest a need for further research to explore young people's adaptation and management of neurofibromatosis type 1. In particular, raising awareness and understanding of the condition among professionals and in the general public was an important issue for young people. In addition, access to trustworthy information about neurofibromatosis type 1 and practical advice to support adjustment to an altered appearance and managing stigma experiences are highlighted as areas to be considered further.