title: PineappleDB: An online pineapple bioinformatics resource

authors: Moyle, Richard L.

abstract: Background: A world first pineapple EST sequencing program has been undertaken to investigate genes expressed during non-climacteric fruit ripening and the nematode-plant interaction during root infection. Very little is known of how non-climacteric fruit ripening is controlled or of the molecular basis of the nematode-plant interaction. PineappleDB was developed to provide the research community with access to a curated bioinformatics resource housing the fruit, root and nematode infected gall expressed sequences.
Description: PineappleDB is an online, curated database providing integrated access to annotated expressed sequence tag (EST) data for cDNA clones isolated from pineapple fruit, root, and nematode infected root gall vascular cylinder tissues. The database currently houses over 5600 EST sequences, 3383 contig consensus sequences, and associated bioinformatic data including splice variants, Arabidopsis homologues, both MIPS based and Gene Ontology functional classifications, and clone distributions. The online resource can be searched by text or by BLAST sequence homology. The data outputs provide comprehensive sequence, bioinformatic and functional classification information.
Conclusion: The online pineapple bioinformatic resource provides the research community with access to pineapple fruit and root/gall sequence and bioinformatic data in a user-friendly format. The search tools enable efficient data mining and present a wide spectrum of bioinformatic and functional classification information. PineappleDB will be of broad appeal to researchers investigating pineapple genetics, non-climacteric fruit ripening, root-knot nematode infection, crassulacean acid metabolism and alternative RNA splicing in plants.

text: PineappleDB: An online pineapple bioinformatics resource Background: A world first pineapple EST sequencing program has been undertaken to investigate genes expressed during non-climacteric fruit ripening and the nematode-plant interaction during root infection. Very little is known of how non-climacteric fruit ripening is controlled or of the molecular basis of the nematode-plant interaction. PineappleDB was developed to provide the research community with access to a curated bioinformatics resource housing the fruit, root and nematode infected gall expressed sequences.
Description: PineappleDB is an online, curated database providing integrated access to annotated expressed sequence tag (EST) data for cDNA clones isolated from pineapple fruit, root, and nematode infected root gall vascular cylinder tissues. The database currently houses over 5600 EST sequences, 3383 contig consensus sequences, and associated bioinformatic data including splice variants, Arabidopsis homologues, both MIPS based and Gene Ontology functional classifications, and clone distributions. The online resource can be searched by text or by BLAST sequence homology. The data outputs provide comprehensive sequence, bioinformatic and functional classification information.
Conclusion: The online pineapple bioinformatic resource provides the research community with access to pineapple fruit and root/gall sequence and bioinformatic data in a user-friendly format. The search tools enable efficient data mining and present a wide spectrum of bioinformatic and functional classification information. PineappleDB will be of broad appeal to researchers investigating pineapple genetics, non-climacteric fruit ripening, root-knot nematode infection, crassulacean acid metabolism and alternative RNA splicing in plants.

year: 2005-10

title: Path dependence or convergence? The evolution of corporate ownership around the world

authors: Yeh, Andrew Jia-Yuh

subjects: corporate governance

abstract: We offer a theory that sheds light on the current debate over whether the form of corporate ownership converges to the Berle-Means image. Our analytical results are threefold. First, legal rules and firm-specific protective arrangements are complementary. Secondly, corporate ownership patterns can be convergent or path dependent depending on the relative importance of these protective arrangements. We predict, for example, diffuse stock ownership in countries that impose legal limits on blockholders’ power to expropriate minority investor rights. Thirdly, we find that convergence toward diffuse share ownership is a movement towards the social optimum. Our empirical results suggest a case for the co-existence of path dependence and functional convergence (convergence to the diffuse form of share ownership through cross-listings on U.S. stock exchanges that impose more stringent disclosure and listing requirements). These results have implications for the design of executive compensation, the case for institutional investor activism and the proposal to increase shareholder power.

text: Path dependence or convergence? The evolution of corporate ownership around the world We offer a theory that sheds light on the current debate over whether the form of corporate ownership converges to the Berle-Means image. Our analytical results are threefold. First, legal rules and firm-specific protective arrangements are complementary. Secondly, corporate ownership patterns can be convergent or path dependent depending on the relative importance of these protective arrangements. We predict, for example, diffuse stock ownership in countries that impose legal limits on blockholders’ power to expropriate minority investor rights. Thirdly, we find that convergence toward diffuse share ownership is a movement towards the social optimum. Our empirical results suggest a case for the co-existence of path dependence and functional convergence (convergence to the diffuse form of share ownership through cross-listings on U.S. stock exchanges that impose more stringent disclosure and listing requirements). These results have implications for the design of executive compensation, the case for institutional investor activism and the proposal to increase shareholder power.

year: 2006-05

title: Wearing moko: Maori facial marking in today’s world

authors: Nikora, Linda Waimarie

subjects: moko

abstract: The early voyagers, missionaries, settlers all reacted to the pukanohi, to the marked faces of the Maori people, during the period of first contact, and the century following it. Their accounts are vivid, judgemental, revealing, telling us as much about them as they do about the people they described.
Curiosity and horror are mixed with a genuine
fascination; where sternly evangelizing words
failed, armed confrontation occurred; and we
now live with the results, te ao hou, a new world. In this world, today, wahine mau kauae, tangata mau moko, pukanohi – wearers – are speaking for themselves, about themselves, and commenting on how others view them. Unanimously, they insist that the decision to take the marking is about continuity, affirmation, identity and commitment. It is also about wearing those ancestors, carrying them into the future; as their moko become a companion, a salient being with its own life force, its own integrity and power, beyond the face.

text: Wearing moko: Maori facial marking in today’s world The early voyagers, missionaries, settlers all reacted to the pukanohi, to the marked faces of the Maori people, during the period of first contact, and the century following it. Their accounts are vivid, judgemental, revealing, telling us as much about them as they do about the people they described.
Curiosity and horror are mixed with a genuine
fascination; where sternly evangelizing words
failed, armed confrontation occurred; and we
now live with the results, te ao hou, a new world. In this world, today, wahine mau kauae, tangata mau moko, pukanohi – wearers – are speaking for themselves, about themselves, and commenting on how others view them. Unanimously, they insist that the decision to take the marking is about continuity, affirmation, identity and commitment. It is also about wearing those ancestors, carrying them into the future; as their moko become a companion, a salient being with its own life force, its own integrity and power, beyond the face.

year: 2004-04-04