Regional Headquarters Schemes by China’s Ministry of Commerce and the Shanghai Municipal Government: Differences, Limitations, and Possible Combinations

[Excerpt] As large multinational companies (“MNCs”) are continuously extending their Chinese market presence, many are considering moving their Asian-Pacific Headquarters to China. In an attempt to attract MNCs’ Regional Headquarters to Mainland China, the Chinese central government is not only faced with competition from regional hubs, such as Singapore and Hong Kong, but also from internal rivals, such as the Shanghai and Beijing municipal governments. This article analyzes recently passed regulations on the establishment of Regional Headquarters by MNCs in China at the national and the municipal level. The focus will be on Shanghai’s set of regulations, issued in 2002 and 2003, as well as on the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) Ministry of Commerce’s Holding Company Provisions, which introduced Regional Headquarters as a new investment vehicle at the national level in February 2004. Particular emphasis will be placed on the November 2004 revisions of the national rules, the difference in approval requirements and business scope of national and municipal Regional Headquarters and the two distinct forms of Regional Headquarters (Investment/Management Company) in Shanghai Municipality

Openness and Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Analysis

This thesis analyzes the relationship between openness and economic growth. Although long standing and well accepted economic theory clearly shows the gains from open trade between nations, developing countries have followed the protectionist policies of Import Substituting Industrialization (ISI) for a large portion of the twentieth century. The application of ISI by developing nations is characterized by multiple and overlapping protective measures which give rise to high effective rates of protection. These high effective rates of protection create a bias against exports, prevent emerging industries in developing countries from achieving economies of scale and give rise to economic dualism. For these reasons and others, the 1980s saw a shift away from ISI to the policies of export-oriented industrialization (EOI). EOI strives to make neutral the incentives between domestic and foreign production of a good. Trade liberalization in the form of EOI has been shown to enhance the economic performance of numerous developing countries. Numerous efforts made to explain the strong, positive relationship between openness and economic growth rely upon empirical analysis based upon neoclassical production functions. A review of this work shows that this empirical analysis is often based on small data sets which cover a limited time span. In addition, this work does not utilize demographic variables as sources of growth. Most important of all, these works tend to concentrate on measures of exports assuming away any condition of import shortage. This thesis alleviates these shortcomings by developing an economic growth model which assumes that marginal factor productivities differ between the export and domestic sectors of an economy, utilizes demographic variables as sources of growth and accounts for import shortage conditions through the inclusion of an imports growth variable. Finally, empirical analysis based on a large cross country data set confirms the assumptions made by the model

QTL.gCIMapping.GUI v2.0: an R software for detecting small-effect and linked QTLs for quantitative traits in bi-parental segregation populations

The methodologies and software packages for mapping quantitative trait loci (QTLs) in bi-parental segregation populations are well established. However, it is still difficult to detect small-effect and linked QTLs. To address this issue, we proposed a genome-wide composite interval mapping (GCIM) in a bi-parental segregation population. To popularize this method, we developed an R package. This program with two versions (Graphical User Interface: QTL.gCIMapping.GUI v2.0 and code: QTL.gCIMapping v3.2) can be used to identify QTLs for quantitative traits in recombinant inbred lines, doubled haploid lines, backcross and F2 populations. To save running time, fread function was used to read the dataset, parallel operation was used in parameter estimation, and conditional probability calculation was implemented by C++. Once one input file with *.csv or *.txt formats is uploaded into the package, one or two output files and one figure can be obtained. The input file with the ICIM and win QTL cartographer formats is available as well. Real data analysis for 1000-grain weight in rice showed that the GCIM detects the maximum previously reported QTLs and genes, and has the minimum AIC value in the stepwise regression of all the identified QTLs for this trait; using stepwise regression and empirical Bayesian analyses, there are some false QTLs around the previously reported QTLs and genes from the CIM method. The above software packages on Windows, Mac and Linux can be downloaded from https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/ or https://bigd.big.ac.cn/biocode/tools/7078/releases/27 in order to identify all kinds of omics QTLs

Associative Transcriptomics Study Dissects the Genetic Architecture of Seed Glucosinolate Content in Brassica napus

Breeding new varieties with low seed glucosinolate (GS) concentrations has long been a prime target in Brassica napus. In this study, a novel association mapping methodology termed 'associative transcriptomics' (AT) was applied to a panel of 101 B. napus lines to define genetic regions and also candidate genes controlling total seed GS contents. Over 100,000 informative single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and gene expression markers (GEMs) were developed for AT analysis, which led to the identification of 10 SNP and 7 GEM association peaks. Within these peaks, 26 genes were inferred to be involved in GS biosynthesis. A weighted gene co-expression network analysis provided additional 40 candidate genes. The transcript abundance in leaves of two candidate genes, BnaA.GTR2a located on chromosome A2 and BnaC.HAG3b on C9, was correlated with seed GS content, explaining 18.8 and 16.8% of phenotypic variation, respectively. Resequencing of genomic regions revealed six new SNPs in BnaA.GTR2a and four insertions or deletions in BnaC.HAG3b. These deletion polymorphisms were then successfully converted into polymerase chain reaction-based diagnostic markers that can, due to high linkage disequilibrium observed in these regions of the genome, be used for marker-assisted breeding for low seed GS lines

Novel Weapons Testing: Are Invasive Plants More Chemically Defended than Native Plants?

Background: Exotic species have been hypothesized to successfully invade new habitats by virtue of possessing novel biochemistry that repels native enemies. Despite the pivotal long-term consequences of invasion for native food-webs, to date there are no experimental studies examining directly whether exotic plants are any more or less biochemically deterrent than native plants to native herbivores. Methodology/Principal Findings: In a direct test of this hypothesis using herbivore feeding assays with chemical extracts from 19 invasive plants and 21 co-occurring native plants, we show that invasive plant biochemistry is no more deterrent (on average) to a native generalist herbivore than extracts from native plants. There was no relationship between extract deterrence and length of time since introduction, suggesting that time has not mitigated putative biochemical novelty. Moreover, the least deterrent plant extracts were from the most abundant species in the field, a pattern that held for both native and exotic plants. Analysis of chemical deterrence in context with morphological defenses and growth-related traits showed that native and exotic plants had similar trade-offs among traits. Conclusions/Significance: Overall, our results suggest that particular invasive species may possess deterrent secondary chemistry, but it does not appear to be a general pattern resulting from evolutionary mismatches between exotic plants and native herbivores. Thus, fundamentally similar processes may promote the ecological success of both native and exotic species

Learning and literacy in music: activities for integrating children\u27s literature into the elementary general music curriculum

In summary, there is plenty of evidence that supports the use of reading children’s literature in a music classroom. While this concept certainly is starting to gain more traction, the purpose of this thesis is to provide a starting point for educators that have not yet begun to take advantage of the rich abundance of content that is found in such literature, or to assist educators who simply want more ideas and evidence to support their teaching choices. In order to improve our teaching and provide as best of an education as we can to our students, we must utilize all resources available to us: including children’s books that have nothing to do with music

Primary Metabolism of Chickpea Is the Initial Target of Wound Inducing Early Sensed Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri Race I

BACKGROUND: Biotrophic interaction between host and pathogen induces generation of reactive oxygen species that leads to programmed cell death of the host tissue specifically encompassing the site of infection conferring resistance to the host. However, in the present study, biotrophic relationship between Fusarium oxysporum and chickpea provided some novel insights into the classical concepts of defense signaling and disease perception where ROS (reactive oxygen species) generation followed by hypersensitive responses determined the magnitude of susceptibility or resistant potentiality of the host. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Microscopic observations detected wound mediated in planta pathogenic establishment and its gradual progression within the host vascular tissue. cDNA-AFLP showed differential expression of many defense responsive elements. Real time expression profiling also validated the early recognition of the wound inducing pathogen by the host. The interplay between fungus and host activated changes in primary metabolism, which generated defense signals in the form of sugar molecules for combating pathogenic encounter. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The present study showed the limitations of hypersensitive response mediated resistance, especially when foreign encounters involved the food production as well as the translocation machinery of the host. It was also predicted from the obtained results that hypersensitivity and active species generation failed to impart host defense in compatible interaction between chickpea and Fusarium. On the contrary, the defense related gene(s) played a critical role in conferring natural resistance to the resistant host. Thus, this study suggests that natural selection is the decisive factor for selecting and segregating out the suitable type of defense mechanism to be undertaken by the host without disturbing its normal metabolism, which could deviate from the known classical defense mechanisms