The Paradox of Moral Conflict

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91016/1/blankst_1334780583.pd

SPP and the Way Forward for North American Integration

During the past year, relations among the NAFTA partners took on an increasingly two-tier structure. More visible were a widening array of disagreements over issues including BMD, Iraq, US demands on passports, the Senate’s vote to keep the border shut to Canadian cattle, alleged American gun trafficking and, above all, Washington’s efforts to evade the NAFTA ruling on softwood lumber. Yet, despite this mix of genuine grievances and political posturing, we saw substantial movement toward a more efficient North American economic system. Reports from the Security and Prosperity Partnership Working Groups set up after the Bush-Fox-Martin meeting in Waco, Texas, illustrated a wide array of activities under the politico-journalistic radar. Perhaps more important are the myriad of business- and community-driven initiatives underway to expand and improve cross-border links. How much of all of this will actually lead to concrete results is unclear. But several conclusions are evident. One is that this movement is driven by deepening interdependence. The second is that the current two-tier process in which national leaders kick each other in the shins while businesses and bureaucrats in federal, state, and municipal governments and community groups squirrel away to repair problems in the North American system will not work. Third is that integration-by-stealth is also unacceptable. The time has come to examine carefully what is happening in North America, to explore what our interests are in this emerging continental system, and to open a dialogue about different, even competing, visions of North America. The dialogue should involve perspectives from different regions, different economic and social sectors, and those who oppose as well as support integration. The process must get outside of the beltways—it must give voice to community and economic leaders who are most deeply involved in this new system

Staying Alive: North American Competitiveness and the Challenge of Asia

While analyses of North American integration after NAFTA continue to stress outdated notions of country-to-country trade and the exchange of finished products across national borders, our paper starts from the premise that what we have now is a single, integrated regional economic system whose expansion has followed the pace and contours of business strategies emphasizing continentally-integrated supply chains, but whose management via regulatory and policy coordination has lagged dangerously behind. Most dangerous of all has been the massive gap between our region\u27s infrastructure needs – ports, transportation, and borders – and what has been coordinated and facilitated by the public sector. In this paper we investigate this current impasse from the point of view of reframing the competition with Asia\u27s export giants – in particular China – as an impetus to enhance the competitive edge not of our national economies but rather of the regional economic system as a whole. We highlight the potential for synergy between the dynamism of cross-border regions such as the Pacific Northwest and their gateway strategies of coping with booming trade with Asia, on the one hand, and the aim of enhancing North American regional competitiveness via a more rationalized and effective continental transportation and infrastructure strategy. For example, British Columbia\u27s plans to expand the Prince Rupert port facility, or the West Coast Corridor Coalition\u27s plans for transportation links from B.C. [British Columbia] to B.C. [Baja California] would do well to explore their potential to connect with developing transportation networks and trade corridors in the center of the continent, as well as emerging export centers on the Eastern seaboard (Halifax/Atlantica), and on Mexico\u27s Pacific coast. In keeping with North America\u27s unique integration pattern – decentralized and business-driven – this focus on cross-border regions and public-private partnerships could bridge the infrastructure gap, linking local concerns with greater continental prosperity

Reflections of Communication Skills after Practicing Telehealth Physical Activity Screening Evaluations: Qualitative Study

The Disconnect Between Patients and Providers Have you had a healthcare visit where: - You didn’t feel heard - Your concerns weren’t fully addressed - You didn’t follow the advice give

ATP synthase deficiency due to TMEM70 mutation leads to ultrastructural mitochondrial degeneration and is amenable to treatment.

TMEM70 is involved in the biogenesis of mitochondrial ATP synthase and mutations in the TMEM70 gene impair oxidative phosphorylation. Herein, we report on pathology and treatment of ATP synthase deficiency in four siblings. A consanguineous family of Roma (Gipsy) ethnic origin gave birth to 6 children of which 4 were affected presenting with dysmorphic features, failure to thrive, cardiomyopathy, metabolic crises, and 3-methylglutaconic aciduria as clinical symptoms. Genetic testing revealed a homozygous mutation (c.317-2A>G) in the TMEM70 gene. While light microscopy was unremarkable, ultrastructural investigation of muscle tissue revealed accumulation of swollen degenerated mitochondria with lipid crystalloid inclusions, cristae aggregation, and exocytosis of mitochondrial material. Biochemical analysis of mitochondrial complexes showed an almost complete ATP synthase deficiency. Despite harbouring the same mutation, the clinical outcome in the four siblings was different. Two children died within 60 h after birth; the other two had recurrent life-threatening metabolic crises but were successfully managed with supplementation of anaplerotic amino acids, lipids, and symptomatic treatment during metabolic crisis. In summary, TMEM70 mutations can cause distinct ultrastructural mitochondrial degeneration and almost complete deficiency of ATP synthase but are still amenable to treatment

Engineering yield and rate of reductive biotransformation in Escherichia coli by partial cyclization of the pentose phosphate pathway and PTS-independent glucose transport

Optimization of yields and productivities in reductive whole-cell biotransformations is an important issue for the industrial application of such processes. In a recent study with Escherichia coli, we analyzed the reduction of the prochiral β-ketoester methyl acetoacetate by an R-specific alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) to the chiral hydroxy ester (R)-methyl 3-hydroxybutyrate (MHB) using glucose as substrate for the generation of NADPH. Deletion of the phosphofructokinase gene pfkA almost doubled the yield to 4.8 mol MHB per mole of glucose, and it was assumed that this effect was due to a partial cyclization of the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP). Here, this partial cyclization was confirmed by 13C metabolic flux analysis, which revealed a negative net flux from glucose 6-phosphate to fructose 6-phosphate catalyzed by phosphoglucose isomerase. For further process optimization, the genes encoding the glucose facilitator (glf) and glucokinase (glk) of Zymomonas mobilis were overexpressed in recombinant E. coli strains carrying ADH and deletions of either pgi (phosphoglucose isomerase), or pfkA, or pfkA plus pfkB. In all cases, the glucose uptake rate was increased (30–47%), and for strains Δpgi and ΔpfkA also, the specific MHB production rate was increased by 15% and 20%, respectively. The yield of the latter two strains slightly dropped by 11% and 6%, but was still 73% and 132% higher compared to the reference strain with intact pgi and pfkA genes and expressing glf and glk. Thus, metabolic engineering strategies are presented for improving yield and rate of reductive redox biocatalysis by partial cyclization of the PPP and by increasing glucose uptake, respectively

Feminist Economics, Setting out the Parameters

___Introduction___ Feminist economics has developed its position over the past decade, towards a firmer embeddedness in economic science and a source of inspiration for activists, policy makers, and social science researchers in a wide variety of fields of research. This development has come about in a relatively short period of time, as is reflected, for example, in the follow-up book of the feminist economic primer Beyond Economic Man (Ferber/Nelson 1993), published ten years later: Feminist Economics Today (Ferber/Nelson, 2003) The strengthened position of feminist economics also shows in the 10-year anniversary of the prize-winning journal Feminist Economics, the flourishing of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE), as well as the more regular demand for feminist economic policy advise by institutions like the UN, OECD and governments in developed and developing countries, and in well-established training courses in feminist economics, such as at the Institute of Social Studies and University of Utah . It is impossible to give a fair overview of the state of the art of feminist economics in the number of pages available, even when limited to issues pertaining to development and macroeconomics . As a consequence, this is a very sketchy and subjective overview of what I perceive to be recent developments in feminist economics that have relevance for feminist development analysis and policy. The next section recognizes three trends in feminist economics, in particular the engagement of feminist economists with heterodox schools of economics. The following sections will briefly review developments in methodology and methods in feminist economics. These will be followed by three sections on topics that have recently become key themes or areas of research in feminist economics, in particular in the area of development economics: unpaid labour and the care economy; the two-way relationship between gender and trade; and gender, efficiency and growth. Each of these topics will be introduced, with references to the main literature, and some links to policy recommendations. The paper will end with a conclusion