Industrial policy and development in late industrializing countries: a case study of the motor industry

In recent times, literature - favouring a neo-classical perspective - on industrialization in developing nations has been the subnect of increasing criticism. The opponents of the neo-classical approach argue that outward-looking free market policies do not offer the best prospects for self-sustaining growth. In a straight forward manner, Chapter 1 airs the views of economists of both perspectives. Subsequently, a framework for a general discussion is provided. Outward-looking industrial policies m Ireland, have led to the emergence of a vibrant foreign-owned manufacturing sector. As Chapter 2 points out, there is considerable evidence that outward-looking industrialization has thus far been unsuccessful in developing strong native companies capable of entering export markets. Chapter 3 suggests that this may be a common experience among late industrializing countries (LICs). In fact, the creation of a competitive indigenous manufacturing base may be contingent upon a departure from strict neo-classical guidelines. Chapter 4 shows that the development of the motor industry in LICs has usually taken place under the auspices of large transnational corporations (TNCs) from developed countries. Only with active state intervention have domestic firms - with the assistance of foreign capital and technology - shown an ability to compete on the world market. As Chapter 5 indicates, assembly of motor vehicles in Ireland was dominated by the subsidiaries of foreign companies. This is also true of the Irish automotive components sector, which has evolved in recent years. The analysis of this sector, contained m Chapter 5, is based largely on unpublished material. It is clear that this industry suffers from many of the short-comings often associated with foreign dominated sectors of Irish manufacturing. By way of a conclusion, Chapter 6 argues that a role exists for more state intervention. However, it warns that government intervention in the system is not without risk. The task facing policy makers is to design a constructive role for the state. With respect to the Irish manufacturing industry, m the absence of more state intervention, the development of export markets will remain beyond the reach of most indigenous producers

Pharmacological agents that distinguish between P2X receptor subtypes.

The activity of novel pharmacological agents at recombinant P2X receptors was studied to find agents that distinguish between P2X receptor subtypes, particularly P2X1 and P2X3. Adenine nucleotide derivatives and diadenosine polyphosphates (ApnA, n = 2-6) were investigated as P2X receptor agonists. PAPET and HT-AMP were agonists, to varying degrees, at P2X1-4 receptors. PAPET displayed higher affinity but lower efficacy than ATP at P2X1 and P2X3 receptors. HT-AMP showed higher affinity than ATP at P2X3 receptors yet acted as a partial agonist at P2X1-4 receptors. Diadenosine polyphosphates also showed selectivity in their actions at P2X1-4 receptors. Ap2A was inactive and Ap3-6A showed varying affinities and efficacies as agonists at P2X1-4. Ap3A was most effective at distinguishing between P2X1 and P2X3 receptors with over 100 fold difference between their respective EC50 values A series of PPADS derivatives, involving chemical manipulation of the phenylazo moiety and/or the pyridoxal phosphate moiety, showed nanomolar activity at P2X1 and P2X3 receptors with variable degrees of selectivity between these receptor subtypes. The most potent compounds were studied in detail and shown to be nonsurmountable antagonists. A comparison of like data for recombinant P2X1 receptors and native P2X1-like receptors in vas deferens revealed a number of pharmacological anomalies. Co-expression of P2X1 and P2X2 revealed a novel pH-sensitive phenotype although this heteromeric receptor is unlikely to account for the difference between rP2X1 and the native P2X subtype(s) in this tissue. A step forward has been made in the search of pharmacological agents that distinguish between P2X1 and P2X3 receptors. Antagonist-resistant ATP responses in the vas deferens lend weight for other contraction-mediating P2 receptors in this preparation. Greater diversity of purinergic signalling was revealed through co-expression of P2X receptors and underlines the need for further novel pharmacological tools

Targeted delivery of lysosomal enzymes to the endocytic compartment in human cells using engineered extracellular vesicles.

Targeted delivery of lysosomal enzymes to the endocytic compartment of human cells represents a transformative technology for treating a large family of lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs). Gaucher disease is one of the most common types of LSDs caused by mutations to the lysosomal β-glucocerebrosidase (GBA). Here, we describe a genetic strategy to produce engineered exosomes loaded with GBA in two different spatial configurations for targeted delivery to the endocytic compartment of recipient cells. By fusing human GBA to an exosome-anchoring protein: vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein (VSVG), we demonstrate that the chimeric proteins were successfully integrated into exosomes which were secreted as extracellular vesicles (EVs) by producer cells. Isolation and molecular characterization of EVs confirmed that the fusion proteins were loaded onto exosomes without altering their surface markers, particle size or distribution. Further, enzyme-loaded exosomes/EVs added to cultured medium were taken up by recipient cells. Further, the endocytosed exosomes/EVs targeted to endocytic compartments exhibited a significant increase in GBA activity. Together, we have developed a novel method for targeting and delivery of lysosomal enzymes to their natural location: the endocytic compartment of recipient cells. Since exosomes/EVs have an intrinsic ability to cross the blood-brain-barrier, our technology may provide a new approach to treat severe types of LSDs, including Gaucher disease with neurological complications

‘There is worse to come’ : The biopolitics of traumatism in Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)

This paper reflects on the different futures and imaginaries constructed through the politics and policy of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). We examine the role of catastrophism, trauma and notions of ‘resistance’ expressed at different moments in the development of the AMR debate. The paper focuses on a number of imaginaries in the politics of AMR, particularly a characterisation of Britain as the ‘sick man of Europe’ or the ‘British disease’ and, more recently, the catastrophist prospect of a ‘return to the dark ages of medicine’. We draw upon recent writing in biopolitical philosophy on immunity and autoimmunity, particularly in the work of Derrida and Sloterdijk, to interrogate immunitary politics of AMR at the intersections of the human and the microbial

A Spatial Analysis of Obesity in West Virginia

A spatial panel data analysis at the county level examines how individual food consumption, recreational, and lifestyle choices ― against a backdrop of changing demographic, built environment, and policy factors ― leads to obesity. Results suggest that obesity tends to be spatially autocorrelated; in addition to hereditary factors and lifestyle choices, it is also caused by sprawl and lack of land use planning. Policy measures which stimulate educational attainment, poverty alleviation, and promotion of better land use planning and best consumption practices (BCPs) could both reduce obesity and result in sustainable development of regions where obesity is prevalent and the economy is lagging

The Influence of Socioeconomic and Environmental Factors on Health and Obesity in Rural Appalachia

A recursive system of ordered self assessed health (SAH) and a binary indicator of obesity were used to investigate the impact of socioeconomic and environmental factors on health and obesity in the predominantly rural Appalachian state of West Virginia. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data together with county specific socioeconomic and built environment indicators were used in estimation. Results indicate that an individual’s risk of being obese increases at a decreasing rate with per capita income and age. Marginal impacts show that as the level of education attainment increases, the probability of being obese decreases by 3%. Physical inactivity increases the risk of being obese by 9%, while smoking reduces the risk of being obese by 14%. Fruit and vegetable consumption lowers the probability of being obese by 2%, while each hour increase in commuting time raises the probability of being obese by 2.4%. In addition, individuals living in economically distressed counties are less likely to have good health. Intervention measures which stimulate human capital development and better land use planning are essential policy elements to improving health and reducing the incidence of obesity in rural Appalachia

Tobacco marketing awareness on youth smoking susceptibility and perceived prevalence before and after an advertising ban

Background: The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act (TAPA) was implemented in the UK in 2003, although its impact on young people has not been assessed. This study assessed smoking susceptibility (intention to smoke among never smokers) and perceived prevalence across three British cross-sectional samples (aged 11 to 16) before and after the introduction of the ban. Methods: Three in-home surveys (n = 1078, 1121 and 1121) were conducted before (1999 and 2002) and after (2004) the implementation of the TAPA. Results: Significant declines in awareness of tobacco marketing and perceived prevalence occurred across the three waves. Higher levels of awareness and perceived prevalence were associated with increased susceptibility, but direct measures of susceptibility remained stable. Conclusions: The TAPA is successfully protecting young people in the UK from tobacco marketing and reducing perceived prevalence, both of which are linked to susceptibility. The stability of susceptibility across the three waves is probably best explained by both the partial implementation of TAPA at the final survey point and the time such effects take to emerge. The evidence from this and previous studies is, however, that, ultimately, they will appear

The Impact of County Level Factors on Obesity in West Virginia

A panel estimation of county prevalence of obesity indicates that while the percentage of the population with a completed college degree and the number of food stores available per thousand population are negatively and significantly correlated to county obesity rates, mean commuting time, average annual wage and the total number of business establishments per thousand population positively and significantly contribute to obesity. Educational attainment that raises both human and social capital, as well as changes in the built environment can play a vital role in controlling obesity in West Virginia (WV)

The Veins of the Earth: Property, Environment, and Cosmology in Nanbu County, 1865-1942

During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) in Nanbu County, land was not only measured in quantitative dimensions, but also assessed through cosmological principles. These understandings of land often framed property claims while shaping rural geographies in the county under study. Drawing on 700 cases from the Nanbu Archive, this dissertation makes two related claims. First, in the mountainous periphery of Northern Sichuan, situated knowledge of land pervaded contracts, genealogies, stone inscriptions, and official handbooks. This information, composed of vernacular place-names, localized land boundaries, expressions of patrimonial merit and status, and cosmological dimensions of property, was often immediately understandable only to the members of a lineage or community, but could be interpreted by the state if needed. One type of situated information was geomantic information, which regularly entered the magistrate’s court. Local officials engaged this information in legal practice and took geomantic claims or documentation into consideration during litigation. Sites holding great geomantic significance, such as ancient trees, graves, and temples, were often identified by locals as the landmarks or borders of private estates, market towns, or the county itself; these understandings were regularly woven into the administrative documents of the state. During the Qing, such interpretations were even extended to a local shrine of a Muslim (Qadiri) saint. Through routine engagement with these interpretations of the earth throughout the increasing landed commercialization of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries — in processing lawsuits, the Nanbu yamen (state administrative office) ordered landscapes concerning geomancy to be officially illustrated more than any other genre of claim — the Qing state legitimated highly situated knowledge of the land within the local property regime while upholding geomantic information as a binding mechanism for the regulation of common lands and resource access. The dissertation’s second point is that, while it is well-known that the early decades of the twentieth century saw increased state penetration into local society across China, Nanbu maintained a remarkable degree of continuity with its imperial heritage. Land surveyors working in the early twentieth century struggled to extract structured knowledge of land from the layered territorialities of the county’s terrains that had persisted from the Qing. This process was highly negotiated and often interpretive, rather than based on precise statistical surveying or the clear directives of a hegemonic state. Through exploring the legal, environmental, and religious dimensions of a single county’s terrains in the late imperial period, this study identifies situated geomantic information as one of the key arenas for the projection of — and limitations on — state power in the county in relation to the property system. The dissertation also provides the first English-language history of Nanbu, a county with a remarkably complete administrative and legal archive from 1656 to 1951