Does Foreign Direct Investment Stimulate New Firm Creation? In Search of Spillovers through Industrial and Geographical Linkages

This paper examines the spillover effects of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) on the entrepreneurial activities of new firm creation through both industrial and geographical linkages. Using a dataset of 44,434 newly created small firms in 234 regions of South Korea in 2000–2004, this study finds that while the spillover impacts of FDI in the low-tech industry are positive and significant across almost all four possible combinations of the intra-/inter-regional and intra-/inter-sectoral channels, the impacts in the high-tech industry are largely intra-sectoral within the host region and across neighboring regions. Moreover, all statistically significant spillover effects follow an inverted ‘U’-shaped curvilinear trend

Digital circuits and neural networks based on acid-base chemistry implemented by robotic fluid handling

The complementarity of acids and bases is a fundamental chemical concept. Here, the authors use simple acid-base chemistry to encode binary information and perform information processing including digital circuits and neural networks using robotic fluid handling

The Mitochondrial Peptidase Pitrilysin Degrades Islet Amyloid Polypeptide in Beta-Cells

<div><p>Amyloid formation and mitochondrial dysfunction are characteristics of type 2 diabetes. The major peptide constituent of the amyloid deposits in type 2 diabetes is islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP). In this study, we found that pitrilysin, a zinc metallopeptidase of the inverzincin family, degrades monomeric, but not oligomeric, islet amyloid polypeptide <i>in vitro</i>. In insulinoma cells when pitrilysin expression was decreased to 5% of normal levels, there was a 60% increase in islet amyloid polypeptide-induced apoptosis. In contrast, overexpression of pitrilysin protects insulinoma cells from human islet amyloid polypeptide-induced apoptosis. Since pitrilysin is a mitochondrial protein, we used immunofluorescence staining of pancreases from human IAPP transgenic mice and Western blot analysis of IAPP in isolated mitochondria from insulinoma cells to provide evidence for a putative intramitochondrial pool of IAPP. These results suggest that pitrilysin regulates islet amyloid polypeptide in beta cells and suggest the presence of an intramitochondrial pool of islet amyloid polypeptide involved in beta-cell apoptosis.</p></div

Degradation of monomeric hIAPP by pitrilysin.

<p>hIAPP (20 μM) was incubated with 40 nM pitrilysin at 37°C with the reaction followed by HPLC. Peaks were collected and identified by mass spectral analysis. <b>a.</b> HPLC chromatograms of hIAPP degradation by pitrilysin at the indicated times. * substrate impurity; # buffer contamination; and a-m hIAPP cleavage products by pitrilysin. <b>b.</b> Immunodepletion of pitrilysin reduces hIAPP degradation activity. Purified pitrilysin was incubated with a polyclonal rabbit anti-pitrilysin antibody, normal rabbit IgG, or PBS followed by incubation with protein A/G-Sepharose beads. The beads were spun down and the supernatants incubated with hIAPP. The hIAPP remaining was detected by HPLC as described in Methods. <b>c.</b> Schematic of the cleavage sites on hIAPP. Thick arrows represent initial cleavages on hIAPP by pitrilysin and thin arrows represent secondary cleavages.</p

Pitrilysin expression in pancreatic beta-cells.

<p><b>a.</b> INS 832/13 cells were transfected with pcDNA3.1-pitrilysin-flag. Forty-eight hrs. after transfection, cells were fixed and stained for flag tagged pitrilysin and mitochondrial MDH. <b>b.</b> The mitochondrial location of pitrilysin in human islets evidenced by colocalization of pitrilysin with the mitochondrial marker, voltage-dependent anion channel. <b>c.</b> Western blot analysis of pitrilysin in extracts of human islets and subjected to Western blot analysis with polyclonal rabbit anti-pitrilysin antibody. Lane 1: human islet lysate (10 μg); Lane 2: 60 ng recombinant pitrilysin.</p

Overexpression of pitrilysin protects INS cells from hIAPP-induced toxicity.

<p>INS 832/13 cells were transduced with lentivirus carrying human pitrilysin (PITRM), an inactive mutant (PITRMx), or empty lentiviral vector. Stable cell lines were isolated and then transduced with Adv-prepro-hIAPP-GFP. Apoptosis was determined at 48 hrs. after transduction as in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0133263#pone.0133263.g004" target="_blank">Fig 4</a> with the ratios of cleaved caspase-3 to actin intensities indicated (n = 3). <b>a.</b> Pitrilysin protein levels were increased by 80% (PITRMx) and by 60% (PITRM) in the stable cell lines. <b>b.</b> An ~30% decrease (68.7 ± 10.3% of control, p<0.05) in apoptosis induced by hIAPP was observed in pitrilysin overexpressing cells compared to empty lentiviral vector control, inactive pitrilysin (PITRMx) overexpressing cells, or parental INS 832/13 cells. Treatment with Adv-prepro-rIAPP-GFP did not cause apoptosis.</p

Mitochondrial localization of hIAPP.

<p><b>a.</b> INS 832/13 cells were transfected with pCMV6-XL5-prepro-h<i>IAPP</i>. Forty-eight hrs. after transfection, cells were fixed and stained for hIAPP (mouse anti-hIAPP) and mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase. <b>b.</b> hIAPP/mMDH and insulin/mMDH immunocytochemistry performed on paraffin sections of pancreas from hIAPP transgenic mice. Staining was visualized with FITC conjugated goat anti-mouse and cy3 conjugated goat anti-rabbit secondary antibodies. Confocal images were taken as described in Methods and merged with Adobe Photoshop software. Scale bar: 10μm. Yellow color denotes colocalization.</p

Perceptions and attitudes towards sustainable fashion design: challenges and opportunities for implementing sustainability in fashion

The purpose of this research was to identify perceptions and attitudes toward sustainable fashion from personnel involved in fashion design and to uncover the challenges in implementing sustainable design practices. Data were gathered through qualitative open-ended questions in five interviews, and 50 fashion designers were selected as research subjects for a survey. The major findings of the research show that there are internal (personal and organisational) and external challenges to incorporating sustainability into the fashion design process. Internal challenges consist of the lack of consensus and knowledge regarding sustainable design, lack of design-led approaches implementing sustainability in fashion and perceived trade-offs with other design criteria, such as aesthetic styles, costs, and fashion trends. External challenges include the complexity of sustainability issues, perceived insufficient consumer demand, attitudes and behaviour gaps in consumer purchasing decisions on sustainable collection ranges and insufficient incentives or values for businesses to implement sustainable design strategies