Digital entrepreneurship and indigenous value systems: an Ubuntu perspective

This paper investigates the embeddedness of digital entrepreneurship in the entrepreneurs' indigenous value system by examining the influence of ‘Ubuntu’ on digital entrepreneurship activities in the South African context. We do so through an interpretive field study of two innovation clusters in South Africa. Our findings reveal Ubuntu as the basis of a community orientation to digital entrepreneurship that offers an alternative to the prevalent heroic view in which digital entrepreneurship narratives are centred around the individual entrepreneur(s). They also highlight the tensions faced by digital entrepreneurs as they attempt to uphold the Ubuntu values of humility, reciprocity, and benevolence while operating in a competitive and fast-paced environment. In addition, our study indicates that the way entrepreneurs draw on their indigenous value system is dynamic, giving rise to what we call digital Ubuntu, reflecting a reworking of Ubuntu values into their increasingly digital reality. The concept of digital Ubuntu brings to light how indigenous values can become entangled with the capabilities of digital technologies and highlights the need for indigenous perspectives to advance our understanding of the diversity of digital phenomena, such as digital entrepreneurship, across cultural contexts

Editorial: Technology assessment for addressing grand societal challenges

Emerging technologies are both a cause of many grand societal challenges (GSCs) facing twenty-first-century societies and an integral part of some of their most promising solutions. As an element of the GSCs, technology becomes intertwined with several interrelated issues that constitute the GSCs. This calls for approaches to Technology Assessment (TA) that account for the paradoxical role of technology in the GSCs, and the imperative and complexity of pointing technological innovation toward addressing the GSCs. In this introduction to the special issue, we identify three major streams in TA research and practice, namely TA as a policy instrument, a deliberation process, and an issue field. These streams highlight tensions between relying on experts and on the inclusion of various stakeholders in TA processes, and between a TA framing around the technology and framing around critical issues, such as those constituting the GSCs. We discuss the advantages and challenges of each stream. We also outline and discuss key principles for conducting TA in the context of GSCs. We end by introducing the four papers that constitute this special issue

Distribution, frequency and occurrence of cereal nematodes on the Central Anatolian Plateau in Turkey and their relationship with soil physicochemical properties

The distribution of important plant-parasitic and free-living nematodes in the cereal production areas of the Central Anatolian Plateau (CAP) of Turkey was investigated with systematic surveys. Two important plant-parasitic nematode groups were found widely distributed; cereal-cyst nematodes (78.3%) and root-lesion nematodes (42.6%). Cereal cyst nematodes (CCN) were identified as Heterodera filipjevi in 18 provinces. Heterodera latipons was found in only one province. Pratylenchus thornei and P. neglectus were the most widely distributed species of root-lesion nematodes. Other frequently recorded plant-parasitic nematodes belonged to the genera Geocenamus (52.4%), Pratylenchoides (35.6%), Helicotylenchus (29.7%) and Paratylenchus (19.2%). Konya on the southern CAP had a significantly high incidence of P. neglectus as well as free-living nematodes. The incidence of CCN was greatest in areas of sandy soils on the CAP, with densities of up to 95 cysts (100 g soil)-1. Population densities of Geocenamus, Pratylenchus and Pratylenchoides were high in some locations. Soil physicochemical properties were investigated for their relationship to nematode distribution. There was a slight positive correlation of P. thornei and clay content; conversely, there was a significant negative correlation of P. neglectus with clay and a positive correlation with sand. Electrical conductivity (EC) was positively correlated with P. neglectus. Nematodes in the genera Helicotylenchus, Paratylenchus, Trophurus and Tylenchorhynchus were only recorded at low population densities in the sampled area. By contrast, nematodes in the genera Aphelenchus, Aphelenchoides, Ditylenchus, Dorylaimus, Tylenchus and bacterivorous genera had relatively high populations. Total free-living nematodes were positively correlated with EC and zinc (Zn) concentration. The Zn content of soil was generally at a level deficient for plant growt

Severity of asthma: the role of CD25+,CD30+, NF-κB, and apoptotic markers

Objectives: We studied the role of the regulatory T cells CD4+CD25+ (Treg) and activated CD4+CD30+ cells in the pathogenesis of asthma and their association with apoptosis and NF-κB in patients with mild intermittent asthma (MA), severe persistent asthma (SA), and healthy volunteers (HV). Methods: Peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) were extracted from asthmatic patients during exacerbations, and CD4+ cells were separated using Dynal beads. Immunostaining of whole PBL for NF-κB, Bax, and Bcl-2, and immunostaining of CD4+ cells for CD25+ and CD30+ cells were performed using immunocytochemistry. Results: Treg cells were expressed at higher levels in MA than in HV and SA (P.05). Levels of NF-κB, Bcl-2, and Bcl-2/Bax increased, whereas those of Bax decreased, progressively, from MA to SA (P<.05). NF-κB levels correlated directly with the Bcl-2/Bax ratio and with CD4+CD30+ cells in SA and MA, whereas CD4+CD30+ cells correlated inversely with the Bcl-2/Bax ratio. Conclusions: Unregulated Treg cells probably return inflammatory responses to normal values during exacerbations in MA; however, expression of Treg cells was extensively diminished in SA, leading to probable loss of suppressive control over underlying immune reactions. CD4+CD30+ cells were associated with the pathogenesis of asthma but not with severity. NF-κB seems to be the central inflammatory factor in SA, with a remarkable loss of PBL apoptosis, diminished Treg levels, and high CD30+ cell levels that probably induce NF-κB, which in turn blocks the proapoptotic potential of CD30 induction itself

Ficolin-2 Levels and FCN2 Haplotypes Influence Hepatitis B Infection Outcome in Vietnamese Patients

Human Ficolin-2 (L-ficolins) encoded by FCN2 gene is a soluble serum protein that plays an important role in innate immunity and is mainly expressed in the liver. Ficolin-2 serum levels and FCN2 single nucleotide polymorphisms were associated to several infectious diseases. We initially screened the complete FCN2 gene in 48 healthy individuals of Vietnamese ethnicity. We genotyped a Vietnamese cohort comprising of 423 clinically classified hepatitis B virus patients and 303 controls for functional single nucleotide polymorphisms in the promoter region (-986G>A, -602G>A, -4A>G) and in exon 8 (+6424G>T) by real-time PCR and investigated the contribution of FCN2 genotypes and haplotypes to serum Ficolin-2 levels, viral load and liver enzyme levels. Haplotypes differed significantly between patients and controls (P = 0.002) and the haplotype AGGG was found frequently in controls in comparison to patients with hepatitis B virus and hepatocellular carcinoma (P = 0.0002 and P<0.0001) conferring a protective effect. Ficolin-2 levels differed significantly between patients and controls (p<0.0001). Patients with acute hepatitis B had higher serum Ficolin-2 levels compared to other patient groups and controls.The viral load was observed to be significantly distributed among the haplotypes (P = 0.04) and the AAAG haplotype contributed to higher Ficolin-2 levels and to viral load. Four novel single nucleotide polymorphisms in introns (-941G>T, -310G>A, +2363G>A, +4882G>A) and one synonymous mutation in exon 8 (+6485G>T) was observed. Strong linkage was found between the variant -986G>A and -4A>G. The very first study on Vietnamese cohort associates both Ficolin-2 serum levels and FCN2 haplotypes to hepatitis B virus infection and subsequent disease progression

A Genome Wide Association Study of arabinoxylan content in 2-row spring barley grain

In barley endosperm arabinoxylan (AX) is the second most abundant cell wall polysaccharide and in wheat it is the most abundant polysaccharide in the starchy endosperm walls of the grain. AX is one of the main contributors to grain dietary fibre content providing several health benefits including cholesterol and glucose lowering effects, and antioxidant activities. Due to its complex structural features, AX might also affect the downstream applications of barley grain in malting and brewing. Using a high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) method we quantified AX amounts in mature grain in 128 spring 2-row barley accessions. Amounts ranged from ~ 5.2 μg/g to ~ 9 μg/g. We used this data for a Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) that revealed three significant quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with grain AX levels which passed a false discovery threshold (FDR) and are located on two of the seven barley chromosomes. Regions underlying the QTLs were scanned for genes likely to be involved in AX biosynthesis or turnover, and strong candidates, including glycosyltransferases from the GT43 and GT61 families and glycoside hydrolases from the GH10 family, were identified. Phylogenetic trees of selected gene families were built based on protein translations and were used to examine the relationship of the barley candidate genes to those in other species. Our data reaffirms the roles of existing genes thought to contribute to AX content, and identifies novel QTL (and candidate genes associated with them) potentially influencing the AX content of barley grain. One potential outcome of this work is the deployment of highly associated single nucleotide polymorphisms markers in breeding programs to guide the modification of AX abundance in barley grain

Civil society and global governance : the possibilities for global citizenship

In this article we reassert the role of governance as well as of civil society in the analysis of citizenship. We argue that to analyse global civil society and global citizenship it is necessary to focus on global governance. Just as states may facilitate or obstruct the emergence and development of national civil society, so too global governance institutions may facilitate or obstruct an emerging global civil society. Our key contention is that civil society at the global level thrives through its interaction with strong facilitating institutions of global governance. We start with a discussion of civil society and citizenship within the nation-state, and from there develop a model of global civil society and citizenship. Through analysing the impacts of various modes of global governance, we identify strategically appropriate forms of political and social engagement that best advance the prospects for global citizenship. <br /