Reactive oxygen species in phagocytic leukocytes

Phagocytic leukocytes consume oxygen and generate reactive oxygen species in response to appropriate stimuli. The phagocyte NADPH oxidase, a multiprotein complex, existing in the dissociated state in resting cells becomes assembled into the functional oxidase complex upon stimulation and then generates superoxide anions. Biochemical aspects of the NADPH oxidase are briefly discussed in this review; however, the major focus relates to the contributions of various modes of microscopy to our understanding of the NADPH oxidase and the cell biology of phagocytic leukocytes

Cooperative education: Integrating classroom and workplace learning

Cooperative education (co-op) is a strategy of education that combines academic learning in the classroom with real-world practice in a relevant workplace. To provide this mix of learning opportunities, co-op involves collaboration among students, educational institutions, and employers. Real-world experience for students in the form of work-based placements or internships can serve to provide entry for learners into a particular community of practice. Theorising and research into student learning through cooperative education has focussed on the experiential nature of the learning opportunity, and more latterly through sociocultural views of learning. These latter views help us to understand that cooperative education exposes students to worlds of learning that are different but complementary. These complementary worlds have different sociocultural dimensions that afford different learning opportunities to students. Clearly defined integrative pathways are required that allow students to make sense of the learning that they are afforded. The real strength of cooperative education as a strategy of practice-based learning is not that students gain opportunities to learn in the classroom and in the workplace, but that these opportunities are integrated to create learning that is more than the sum of the two parts

Insider Control and the FDI Location Decision

This paper examines the FDI location strategies of firms from one of the Asian NIEs (Taiwan) in a rapidly emerging market (China). Although there is a substantial literature on FDI location choice, most studies model the choice as a function of a range of location-specific attributes such as local market size, labour costs etc. Few studies consider the impact of firm-specific characteristics, other than potential country-of-origin effects. Yet locations, and especially those in emerging markets where institutions are weak and capital markets are immature, also differ in terms of their risk. Different shareholder constituencies within the parent company will typically have different preferences with regard to risk, and are therefore likely to favour some locations over others. We find that the ownership structure of the parent company matters with regard to its FDI location decision and, in particular, that both family and non-family insider shareholders exert influence over the choice of location. Furthermore we show that firms¿ location and entry mode choices are inter-related, and establish that the extent of their resource commitments in their foreign affiliates leads parent companies to favour locations where the perceived risks are lower. Finally we show that the efficacy of firms¿ external relational linkages varies according to the strength of the cultural and historic ties between the location of the foreign affiliate and the home country