Grandstanding and Venture Capital Firms in Newly Established IPO Markets

The grandstanding theory posits that young venture capital firms (VCs) will seek to build their reputations by taking ventures public early. In this study, we examine this theory in the Japanese IPO market. With the introduction of MOTHERS and NASDAQ Japan in 1999 and 2000, respectively, with the explicit intent of catering to smaller and younger companies, we are able to examine the influence of these new markets on grandstanding and the IPO process. We find that young lead VC-backed ventures go public at a younger age than mature lead VC-backed ventures and that young lead VC-backed ventures are more underpriced. However, we do not find that young lead VCs have relatively lower equity stakes at IPO. This latter finding is most likely a result of the introduction of the new markets

Food retailing: Ito-Yokado Group: Gaining and sustaining long-term advantage through information technology

Information technology (IT) enables food retailers to respond more effectively to fluctuating consumer demand caused by changing demographics and taste. One particularly important result is to reduce inventory costs dramatically. Such progress motivates retailers and suppliers to form strategic alliances in order to realize more profit from introducing new IT systems. Together with the introduction of such IT systems, however, it is also critical to establish a well-functioning delivery system between retail stores and suppliers is also critical if both retailers and suppliers are to actually achieve lower inventories. Such a delivery system needs to be very well managed in terms of ordering and stocking all merchandise on an item by item basis. In other words, the IT system by itself will not return real benefits to both parties without a good physical delivery system. The following cases for leading Japanese and U.S. retailers prove this point. This type of strategic alliance inevitably causes some "lock-in" effects that create potential conflicts among the parties. This is especially true if the retailers aggressively pursue a higher level of sales by introducing Private Brand (PB) merchandise because they are not fully satisfied with the performance of Nationally Branded (NB) merchandise. Therefore, good incentive reward systems, supporting supplier's merchandise under certain market conditions, are needed for both parties to continue the strategic alliance. Since E-commerce should flourish across the world in the 21st century, the effect of E-commerce on food retailing is also discussed, though it is expected that its penetration of food sales will be slower than in other sectors

Top-and-side dual-view microfluidic device with embedded prism

A polydimethylsiloxane microfluidic device enabling dual-view visualization is proposed and demonstrated. A prism with a 2 mm square base was embedded beside a 300 μm-wide microchannel. In addition to ordinary visualization from the top of the device, the microchannel could be viewed from the side, and its optical path was reflected to the top by the prism. The top and side dual visualization in a single field of view was then realized with a single objective lens. The shifts in the focal point in the top and side directions were modeled, and a compensation method utilizing a flat sheet was used. After simultaneous bright-field and dark-field visualization was attained, dual-view fluorescence imaging of the fluorescent solution and cells was realized

The ADAXIALIZED LEAF1 gene functions in leaf and embryonic pattern formation in rice

AbstractThe adaxial–abaxial axis in leaf primordia is thought to be established first and is necessary for the expansion of the leaf lamina along the mediolateral axis. To understand axis information in leaf development, we isolated the adaxialized leaf1 (adl1) mutant in rice, which forms abaxially rolled leaves. adl1 leaves are covered with bulliform-like cells, which are normally distributed only on the adaxial surface. An adl1 double mutant with the adaxially snowy leaf mutant, which has albino cells that specifically appear in the abaxial mesophyll tissue, indicated that adl1 leaves show adaxialization in both epidermal and mesophyll tissues. The expression of HD-ZIPIII genes in adl1 mutant increased in mature leaves, but not in the young primordia or the SAM. This indicated that ADL1 may not be directly involved in determining initial leaf polarity, but rather is associated with the maintenance of axis information. ADL1 encodes a plant-specific calpain-like cysteine proteinase orthologous to maize DEFECTIVE KERNEL1. Furthermore, we identified intermediate and strong alleles of the adl1 mutant that generate shootless embryos and globular-arrested embryos with aleurone layer loss, respectively. We propose that ADL1 plays an important role in pattern formation of the leaf and embryo by promoting proper epidermal development

Construction of Eco-system for NTBFs to Thrive, Grow and Agglomerate (Japanese)

Boston, Massachusetts in the U.S. was able to rejuvenate its economy after WWП through the thrift, growth and agglomeration of MIT-born New Technology-based Firms (NTBFs), which have been categorized as the origin of new venture firms. This paper will explain why some areas like Boston, Silicon Valley, and Austin TX in the U.S. and Cambridge in the UK, were able to construct successful Eco-systems for NTBFs to thrive, grow and agglomerate, while others were unsuccessful, by applying the Eco-system Construction Model deducted from previous studies. Based on the research findings of this paper, we also outline our recommendations for a revision of the U.S. innovation model by clarifying its advantages and disadvantages. The U.S. model was introduced in Japan at the end of the 1990s and prompted a number of new innovation policy projects including the '1000 University Start-up Venture Scheme', the 'Industrial Cluster Project' and the 'Knowledge Cluster Initiative.'

Coordination of meristem and boundary functions by transcription factors in the SHOOT MERISTEMLESS regulatory network

The Arabidopsis homeodomain transcription factor SHOOT MERISTEMLESS (STM) is crucial for shoot apical meristem (SAM) function, yet the components and structure of the STMgene regulatory network (GRN) are largely unknown. Here, we show that transcriptional regulators are overrepresented among STM-regulated genes and, using these as GRN components in Bayesian network analysis, we infer STM GRN associations and reveal regulatory relationships between STM and factors involved in multiple aspects of SAM function. These include hormone regulation, TCP-mediated control of cell differentiation, AIL/PLT-mediated regulation of pluripotency and phyllotaxis, and specification of meristem-organ boundary zones via CUC1. We demonstrate a direct positive transcriptional feedback loop between STM and CUC1, despite their distinct expression patterns in the meristem and organ boundary, respectively. Our further finding that STM activates expression of the CUC1-targeting microRNA miR164c combined with mathematical modelling provides a potential solution for this apparent contradiction, demonstrating that these proposed regulatory interactions coupled with STM mobility could be sufficient to provide a mechanism for CUC1 localisation at the meristem-organ boundary. Our findings highlight the central role for the STM GRN in coordinating SAM functions

Lotus japonicus NOOT-BOP-COCH-LIKE1 is essential for nodule, nectary, leaf and flower development

[EN] The NOOT-BOP-COCH-LIKE (NBCL) genes are orthologs of Arabidopsis thaliana BLADE-ON-PETIOLE1/2. The NBCLs are developmental regulators essential for plant shaping, mainly through the regulation of organ boundaries, the promotion of lateral organ differentiation and the acquisition of organ identity. In addition to their roles in leaf, stipule and flower development, NBCLs are required for maintaining the identity of indeterminate nitrogen-fixing nodules with persistent meristems in legumes. In legumes forming determinate nodules, without persistent meristem, the roles of NBCL genes are not known. We thus investigated the role of Lotus japonicus NOOT-BOP-COCH-LIKE1 (LjNBCL1) in determinate nodule identity and studied its functions in aerial organ development using LORE1 insertional mutants and RNA interference-mediated silencing approaches. In Lotus, LjNBCL1 is involved in leaf patterning and participates in the regulation of axillary outgrowth. Wild-type Lotus leaves are composed of five leaflets and possess a pair of nectaries at the leaf axil. Legumes such as pea and Medicago have a pair of stipules, rather than nectaries, at the base of their leaves. In Ljnbcl1, nectary development is abolished, demonstrating that nectaries and stipules share a common evolutionary origin. In addition, ectopic roots arising from nodule vascular meristems and reorganization of the nodule vascular bundle vessels were observed on Ljnbcl1 nodules. This demonstrates that NBCL functions are conserved in both indeterminate and determinate nodules through the maintenance of nodule vascular bundle identity. In contrast to its role in floral patterning described in other plants, LjNBCL1 appears essential for the development of both secondary inflorescence meristem and floral meristem.This work was supported by the CNRS and by the grants ANR-14-CE19-0003 (NOOT) from the Agence National de la Recherche (ANR) to PR. This work has benefited from the facilities and expertise of the Servicio de Microscopia Electronica Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Spain, http://www.upv.es/entidades/SME/) and of the IMAGIF Cell Biology Unit of the Gif campus (France, www.imagif.cnrs.fr) which is supported by the Conseil General de l'Essonne. The authors thank Dr Mathias Brault from the Institute of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay (France) for providing the pFRN: RNAi plasmid, A. rhizogenes ARqua1 strain and control GUS:RNAi construction, and Dr Simona Radutoiu from the University of Aarhus (Denmark), for providing the Na-Borate/TRIZOL RNA extraction protocol. We are grateful to Dr Cristina Ferrandiz from the Instituto de Biologia Molecular y Celular de Plantas (Spain) for help in interpreting the identity of the meristems in the SEM pictures and Professor Frederique Guinel from the University of Wilfrid Laurier (Canada) for help in interpreting the identity of L. japonicus nodule vascular tissues. 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Molecular dissection of the pea shoot apical meristem*

The shoot apical meristem (SAM) is responsible for the development of all the above-ground parts of a plant. Our understanding of the SAM at the molecular level is incomplete. This study investigates the gene expression repertoire of SAMs in the garden pea (Pisum sativum). To this end, 10 346 EST sequences representing 7610 unique genes were generated from SAM cDNA libraries. These sequences, together with previously reported pea ESTs, were used to construct a 12K oligonucleotide array to identify genes with differential SAM expression, as compared to axillary meristems, root apical meristems, or non-meristematic tissues. A number of genes were identified, predominantly expressed in specific cell layers or domains of the SAM and thus are likely components of the gene networks involved in stem cell maintenance or the initiation of lateral organs. Further in situ hybridization analysis confirmed the spatial localization of some of these genes within the SAM. Our data also indicate the diversification of some gene expression patterns and hence functions in legume crop plants. A number of transcripts highly expressed in all three meristems have also been uncovered and these candidates may provide valuable insight into molecular networks that underpin the maintenance of meristematic functionality

APETALA2 control of barley internode elongation

Many plants dramatically elongate their stems during flowering, yet how this response is coordinated with the reproductive phase is unclear. We demonstrate that microRNA (miRNA) control of APETALA2 (AP2) is required for rapid, complete elongation of stem internodes in barley, especially of the final 'peduncle' internode directly underneath the inflorescence. Disrupted miR172 targeting of AP2 in the Zeo1.b barley mutant caused lower mitotic activity, delayed growth dynamics and premature lignification in the peduncle leading to fewer and shorter cells. Stage- and tissue-specific comparative transcriptomics between Zeo1.b and its parent cultivar showed reduced expression of proliferation-associated genes, ectopic expression of maturation-related genes and persistent, elevated expression of genes associated with jasmonate and stress responses. We further show that applying methyl jasmonate (MeJA) phenocopied the stem elongation of Zeo1.b, and that Zeo1.b itself was hypersensitive to inhibition by MeJA but less responsive to promotion by gibberellin. Taken together, we propose that miR172-mediated restriction of AP2 may modulate the jasmonate pathway to facilitate gibberellin-promoted stem growth during flowering