Turning Rules into Resources: Worker Enactment of Labor Standards and Why It Matters for Regulatory Federalism

Labor standards are not just enforced; they are enacted, and often in ways that are different from their stated intention. This distinction creates an opening to consider the ways that frontline workers extend and repurpose enforcement practices. Drawing on qualitative research in two US cities, the authors focus on Latino immigrant construction workers to identify the strategies they use to rework formal safety mandates to advance technical knowledge, create skill-based alliances across organizational hierarchies, and protect career trajectories. These resourcing strategies were present in both locations, but workers’ ability to affect the quality of their jobs through the collective enactment of labor standards varied significantly by city and depended on the enforcement practices in play. Workers’ attention to these localized resourcing opportunities suggests possibilities for progressive innovation at the multiple levels of government driving emerging research on regulation and federalism

Carbon Nanotubes Effect for Polymer Materials on Break Down Voltage

Epoxy resin composites reinforced to different types of carbon nano-particles have been fabricated. Carbon black (20, 30 and 40 wt. %), graphene (0.5 to 4 wt. %) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) (0.5 to 2 wt. %) were added with different weight percentages to epoxy. The dielectric strength of composites was tested in several conditions such as (dry, wet, low salinity and high salinity). The mechanical characterization showed that the nano-composite Polymer enhanced by using these particles in the tensile strength. Thermal gravimetric analysis shows effect of these nano-particles on the thermal structure of epoxy resin. Scanning Electron Microscopic test is used to characterize the dispersion of carbon nano-particles and to analysis the fractured parts in the nano scale

Migration, development and the state in Morocco and Mexico, 1963-2005

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (p. 421-448).Mexico and Morocco have some of the longest standing and most advanced policies linking the emigration of their low-skilled workers to their national and sub-national economic development. In my dissertation, I examine the processes through which the governments of both countries designed the migration and development policies now being emulated by sending countries around the world as models of "best practice." Based on multi-sited longitudinal case studies of the main migration and development policies deployed by both countries, I follow current policy instruments back through their earlier - including failed -- iterations as well as through the multiple geographic and national spaces in both migration sending and receiving areas where those policies were implemented. I argue that Moroccan and Mexican processes of migration and development policy elaboration suggest a need to re-consider the purchase of current models of policy formulation. Most representations of policy design depict a process best described as analytic. Policy makers analyze a problem, identify solutions, and then evaluate their effectiveness. However, the Moroccan and Mexican experiences with crafting migration and development policy, with all of their messy indeterminacy, illustrate a process that was essentially interpretive in character.(cont.) Policy makers were acting in social and economic contexts that were constantly shifting, that were incessantly being remolded by massive migration patters - and that were, as a result, unintelligible to policy makers and extremely resistant to straightforward analysis. Policy makers engaged migrant and migration communities in interpretative processes through which they generated new meanings, constructed new identities, and forged new relationships, in an effort to make sense of the mutable field in which they endeavored to act. Those insights and connections served as the basis for the new institutions that would come to be regarded as major policy breakthroughs. The institutions provided structures through which the state, migrants, and their communities could re-envision local and national development in an on-going manner and could generate new conceptual and institutional innovations. Stated differently, they built institutional spaces for continuous state learning and innovation.by Natasha N. Iskander.Ph.D

Protesting theories about immigrant workers : economic change and Sans-Papiers activism in France

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 135-141).A wave of protests by undocumented immigrants has swept through France over the past three years, and has pushed the issue of immigration and the changing role of migrant workers in the economy to the fore of the political stage. These protests have brought to light how shifts in the French industrial structure have impacted the way that undocumented immigrants navigate the labor market. In this paper, I use these protests as a window onto how the status of undocumented immigrants in the labor market has changed as French firms and state policy makers have adopted "flexibility" as their new mantra. However, I also draw on them to illustrate the role that undocumented immigrants, through conspicuous and politically poignant appeals for their rights, have played in shaping their labor market position. Finally, my theoretical project in describing this wave of activism is to suggest some of the places where immigration models and industrial relations theory have become brittle and outdated. The paper concludes with the implications that this study raises for policy design.by Natasha N. Iskander.M.C.P

Single-cell profiling of human megakaryocyte-erythroid progenitors identifies distinct megakaryocyte and erythroid differentiation pathways

Background Recent advances in single-cell techniques have provided the opportunity to finely dissect cellular heterogeneity within populations previously defined by “bulk” assays and to uncover rare cell types. In human hematopoiesis, megakaryocytes and erythroid cells differentiate from a shared precursor, the megakaryocyte-erythroid progenitor (MEP), which remains poorly defined. Results To clarify the cellular pathway in erythro-megakaryocyte differentiation, we correlate the surface immunophenotype, transcriptional profile, and differentiation potential of individual MEP cells. Highly purified, single MEP cells were analyzed using index fluorescence-activated cell sorting and parallel targeted transcriptional profiling of the same cells was performed using a specifically designed panel of genes. Differentiation potential was tested in novel, single-cell differentiation assays. Our results demonstrate that immunophenotypic MEP comprise three distinct subpopulations: “Pre-MEP,” enriched for erythroid/megakaryocyte progenitors but with residual myeloid differentiation capacity; “E-MEP,” strongly biased towards erythroid differentiation; and “MK-MEP,” a previously undescribed, rare population of cells that are bipotent but primarily generate megakaryocytic progeny. Therefore, conventionally defined MEP are a mixed population, as a minority give rise to mixed-lineage colonies while the majority of cells are transcriptionally primed to generate exclusively single-lineage output. Conclusions Our study clarifies the cellular hierarchy in human megakaryocyte/erythroid lineage commitment and highlights the importance of using a combination of single-cell approaches to dissect cellular heterogeneity and identify rare cell types within a population. We present a novel immunophenotyping strategy that enables the prospective identification of specific intermediate progenitor populations in erythro-megakaryopoiesis, allowing for in-depth study of disorders including inherited cytopenias, myeloproliferative disorders, and erythromegakaryocytic leukemias

Design and synthesis of lactams derived from mucochloric and mucobromic acids as pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum sensing inhibitors

© 2018 by the authors. Bacterial infections, particularly hospital-acquired infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, have become a global threat with a high mortality rate. Gram-negative bacteria including P. aeruginosa employ N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) as chemical signals to regulate the expression of pathogenic phenotypes through a mechanism called quorum sensing (QS). Recently, strategies targeting bacterial behaviour or QS have received great attention due to their ability to disarm rather than kill pathogenic bacteria, which lowers the evolutionary burden on bacteria and the risk of resistance development. In the present study, we report the design and synthesis of N-alkyl- and N-aryl 3,4 dichloro- and 3,4-dibromopyrrole-2-one derivatives through the reductive amination of mucochloric and mucobromic acid with aliphatic and aromatic amines. The quorum sensing inhibition (QSI) activity of the synthesized compounds was determined against a P. aeruginosa MH602 reporter strain. The phenolic compounds exhibited the best activity with 80% and 75% QSI at 250 µM and were comparable in activity to the positive control compound Fu-30. Computational docking studies performed using the LasR receptor protein of P. aeruginosa suggested the importance of hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions for QSI

An efficient scheme for interference mitigation in 6G-IoT wireless networks

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the fourth technological revolution in the global information industry after computers, the Internet, and mobile communication networks. It combines radio-frequency identification devices, infrared sensors, global positioning systems, and various other technologies. Information sensing equipment is connected via the Internet, thus forming a vast network. When these physical devices are connected to the Internet, the user terminal can be extended and expanded to exchange information, communicate with anything, and carry out identification, positioning, tracking, monitoring, and triggering of corresponding events on each device in the network. In real life, the IoT has a wide range of applications, covering many fields, such as smart homes, smart logistics, fine agriculture and animal husbandry, national defense, and military. One of the most significant factors in wireless channels is interference, which degrades the system performance. Although the existing QR decomposition-based signal detection method is an emerging topic because of its low complexity, it does not solve the problem of poor detection performance. Therefore, this study proposes a maximum-likelihood-based QR decomposition algorithm. The main idea is to estimate the initial level of detection using the maximum likelihood principle, and then the other layer is detected using a reliable decision. The optimal candidate is selected from the feedback by deploying the candidate points in an unreliable scenario. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm effectively reduces the interference and propagation error compared with the algorithms reported in the literature

Optimization and Validation of FePro Cell Labeling Method

Current method to magnetically label cells using ferumoxides (Fe)-protamine (Pro) sulfate (FePro) is based on generating FePro complexes in a serum free media that are then incubated overnight with cells for the efficient labeling. However, this labeling technique requires long (>12–16 hours) incubation time and uses relatively high dose of Pro (5–6 µg/ml) that makes large extracellular FePro complexes. These complexes can be difficult to clean with simple cell washes and may create low signal intensity on T2* weighted MRI that is not desirable. The purpose of this study was to revise the current labeling method by using low dose of Pro and adding Fe and Pro directly to the cells before generating any FePro complexes. Human tumor glioma (U251) and human monocytic leukemia cell (THP-1) lines were used as model systems for attached and suspension cell types, respectively and dose dependent (Fe 25 to 100 µg/ml and Pro 0.75 to 3 µg/ml) and time dependent (2 to 48 h) labeling experiments were performed. Labeling efficiency and cell viability of these cells were assessed. Prussian blue staining revealed that more than 95% of cells were labeled. Intracellular iron concentration in U251 cells reached ∼30–35 pg-iron/cell at 24 h when labeled with 100 µg/ml of Fe and 3 µg/ml of Pro. However, comparable labeling was observed after 4 h across the described FePro concentrations. Similarly, THP-1 cells achieved ∼10 pg-iron/cell at 48 h when labeled with 100 µg/ml of Fe and 3 µg/ml of Pro. Again, comparable labeling was observed after 4 h for the described FePro concentrations. FePro labeling did not significantly affect cell viability. There was almost no extracellular FePro complexes observed after simple cell washes. To validate and to determine the effectiveness of the revised technique, human T-cells, human hematopoietic stem cells (hHSC), human bone marrow stromal cells (hMSC) and mouse neuronal stem cells (mNSC C17.2) were labeled. Labeling for 4 hours using 100 µg/ml of Fe and 3 µg/ml of Pro resulted in very efficient labeling of these cells, without impairing their viability and functional capability. The new technique with short incubation time using 100 µg/ml of Fe and 3 µg/ml of Pro is effective in labeling cells for cellular MRI

The innate sensor ZBP1-IRF3 axis regulates cell proliferation in multiple myeloma

Multiple myeloma is a malignancy of plasma cells (PC) initiated and driven by primary and secondary genetic events. Nevertheless, myeloma PC survival and proliferation might be sustained by non-genetic drivers. Z-DNA-binding protein 1 (ZBP1; also known as DAI) is an interferon-inducible, Z-nucleic acid sensor that triggers RIPK3-MLKL-mediated necroptosis in mice. ZBP1 also interacts with TBK1 and the transcription factor IRF3 but the function of this interaction is unclear, and the role of ZBP1-IRF3 axis in cancer is not known. Here we show that ZBP1 is selectively expressed in late B cell development in both human and mouse cells and it is required for optimal T-cell-dependent humoral immune responses. In myeloma PC, interaction of constitutively expressed ZBP1 with TBK1 and IRF3 results in IRF3 phosphorylation. IRF3 directly binds and activates cell cycle genes, in part through co-operation with the PC lineage-defining transcription factor IRF4, and thereby promoting myeloma cell proliferation. This generates a novel, potentially therapeutically targetable and relatively selective myeloma cell addiction to the ZBP1-IRF3 axis. Our data also show a non-canonical function of constitutive ZBP1 in human cells and expand our knowledge of the role of cellular immune sensors in cancer biology

Heterogeneous disease-propagating stem cells in juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia

Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) is a poor-prognosis childhood leukemia usually caused by RAS-pathway mutations. The cellular hierarchy in JMML is poorly characterized, including the identity of leukemia stem cells (LSCs). FACS and single-cell RNA sequencing reveal marked heterogeneity of JMML hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs), including an aberrant Lin-CD34+CD38-CD90+CD45RA+ population. Single-cell HSPC index-sorting and clonogenic assays show that (1) all somatic mutations can be backtracked to the phenotypic HSC compartment, with RAS-pathway mutations as a "first hit,"(2) mutations are acquired with both linear and branching patterns of clonal evolution, and (3) mutant HSPCs are present after allogeneic HSC transplant before molecular/clinical evidence of relapse. Stem cell assays reveal interpatient heterogeneity of JMML LSCs, which are present in, but not confined to, the phenotypic HSC compartment. RNA sequencing of JMML LSC reveals upregulation of stem cell and fetal genes (HLF, MEIS1, CNN3, VNN2, and HMGA2) and candidate therapeutic targets/biomarkers (MTOR, SLC2A1, and CD96), paving the way for LSC-directed disease monitoring and therapy in this disease