Exploring the Link between Non-Profit Law and the Internal Governance of Non-Profit Membership Organisations: Legal Forms and Maintaining Indirect Benefits in the UK and the Netherlands

Scholars of non-profit law and policy have mainly focused on understanding the regulatory frameworks in which organisations operate with limited interest in the intra-organisational consequences of legal regulation. Simultaneously, third sector and interest group researchers whilst recognizing the impact of external factors on organisational form and behaviour, have not explored the impact of non-profit law related to legal forms and maintaining indirect benefits such as legal personality and tax beneficial status on the internal governance of organisations. To address this gap, the main research question of this study is whether and how does non-profit law related to legal forms and indirect benefits affect - or fail to affect - the internal governance of non-profit membership organisations in developed democracies? This thesis draws on resource dependence and institutional isomorphism theory. My main argument is that non-profit law affects organisations’ internal governance by shaping two of its central aspects: members’ formal voting rights and their usage on the one hand, and board professionalisation on the other. These aspects of internal governance are important because they outline the governing model of an organisation that can range from membership centred - where members engage in rule-based participation, meaning that they actively use the formal rights granted to them by organisational statutes and are represented on the boards - to a leadership centred model where members do not engage in rule-based participation and boards are dominated by external professionals. Furthermore, I argue that organisations with leadership centred models offer many opportunities for consultative participation, whilst organisations with membership centred models offer significantly fewer opportunities for consultative participation. Analytically, the study bridges legal analysis of regulatory requirements with organisational-level research on changes in internal governance in ten systematically selected non-profit membership organisations operating in the UK and the Netherlands - two contrasting regulatory regimes, representative of common law and the civil law non-profit tradition respectively. This exploratory qualitative comparative study utilised multiple sources of evidence including statutory regulation, secondary sources, organisational documentation, semi-structured interviews and email correspondence with legal experts and organisational actors. The findings suggest that in the UK, where non-profit law does not regulate the powers of organisational members, non-profit membership organisations vary in terms of who is granted formal voting rights: the wider members or the executive board. In contrast, non-profit membership organisations in the Netherlands provide a central role to organisational members and, in turn have a strong predisposition for rule-based participation. Furthermore, organisations operating under lower regulatory constraints across different legal regimes have executive boards filled in with organisational members as opposed to externally recruited professionals. Organisations that operate under high regulatory constraints in the UK have executive boards replete with professionals recruited from outside of the organisation. Finally, differences in consultative participation across organisations can be better explained by country and policy specific dynamics and organisational mission than by the governing model of the organisations.European Commissio

Technetium nitrido-peroxo complexes: An unexplored class of coordination compounds

The purpose of this work was to further expand the chemistry of mixed technetium nitrido-peroxo complexes, a still poorly explored class of compounds containing the Tc(VII) moiety, [99gTc][Tc(N)(O2)2]. A number of novel complexes of the formula [99gTc][Tc(N)(O2)2(L)] with bidentate ligands (L) (where L = deprotonated alanine, glycine, proline) were prepared by reacting a solution of nitrido-technetic(VI) acid with L in the presence of a source of H2O2. Alternatively, the complex [99gTc][Tc(N)(O2)2X]- (X = Cl, Br) was used as a precursor for substitution reactions where the halogenide ion was replaced by the bidentate ligand. The new complexes were characterized by elemental analysis and mass spectroscopy. The preparation of the analogous [99mTc][Tc(N)(O2)2] moiety, radiolabeled with the metastable isomer Tc-99m, was also studied at a no-carrier-added level, using S-methyl-N-methyl-dithiocarbazate as the donor of the nitrido nitrogen atoms

YIELD AND YIELD COMPONENTS ON SOME WHEAT VARIETIES GROWN IN ALEKSINAC REGION

Yield and yield components of 5 wheat varieties (Kruna, Toplica, Zvezdana, Etida, Angelina) in Aleksinac region (Serbia) were analysed. The experiment was performed in randomized block design in 3 replications on the experimental field in area of Aleksinac city. The results showed relatively high yields in all varieties. The general average yield was 6140 kg ha-1. The highest average yield varied from 6858 kg ha-1 in cultivar Zvezdana to 5050 kg ha-1 in Toplica. The cultivar Kruna showed lowest number of productive stems per square meter – 572, and largest number in Zvezdana and Angelina, with an average of 658 and 641, respectively. Average longest spike was found in variety Angelina 12.4 cm, and shortest in Toplica (9.8 cm). The average number of spikelets per spike for all cultivars was 19.4. Cultivar Angelina showed biggest number (21.1), and Kruna smallest number (17.9). The biggest number of grains per spike was obtained in cultivar Etida (54.8), and lowest in Zvezdana (51.4). During the examination, the highest average value for hectoliter weight is obtained in variety Zvezdana (78.3 kg hl-1), and lowest in Toplica (75.4 kg hl-1). From the data on yield and yield components, it can be concluded that all tested varieties can be grown in the region of Aleksinac, with preference to varieties Zvezdana and Etida

Maintaining registration and tax benefits: Consequences for professionalisation of voluntary membership organisations in Norway and the UK

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this recordThis article investigates how regulation related to maintaining state registration and tax beneficial status affects professionalisation, covering paid staff and volunteers with specialist skills, of political parties, advocacy groups and service providing organisations. The article fills a gap in the literature which until now has been mainly concerned with the influence of state funding on professionalisation. To study the consequences of first-time exposure to reporting requirements, eight organisations in two contrasting regulatory regimes, UK and Norway are analysed, on the basis of extensive documents and a series of semi-structured interviews with different organisational actors. The study finds that organisations – irrespective of type - exposed to constraining regulation adjust to reporting requirements through recruitment of specialised personnel. Organisations’ financial capacity determines whether the organisation professionalises by taking on specialist volunteers or by taking on paid staff. The study demonstrates the pervasive impact of regulation on organisational maintenance of voluntary membership organisations in contemporary democracies.European Research Counci

The Drosophila MOS Ortholog Is Not Essential for Meiosis

AbstractIn metazoan oocytes, a metaphase arrest coordinates the completion of meiosis with fertilization. Vertebrate mos maintains the metaphase II arrest of mature oocytes and prevents DNA replication between the meiotic divisions. We identified a Drosophila homolog of mos and showed it to be the mos ortholog by two additional criteria. The dmos transcripts are present in Drosophila oocytes but not embryos, and injection of dmos into Xenopus embryos blocks mitosis and elevates active MAPK levels. In Drosophila, MAPK is activated in oocytes, consistent with a role in meiosis. We generated deletions of dmos and found that, as in vertebrates, dmos is responsible for the majority of MAPK activation. Unexpectedly, the oocytes that do mature complete meiosis normally and produce fertilized embryos that develop, although there is a reduction in female fertility and loss of some oocytes by apoptosis. Therefore, Drosophila contains a mos ortholog that activates a MAPK cascade during oogenesis and is nonessential for meiosis. This could be because there are redundant pathways regulating meiosis, because residual, low levels of active MAPK are sufficient, or because active MAPK is dispensable for meiosis in Drosophila. These results highlight the complexity of meiotic regulation that evolved to ensure accurate control over the reproductive process

Nuclear rupture at sites of high curvature compromises retention of DNA repair factors.

The nucleus is physically linked to the cytoskeleton, adhesions, and extracellular matrix-all of which sustain forces, but their relationships to DNA damage are obscure. We show that nuclear rupture with cytoplasmic mislocalization of multiple DNA repair factors correlates with high nuclear curvature imposed by an external probe or by cell attachment to either aligned collagen fibers or stiff matrix. Mislocalization is greatly enhanced by lamin A depletion, requires hours for nuclear reentry, and correlates with an increase in pan-nucleoplasmic foci of the DNA damage marker γH2AX. Excess DNA damage is rescued in ruptured nuclei by cooverexpression of multiple DNA repair factors as well as by soft matrix or inhibition of actomyosin tension. Increased contractility has the opposite effect, and stiff tumors with low lamin A indeed exhibit increased nuclear curvature, more frequent nuclear rupture, and excess DNA damage. Additional stresses likely play a role, but the data suggest high curvature promotes nuclear rupture, which compromises retention of DNA repair factors and favors sustained damage

"Marker of Self" CD47 on lentiviral vectors decreases macrophage-mediated clearance and increases delivery to SIRPA-expressing lung carcinoma tumors

Lentiviruses infect many cell types and are now widely used for gene delivery in vitro, but in vivo uptake of these foreign vectors by macrophages is a limitation. Lentivectors are produced here from packaging cells that overexpress “Marker of Self” CD47, which inhibits macrophage uptake of cells when prophagocytic factors are also displayed. Single particle analyses show “hCD47-Lenti” display properly oriented human-CD47 for interactions with the macrophage's inhibitory receptor SIRPA. Macrophages derived from human and NOD/SCID/Il2rg−/− (NSG) mice show a SIRPA-dependent decrease in transduction, i.e., transgene expression, by hCD47-Lenti compared to control Lenti. Consistent with known “Self” signaling pathways, macrophage transduction by control Lenti is decreased by drug inhibition of Myosin-II to the same levels as hCD47-Lenti. In contrast, human lung carcinoma cells express SIRPA and use it to enhance transduction by hCD47-Lenti- as illustrated by more efficient gene deletion using CRISPR/Cas9. Intravenous injection of hCD47-Lenti into NSG mice shows hCD47 prolongs circulation, unless a blocking anti-SIRPA is preinjected. In vivo transduction of spleen and liver macrophages also decreases for hCD47-Lenti while transduction of lung carcinoma xenografts increases. hCD47 could be useful when macrophage uptake is limiting on other viral vectors that are emerging in cancer treatments (e.g., Measles glycoprotein-pseudotyped lentivectors) and also in targeting various SIRPA-expressing tumors such as glioblastomas