The Dynamics of Managerial Ideology: Analyzing the Cuban Case

After the collapse of state socialism in Eastern Europe, management researchers devoted considerable energy to investigate ways to smooth transition to market economies. But one country of the former Soviet bloc, Cuba resisted transition and reaffirmed loyalty to communism. Little is known about management in Cuba on the managerial impacts of the combination of two major environmental forces: the American embargo and the Soviet Union collapse, both of which have challenged the sustainability of the communist regime. This study intends to approach one particular aspect of management in Cuba: the relationship between national ideology and management practice. To analyze these topics, direct qualitative data from focus groups with Cuban managers and management professors was obtained and complemented with documentary analysis. Results suggest that the dynamics of managerial ideology can be understood as the interplay of several processes operating at distinct levels: institutional, professional, organizational and individual. The study provides a nested, multi-level understanding of management and organization as parts of a wider institutional context, which is both a source of constraint and a non-tangible resource to be used by ideological bricoleurs. The interplay between the acceptance of ideology and its use as a practical resource is a potential source of change. As such, the same professional class (managers) may be both a source of continuity and a trigger of change - a finding that is line with institutional theory’s claim that it is necessary to understand both institutionalization and de-institutionalization for understanding organizational change and continuity.N/

Is the European Union ready for foreign direct investment from emerging markets?

This chapter asks whether the European Union Member States are ready for inward Foreign Direct Investment from the Emerging Markets. It concludes that European Union Member States have relatively open Foreign Direct Investment regimes in the international context, and yet instances of protectionism have been apparent in the recent period. However, protectionism has occurred both vis-a-vis Foreign Direct Investment from the Global South as well as from within the European Union, particularly in the so-called 'strategic' industries

Cholinergic Interneurons Are Differentially Distributed in the Human Striatum

BACKGROUND: The striatum (caudate nucleus, CN, and putamen, Put) is a group of subcortical nuclei involved in planning and executing voluntary movements as well as in cognitive processes. Its neuronal composition includes projection neurons, which connect the striatum with other structures, and interneurons, whose main roles are maintaining the striatal organization and the regulation of the projection neurons. The unique electrophysiological and functional properties of the cholinergic interneurons give them a crucial modulating function on the overall striatal response. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPLE FINDINGS: This study was carried out using stereological methods to examine the volume and density (cells/mm(3)) of these interneurons, as visualized by choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) immunoreactivity, in the following territories of the CN and Put of nine normal human brains: 1) precommissural head; 2) postcommissural head; 3) body; 4) gyrus and 5) tail of the CN; 6) precommissural and 7) postcommissural Put. The distribution of ChAT interneurons was analyzed with respect to the topographical, functional and chemical territories of the dorsal striatum. The CN was more densely populated by cholinergic neurons than the Put, and their density increased along the anteroposterior axis of the striatum with the CN body having the highest neuronal density. The associative territory of the dorsal striatum was by far the most densely populated. The striosomes of the CN precommissural head and the postcommissural Put contained the greatest number of ChAT-ir interneurons. The intrastriosomal ChAT-ir neurons were abundant on the periphery of the striosomes throughout the striatum. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: All these data reveal that cholinergic interneurons are differentially distributed in the distinct topographical and functional territories of the human dorsal striatum, as well as in its chemical compartments. This heterogeneity may indicate that the posterior aspects of the CN require a special integration of information by interneurons. Interestingly, these striatal regions have been very much left out in functional studies

A Proton Magnetic Resonance Study of the Molecular Conformation of a Modified Nucleoside from Transfer RNA. Dihydrouridine

The 220 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance (N.M.R.) spectra of dihydrouridine at 23 °C and 60 °C have been analyzed. From the N.M.R. data a conformational model is derived. The ribose moiety indicates a slight preference for the C3′exo and C2′endo conformations, although rapid interconversion between ring-puckered conformers is taking place. At high temperature the preference for C3′exo and C2′endo is less. The conformation of the exocyclic hydroxymethyl group is a rapid time average of all possible conformers with a preference for the gauche-gauche rotamer. By comparison with β-cyanuric acid riboside the chemical shifts of the ribose moiety in dihydrouridine are not influenced by the diamagnetic anisotropy of the keto group on the base, demonstrating that the base has the anti conformation with respect to the ribose ring. The dihydrouracil base does not exist in any of the classical puckered conformations, but manifests an average torsional angle of approximately 30° apparently due to rapid interconversion between various conformations. This distinguishes dihydrouridine from all other naturally occurring nucleosides, and may be the reason for its occurrence in almost all known tRNA species. </jats:p

Full structural characterization in solution of pyridoxine and its dibutylstannylene derivative by proton detected 2D heteronuclear correlation NMR

The 1H and 13C NMR spectra of pyridoxine (vitamin B6) and its dibutylstannylene derivative were assigned. Proton detected 1H-13C Heteronuclear Multiple Bond Correlation (1H-13C HMBC) spectroscopy appears to be a necessary tool for the assignment of the quaternary 13C resonances. © 1994, Walter de Gruyter. All rights reserved.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe