Strategic Allies: AQIM, the MNLA, and the people of Northern Mali

During the 2012 Malian civil war, one of the main actors was Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Al-Qaeda’s most profitable regional franchise. As a result of the group’s specific interactions with the MNLA, an ethno-separatist militia that instigated the civil war in the first place, and the civilian population of Northern Mali broadly, AQIM was able to entrench itself within and ultimately control much of Northern Mali. This research demonstrates the three key elements of AQIM’s success in Mali. First, the group sought local support by doing two things: allying with the MNLA, which gave AQIM access to the region’s ethnically-Tuareg population and providing assistance to Northern Mali’s civilians broadly in an attempt to win their “hearts and minds.” Second, AQIM was able to eliminate its competition in the area when it ended its alliance with the MNLA, after the group abused local civilians, and expelled the MNLA from Northern Mali. And finally, with the support of new local actors like the Tuareg-Islamist group Ansar Dine, AQIM was able to implement its fundamentalist interpretations of Sharia across the territory it now controlled. Gaining support from the local population, eliminating the competition and ultimately implementing its ideology across Northern Mali are the three elements to AQIM’s success.Bachelor of Art

The Empirical Landscape of Trade Policy

This chapter surveys empirically the broad features of trade policy in goods for 31 major economies that collectively represented 83 percent of the world's population and 91 percent of the world's GDP in 2013. We address five questions: Do some countries have more liberal trading regimes than others? Within countries, which industries receive the most import protection? How do trade policies change over time? Do countries discriminate among their trading partners when setting trade policy? Finally, how liberalized is world trade? Our analysis documents the extent of cross-sectional heterogeneity in applied commercial policy across countries, their economic sectors, and their trading partners, over time. We conclude that substantial trade policy barriers remain as an important feature of the world economy.antidumpin

Activation of phospholipase D by osmotic cell swelling

In response to osmotic cell swelling, Intestine 407 cells react with a rapid and transient activation of phospholipase D (PLD). To investigate the role of PLD during the regulatory volume decrease, cells were treated with 1-butanol resulting in a depletion of PLD substrates. Activation of volume-regulated anion channels, but not the cell swelling-induced release of taurine, was largely inhibited in the presence of low concentrations of 1-butanol. In addition, hypotonicity-induced exocytosis, ATP release and subsequent endocytosis were found to be largely abrogated. The results support a model of cell vo

Rice Phospholipase A Superfamily: Organization, Phylogenetic and Expression Analysis during Abiotic Stresses and Development

Background: Phospholipase A (PLA) is an important group of enzymes responsible for phospholipid hydrolysis in lipid signaling. PLAs have been implicated in abiotic stress signaling and developmental events in various plants species. Genome-wide analysis of PLA superfamily has been carried out in dicot plant Arabidopsis. A comprehensive genome-wide analysis of PLAs has not been presented yet in crop plant rice. Methodology/Principal Findings: A comprehensive bioinformatics analysis identified a total of 31 PLA encoding genes in the rice genome, which are divided into three classes; phospholipase A 1 (PLA 1), patatin like phospholipases (pPLA) and low molecular weight secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) based on their sequences and phylogeny. A subset of 10 rice PLAs exhibited chromosomal duplication, emphasizing the role of duplication in the expansion of this gene family in rice. Microarray expression profiling revealed a number of PLA members expressing differentially and significantly under abiotic stresses and reproductive development. Comparative expression analysis with Arabidopsis PLAs revealed a high degree of functional conservation between the orthologs in two plant species, which also indicated the vital role of PLAs in stress signaling and plant development across different plant species. Moreover, sub-cellular localization of a few candidates suggests their differential localization and functional role in the lipid signaling. Conclusion/Significance: The comprehensive analysis and expression profiling would provide a critical platform for th

β-1,3-Glucan-Induced Host Phospholipase D Activation Is Involved in Aspergillus fumigatus Internalization into Type II Human Pneumocyte A549 Cells

The internalization of Aspergillus fumigatus into lung epithelial cells is a process that depends on host cell actin dynamics. The host membrane phosphatidylcholine cleavage driven by phospholipase D (PLD) is closely related to cellular actin dynamics. However, little is known about the impact of PLD on A. fumigatus internalization into lung epithelial cells. Here, we report that once germinated, A. fumigatus conidia were able to stimulate host PLD activity and internalize more efficiently in A549 cells without altering PLD expression. The internalization of A. fumigatus in A549 cells was suppressed by the downregulation of host cell PLD using chemical inhibitors or siRNA interference. The heat-killed swollen conidia, but not the resting conidia, were able to activate host PLD. Further, β-1,3-glucan, the core component of the conidial cell wall, stimulated host PLD activity. This PLD activation and conidia internalization were inhibited by anti-dectin-1 antibody. Indeed, dectin-1, a β-1,3-glucan receptor, was expressed in A549 cells, and its expression profile was not altered by conidial stimulation. Finally, host cell PLD1 and PLD2 accompanied A. fumigatus conidia during internalization. Our data indicate that host cell PLD activity induced by β-1,3-glucan on the surface of germinated conidia is important for the efficient internalization of A. fumigatus into A549 lung epithelial cells

Hitting the Right Notes: Music as a Tool in Community Development in Uganda

The following dissertation explores some of the roles that music can play in community development. The research is based on extensive research, in the form of desk-based research and field research with MLISADA, a project using music to reintegrate vulnerable, abused and excluded children and youths back into society in Kampala, Uganda. The research aims to explore how music can be used as ‘a tactic of the dispossessed’ (Cresswell 1996: 47) in engaging vulnerable/excluded youths in the their communities whilst also investigating how music can be used by these excluded individuals to forge ‘spaces of belonging’ in their communities

Accelerator physicists take the long view at EuCARD’13

In accelerator physics, it can pay to take the long view. In a workshop today at CERN entitled Visions for the Future of Particle Accelerators, speakers at the EuCARD'13 conference discussed challenges for the next 50 years of research and development in accelerator physics