META-ANALYTIC EVIDENCE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRODUCT DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGIES AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Auf Basis meta-analytischer Integration von 82,742 empirischen Befunden aus 104 publizierten Studien testen wir die weitverbreitete Theorie, dass Produktdiversifikationsstrategien den finanziellen Erfolg von Unternehmen beeinflussen. Wir unterscheiden dabei explizit Korrelationen, die lediglich eine Assoziation suggerieren, von Korrelationen, die es erlauben, auf Kausalität zu schließen. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Sequenz der Variablenmessung sowie die Multidimensionalität der Variablenkonstrukte empirisch beobachtete Zusammenhänge zwischen Diversifikationsstrategien und Erfolg stark beeinflussen. Unter anderem zeigt die Analyse, dass verwandte und unverwandte Diversifikation lediglich mit simultan gemessenem- und nicht mit zeitlich verzögertem bilanz- und markt-basiertem Unternehmenserfolg signifikant korrelieren. Vor diesem Hintergrund stellt diese Studie vormalige metaanalytische Ergebnisse sowie Teile der vorherrschenden Theorie zu Erfolgseffekten von Diversifikationsstrategien in Frage. Des weiteren bietet unsere Studie wichtige Hinweise für das Design der Mess-Strategien zukünftiger Forschung in diesem Themenkreis.Corporate Strategy, Financial Performance, Meta-Analysis, Product Diversification

Trypanosoma brucei metacaspase 4 is a pseudopeptidase and a virulence factor

Metacaspases are caspase family cysteine peptidases found in plants, fungi, and protozoa but not mammals. Trypanosoma brucei is unusual in having five metacaspases (MCA1-MCA5), of which MCA1 and MCA4 have active site substitutions, making them possible non-enzymatic homologues. Here we demonstrate that recombinant MCA4 lacks detectable peptidase activity despite maintaining a functional peptidase structure. MCA4 is expressed primarily in the bloodstream form of the parasite and associates with the flagellar membrane via dual myristoylation/palmitoylation. Loss of function phenotyping revealed critical roles for MCA4; rapid depletion by RNAi caused lethal disruption to the parasite's cell cycle, yet the generation of MCA4 null mutant parasites (Delta mca4) was possible. Delta mca4 had normal growth in axenic culture but markedly reduced virulence in mice. Further analysis revealed that MCA4 is released from the parasite and is specifically processed by MCA3, the only metacaspase that is both palmitoylated and enzymatically active. Accordingly, we have identified that the multiple metacaspases in T. brucei form a membrane-associated proteolytic cascade to generate a pseudopeptidase virulence factor

К вопросу о выборе частоты гетеродина в приемнике метрового диапазона

IL-10 is a potent regulator of the innate and adaptive immune responses. Several cell types produce IL-10 and its receptor chains and these may regulate different immune responses. Here we report that inactivation of the IL-10 receptor (IL-10R1) gene in mice leads to an increased susceptibility to chemically induced colitis as in the classical IL-10-deficient mutant. To identify the cells regulated by IL-10 in immune responses, we generated several cell type specific IL-10R1-deficient mutants. We show that, in an IL-10-dependent LPS model of endotoxemia, dampening of the immune response requires expression of IL-10R1 in monocytes/macrophages and/or neutrophils but not in T cells nor B cells. As the macrophage and/or neutrophil-specific IL-10-deficient mutants also display the same phenotype, our results suggest that an autocrine loop in monocytes/macrophages is the most probable mechanism for the regulation of an LPS-induced septic shock. In contrast, in an IL-10-regulated T-cell response to Trichuris muris infection, IL-10 acting on T cells or monocytes/macrophages/neutrophils is not critical for the control of the infection. © 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA

Resisting Dignity Takings in China

In the course of urbanization in the People's Republic of China, tens of millions of citizens have experienced expropriations of collectively owned land, expropriations of privately owned buildings, and evictions from urban land in state ownership. Summarily characterizing these measures as takings, I argue, first, that some takings observed have denied evictees dignity, understood as respect for their intrinsic moral worth and moral autonomy, in addition to dispossessing them of their land and homes. Second, in dignity takings, monetary compensation and resettlement schemes may fail to reflect the harm done to evictees by framing disputes over takings as (forced) economic bargains. Third, some victims unable to seek redress through judicial avenues have been driven into extrajudicial protest and resistance. In some cases, resistance can be restorative of dignity, but where repressive state responses to resistance prevent this potential from being realized, the injustice of dignity takings can be further aggravated.</p

China’s Dual State Revival Under Xi Jinping

Under President Xi Jinping, China has undergone autocratic reclosure. Drawing on Fraenkel’s 1940 analysis of Germany’s then dictatorship as a duality of coexisting normative and prerogative modes of governance established to normalize ‘emergency’ exemptions from legality, this Article argues that this process can be understood as a Dual State revival at a point in time when rule of law corroded in liberal-democratic systems with more robust legal institutions and protections