Paul Krugman and the New Economic Geography - assesment in the light of the dynamics of a “real world” local system of firms

Since the publication of Krugman's paper on "Geography and Trade" in 1991, a burgeoning literature has developed under the heading New Economic Geography. In the following we shall survey the NEG literature and critically evaluate its contribution relative to earlier work on similar topics. More specifically, we will focus our attention on a model that seems to have given new impulses to the introduction of spatial factors into the economic analysis: Krugman’s model. We will proceed with our assesment analysing if and to which extent the features of the model are effective in investigating a real local system of firms: the Etna Valley, an industrial agglomeration specialized in the production of microelectronic components in the area around the Sicilian town of Catania. What emerges from the critical analysis is that the above model results to be extremely simplified. If, on one hand this may be true for every economic model, on the other, we feel that, in our specific case study, the formalization of the processes of local development does not result to be entirely useful. Indeed, great part of the analysis of the industrial district based on the “industrial atmosphere” (Marshall, 1890) remains out of the picture. Therefore, we find more useful the positions of those authors that not drawing on the deductive methods of theorising and analysing employed by Krugman, nonetheless have managed to enlighten mechanisms that seem to be more apt to investigate dynamics taking place in developing areas. More specifically, they seem to offer more useful insights in the context of non stationary economies where markets are not yet stabilized and therefore are not entirely capable of adequately transmitting incentives and information to the actors in the economy.

Governance and the Processes of Inclusion/Exclusion: A Review of the Theory and Practice.

Governance identifies a discursive domain(Newman, 2002) in which both the policy and academic debate about new institutional configurations emerging from the proliferation of new forms of governing outside and beyond the state, is taking place My concern here is to highlight what I think is an under-theorised dimension in most of the perspectives from which the new forms of governance beyond the state are analysed. Specifically, I embrace Newman’s (2001) suggestion that most of the literature on Governance suffers from an under-theorisation of a “social†dimension of the analysis or, of what she terms the “politics of the wider public realm and the patterns of inclusion and exclusion on which it is based.†Using the above reflection as analytical starting point, this paper aims at showing how an important challenge for the field of Governance studies resides in the attempt to connect administrative and managerial issues with a broader set of issues concerning the nature of political participation in complex societes where not only the borders of the national states are blurred but the character of individual and collective identities is also relational and fluid. We will proceed first by critically reviewing from this perspective some of the current debates taking place in the Governance literature. Secondly by highlighting the concepts I consider fruitful to problematise the social dimension of the state-citizen relationship and to raise important questions with respect to the inclusionary and exclusionary practices on which it is based. And finally I will address the themes of inclusion and composition of consensus amidst diversity and complexity in the light of New Labour’s approach to Governance and, specifically, of its discourses of social inclusion, democratic renewal, networks and partnership governing.

Governance and the Processes of Inclusion/Exclusion: A Review of the Theory and Practice

Governance identifies a discursive domain(Newman, 2002) in which both the policy and academic debate about new institutional configurations emerging from the proliferation of new forms of governing outside and beyond the state, is taking place My concern here is to highlight what I think is an under-theorised dimension in most of the perspectives from which the new forms of governance beyond the state are analysed. Specifically, I embrace Newman's (2001) suggestion that most of the literature on Governance suffers from an under-theorisation of a "social" dimension of the analysis or, of what she terms the "politics of the wider public realm and the patterns of inclusion and exclusion on which it is based." Using the above reflection as analytical starting point, this paper aims at showing how an important challenge for the field of Governance studies resides in the attempt to connect administrative and managerial issues with a broader set of issues concerning the nature of political participation in complex societes where not only the borders of the national states are blurred but the character of individual and collective identities is also relational and fluid. We will proceed first by critically reviewing from this perspective some of the current debates taking place in the Governance literature. Secondly by highlighting the concepts I consider fruitful to problematise the social dimension of the state-citizen relationship and to raise important questions with respect to the inclusionary and exclusionary practices on which it is based. And finally I will address the themes of inclusion and composition of consensus amidst diversity and complexity in the light of New Labour's approach to Governance and, specifically, of its discourses of social inclusion, democratic renewal, networks and partnership governing

Paul Krugman and the New Economic Geography - assesment in the light of the dynamics of a "real world” local system of firms

Since the publication of Krugman's paper on "Geography and Trade" in 1991, a burgeoning literature has developed under the heading New Economic Geography. In the following we shall survey the NEG literature and critically evaluate its contribution relative to earlier work on similar topics. More specifically, we will focus our attention on a model that seems to have given new impulses to the introduction of spatial factors into the economic analysis: Krugman's model. We will proceed with our assesment analysing if and to which extent the features of the model are effective in investigating a real local system of firms: the Etna Valley, an industrial agglomeration specialized in the production of microelectronic components in the area around the Sicilian town of Catania. What emerges from the critical analysis is that the above model results to be extremely simplified. If, on one hand this may be true for every economic model, on the other, we feel that, in our specific case study, the formalization of the processes of local development does not result to be entirely useful. Indeed, great part of the analysis of the industrial district based on the "industrial atmosphere” (Marshall, 1890) remains out of the picture. Therefore, we find more useful the positions of those authors that not drawing on the deductive methods of theorising and analysing employed by Krugman, nonetheless have managed to enlighten mechanisms that seem to be more apt to investigate dynamics taking place in developing areas. More specifically, they seem to offer more useful insights in the context of non stationary economies where markets are not yet stabilized and therefore are not entirely capable of adequately transmitting incentives and information to the actors in the economy

The Pathophysiologic Basis of Nuclear Medicine, Third Edition, Abdelhamid H. Elgazzar, Ed.

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Transforming sub-national economic governance in England : From competitive regions to competitive city-regions.

This doctoral study is situated within key debates concerned with how new urban and regional spaces are being produced in globalisation. Emphasising the weaknesses of 'orthodox' techno-economic interpretations of the 'rise of the region', the state space approach conceives the emergence of new regional governance spaces as the result of political processes in which the state plays a key role (Brenner, 2004). While this framework highlights the role of existent scalar/institutional arrangements (and their political orientations) in channelling and delimiting political economic change, it also raises crucial questions on the role of agency. There is the need for a more developed understanding of issues of political agency and struggle in particular in relation to the shaping of particular regional governance spaces. This study explores the rescaling of economic governance in England from the early to the mid-2000s through a process of 'central orchestrated regionalisation' involving the creation of new regional and city-regional institutions and supports shaped by tensions between national political objectives and regional and local interests. In particular it considers the establishment and development of these frameworks in the context of a particular region, the Yorkshire and the Humber.The PhD contributes to contemporary research on new regional governance spaces in two key ways. Firstly, it develops an enriched formulation of the state space through the engagement with the complementary notions of a 'politics of scale' (Cox, 1998) and regional 'armatures' (Liepietz, 1994). The value of this reformulation is in its capacity to inspire a type of multi-dimensional and multi-scalar regional research through which empirically rich, theoretically driven accounts of regional (trans-)formation can be developed in order to advance knowledge of state space. Secondly, it provides a more nuanced account of the formation of new geographies of governance in the interplay between inherited and emergent arrangements where the tensions that emerge in this process pertain only in part to the difficulties in absorbing extant local institutional circumstances in the trajectory of emergent state initiatives. Crucially, different governance actors, at different spatial scales, frame these problems in different ways as they attempt to calibrate governance arrangements that can assist them in better pursuing their interests

The characterization of Thermotoga maritima Arginine Binding Protein variants demonstrates that minimal local strains have an important impact on protein stability

The Ramachandran plot is a versatile and valuable tool that provides fundamental information for protein structure determination, prediction, and validation. The structural/thermodynamic effects produced by forcing a residue to adopt a conformation predicted to be forbidden were here explored using Thermotoga maritima Arginine Binding Protein (TmArgBP) as model. Specifically, we mutated TmArgBP Gly52 that assumes a conformation believed to be strictly disallowed for non-Gly residues. Surprisingly, the crystallographic characterization of Gly52Ala TmArgBP indicates that the structural context forces the residue to adopt a non-canonical conformation never observed in any of the high-medium resolution PDB structures. Interestingly, the inspection of this high resolution structure demonstrates that only minor alterations occur. Nevertheless, experiments indicate that Gly52 replacements in TmArgBP produce destabilizations comparable to those observed upon protein truncation or dissection in domains. Notably, we show that force-fields commonly used in computational biology do not reproduce this non-canonical state. Using TmArgBP as model system we here demonstrate that the structural context may force residues to adopt conformations believed to be strictly forbidden and that barely detectable alterations produce major destabilizations. Present findings highlight the role of subtle strains in governing protein stability. A full understanding of these phenomena is essential for an exhaustive comprehension of the factors regulating protein structures

Exploration of the intracellular chiral metabolome in pediatric BCP-ALL: a pilot study investigating the metabolic phenotype of IgH locus aberrations

Background and aimsAberrations in the immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) locus are associated with poor prognosis in pediatric precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL) patients. The primary objective of this pilot study is to enhance our understanding of the IgH phenotype by exploring the intracellular chiral metabolome.Materials and methodsLeukemia cells were isolated from the bone marrow of BCP-ALL pediatric patients at diagnosis. The samples’ metabolome and transcriptome were characterized using untargeted chiral metabolomic and next-generation sequencing transcriptomic analyses.ResultsFor the first time D- amino acids were identified in the leukemic cells’ intracellular metabolome from the bone marrow niche. Chiral metabolic signatures at diagnosis was indicative of a resistant phenotype. Through integrated network analysis and Pearson correlation, confirmation was obtained regarding the association of the IgH phenotype with several genes linked to poor prognosis.ConclusionThe findings of this study have contributed to the understanding that the chiral metabolome plays a role in the poor prognosis observed in an exceptionally rare patient cohort. The findings include elevated D-amino acid incorporation in the IgH group, the emergence of several unknown, potentially enantiomeric, metabolites, and insights into metabolic pathways that all warrant further exploration

Children with perinatally acquired HIV exhibit distinct immune responses to 4CMenB vaccine

Children with perinatally acquired HIV (PHIV) have special vaccination needs, as they make suboptimal immune responses. Here, we evaluated safety and immunogenicity of 2 doses of 4-component group B meningococcal vaccine in antiretroviral therapy-treated children with PHIV and healthy controls (HCs). Assessments included the standard human serum bactericidal antibody (hSBA) assay and measurement of IgG titers against capsular group B Neisseria meningitidis antigens (fHbp, NHBA, NadA). The B cell compartment and vaccine-induced antigen-specific (fHbp+) B cells were investigated by flow cytometry, and gene expression was investigated by multiplexed real-time PCR. A good safety and immunogenicity profile was shown in both groups; however, PHIV demonstrated a reduced immunogenicity compared with HCs. Additionally, PHIV showed a reduced frequency of fHbp+ and an altered B cell subset distribution, with higher fHbp+ frequency in activated memory and tissue-like memory B cells. Gene expression analyses on these cells revealed distinct mechanisms between PHIV and HC seroconverters. Overall, these data suggest that PHIV presents a diverse immune signature following vaccination. The impact of such perturbation on long-term maintenance of vaccine-induced immunity should be further evaluated in vulnerable populations, such as people with PHIV