The Political Economy of FDI flows into Developing Countries: Does the depth of International Trade Agreements Matter?

There is considerable debate whether the domestic political institutions (specifically, the country s level of democracy) of the host developing country toward foreign investors are effective in establishing the credibility of commitments are still underway, researchers have also analyzed the effect of international institutions such as (GATT-WTO) membership and Bilateral Investment treaties (BIT) in their role of establishing the credibility of commitment to attract foreign investments. We argue that there are qualitative differences among various types of trade agreements and full-fledged trade agreements (FTA-CU) provide credibility to foreign investors and democracy level in the host country conditions this effect whereas the partial scope agreements (PSA) are not sufficient in providing credibility of commitments and not moderated by democracy. This paper analyses the impact of heterogeneous TAs, and their interaction with domestic institutions, on FDI inflows. Statistical analyses for 122 developing countries from 1970 to 2005 support this argument. The method adopted relies on fixed effects estimator which is robust to control endogeneity on a large panel dataset. The strict erogeneity of results by using a method suggested by Baier and Bergstrand (2007) and no feedback effect found in sample. The results state that (1) More the FTA-CU concluded, larger the amount of FDI inflows are attracted into the developing countries and PSA are insignificant in determining the FDI inflow; (2) FTA CU are complementary to democratic regime whereas the conditional effect of PSA with democracy on levels of FDI inflows is insignificant.Comment: University of Orleans (France

Role of aquifer storage and recovery for harmonising irrigation with environment in connected systems

The flows in regulated rivers are strongly dependent on water demand by downstream water users. In irrigated catchments the river flow regimes are alerted to cater for crop demand. The impacts of these altered flows can have significant deleterious ecological impacts. There can be a number of opportunities to manipulate irrigation demand and supply in a way which provide better seasonality of flows and optimise the social, environmental and economic outcomes from water use in a catchment. This paper explores groundwater – surface water substitution as possible way to change water demand patterns. Results of a modelling study show that conjunctive water use through more groundwater extraction or infiltration and extraction is also realistic option capable of replacing over 215GL of peak period surface water use with minimum cost to overall agriculture return. To secure 215GL of water through an aquifer storage and recovery program would cost around $8.96 million

Genome-wide Integrative Analysis of Zika-Virus-Infected Neuronal Stem Cells Reveals Roles for MicroRNAs in Cell Cycle and Stemness.

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection is implicated in severe fetal developmental disorders, including microcephaly. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) post-transcriptionally regulate numerous processes associated with viral infection and neurodegeneration, but their contribution to ZIKV pathogenesis is unclear. We analyzed the mRNA and miRNA transcriptomes of human neuronal stem cells (hNSCs) during infection with ZIKV MR766 and Paraiba strains. Integration of the miRNA and mRNA expression data into regulatory interaction networks showed that ZIKV infection resulted in miRNA-mediated repression of genes regulating the cell cycle, stem cell maintenance, and neurogenesis. Bioinformatics analysis of Argonaute-bound RNAs in ZIKV-infected hNSCs identified a number of miRNAs with predicted involvement in microcephaly, including miR-124-3p, which dysregulates NSC maintenance through repression of the transferrin receptor (TFRC). Consistent with this, ZIKV infection upregulated miR-124-3p and downregulated TFRC mRNA in ZIKV-infected hNSCs and mouse brain tissue. These data provide insights into the roles of miRNAs in ZIKV pathogenesis, particularly the microcephaly phenotype

The impact of human capital outsourcing on human capital management practices in Karachi pharmaceutical industry

Purpose: The aim of this research is to examine relationship between Human Capital Management (HRM) and Human Resource (HR) Outsourcing in the Pharmaceutical sector. The specific objective is to find out that how important is HRM for an Organization to perform its operations more efficiently, and at what level Human Resource Outsourcing is affecting it. Literature review: Literature review shows that HR outsourcing has positive impact on HRM for an Organization to perform its operations more efficiently. Methods: In order to conduct this research the methodology that has been used is quantitative in nature and closed ended Questionnaire was used to collect data. The universe of study was the employees of Pharmaceutical industry in Karachi Pakistan. The responses of each respondent were thoroughly analyzed by using SPSS software, and the results show that there is a negative relationship between the Human Capital Management (Gaining Knowledge, Current Trend of Business Environment, Organization Managing Their Human Asset and Practices and Policies Regarding Human Resource) and HR Outsourcing. Conclusions: It is concluded that all Independent Variables have the strongest Positive correlation with each other. There are lots of constraints, which any organization faces in terms of time, finance and, in some cases factors like strategic focus.Human Capital Management, Karachi, Pharmaceutical, Outsourcing

Zika virus infection reprograms global transcription of host cells to allow sustained infection.

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging virus causally linked to neurological disorders, including congenital microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome. There are currently no targeted therapies for ZIKV infection. To identify novel antiviral targets and to elucidate the mechanisms by which ZIKV exploits the host cell machinery to support sustained replication, we analyzed the transcriptomic landscape of human microglia, fibroblast, embryonic kidney and monocyte-derived macrophage cell lines before and after ZIKV infection. The four cell types differed in their susceptibility to ZIKV infection, consistent with differences in their expression of viral response genes before infection. Clustering and network analyses of genes differentially expressed after ZIKV infection revealed changes related to the adaptive immune system, angiogenesis and host metabolic processes that are conducive to sustained viral production. Genes related to the adaptive immune response were downregulated in microglia cells, suggesting that ZIKV effectively evades the immune response after reaching the central nervous system. Like other viruses, ZIKV diverts host cell resources and reprograms the metabolic machinery to support RNA metabolism, ATP production and glycolysis. Consistent with these transcriptomic analyses, nucleoside metabolic inhibitors abrogated ZIKV replication in microglia cells

Impact of Political and Economic Institutions on FDI Inflows: evidence from South Asian countries

The current study examines the effects of political and economic institutions on the FDI inflows for the selected 4 South Asian countries including Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.  For this, Panel data is employed for the period 1984--2020. Panel unit root test, Pedroni Cointegration test, Dynamic OLS (DOLS), and Panel Error Correction Model (PECM) methods have been used to extract the results. The empirical findings revealed the significant and positive effect of economic institutions on the inward FDI of South Asian countries. However, political institutions are found to be insignificant for inward FDI. The outcomes of the VECM and the panel cointegration approach confirmed the presence of a cointegrated relationship among the variables. The short-run effects are found to be insignificant.  Therefore, Policymakers should make certain policies by taking into account the heterogeneity between economic and political institutions. They need to pay attention to the steps through which the institutions can be made stronger and more effective so that they can make the environment more favorable to attract the maximum number of FDI projects into a specific region

Does Organizational Support Enhance the Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Service Industry with Moderating Role of Service Climate?

This study shows that the organizational support and altruism play vital role in increasing the organizational citizenship behavior. In the service industry, service climate play moderator role where the individuals of the organization feel the high intensity of obligation to perform their duties. Employees contact directly with their customers and it is necessary for employees to perform the supportive and helping behavior to achieve the effectiveness of organization while delivering services. Results of this study are based on the conceptual theory. It indicates that the organizational support and altruism have positive impact on the citizenship behavior. In other words perceived organizational support and altruism increases the OCB in the moderating effect of service climate. This study also indicates that the intensity of the OCB depends on the service climate if it will be weak the OCB will be low and if it is high the OCB will be high. Its importance has increased in the service industries. Managerial implications are also discussed in this study. Keywords: Organizational support, altruism, organizational citizenship behavior, service climate

Utilization of RSM for optimization of physical variables to improve bacteriocin production from Lactobacillus plantarum strain MS

The utilization of natural antimicrobial substances has been increased in the pharmaceutical sector due to their stability and inhibition activity against pathogenic microorganisms. In the current study, the bacteriocin synthesis by locally isolated Lactobacillus plantarum MS from yogurt, has been optimized by using response surface methodology. Statistical optimization of physical variables by using Box-Behnken design, 3200 AU/mL bacteriocin activity was detected at 30 °C temperature, 18h incubation time and pH 6 against Staphylococcus aureus. The resulting bacteriocin was found to be stable a broad range of pH (2-12) and temperature (37-100 °C) but the activity of bacteriocin was slightly disturbed at 121 °C. Besides, bacteriocin showed stability after treatment with various enzymes (catalase, amylase, and lipase), salt (NaCl), and surfactants (triton X-100, EDTA, and SDS) but found sensitive by treating with proteolytic enzymes (proteinase K and trypsin) in comparison with untreated bacteriocin. Because of such biochemical characteristics, these antibacterial peptides could be possibly incorporated in the field of pharmacy to fulfil consumer’s demand for natural remedies