Foreign Firms and Indonesian Manufacturing Wages: An Analysis With Panel Data

Wages in domestically- owned Indonesian manufacturing plants taken over by foreign firms increased sharply between the year before takeover and two years after takeover, relative to plants remaining in domestic ownership. Blue- collar wage levels in these plants had been less than 10 per cent above and white- collar wages more than 10 per cent below those in their industries a year before takeover. Two years after takeover both were more than 50 per cent above average. Wages in foreign plants taken over by domestic owners tended to rise less than average for their industries, although they remained above the domestic average. Thus, foreign firms did not select particularly high- wage plants to take over and it was foreign takeovers, rather than takeovers in general, that led to large An econometric analysis of the whole panel found that both foreign ownership throughout the period and foreign takeover resulted in higher wages relative to domestically- owned plants. The wage effects for white- collar employees were typically around twice those for blue- collar employees. Foreign takeovers were associated with large increases in blue- collar employment and both foreign and domestic takeovers with declines in white- collar employment. However, the employment changes were not strongly related to the wage changes.

Foreign Direct Investment and Wages in Indonesian Manufacturing

This paper asks two types of questions. One is about the behavior of foreign-owned firms in Indonesian labor markets and the other is about the effect of the presence of foreign-owned firms on Indonesian wages. We ask first whether foreign-owned plants pay a higher price for labor, that is, more than locally-owned plants for workers of a given quality, as we can measure it. We then ask whether foreign-owned plants pay a higher price for labor given the characteristics of the plants such as their size, industry, and location. The answer is that foreign firms do pay a higher price, and even a higher price given their plant characteristics. The second set of questions is whether a larger presence of foreign-owned plants results in higher wages in locally-owned plants and overall. Higher foreign presence leads to higher wages in locally-owned plants. Since the foreign plants also pay higher wages than locally-owned ones, the two factors together mean that higher foreign presence raises the general wage level in a province and industry.

High quality copy number and genotype data from FFPE samples using Molecular Inversion Probe (MIP) microarrays

BACKGROUND:A major challenge facing DNA copy number (CN) studies of tumors is that most banked samples with extensive clinical follow-up information are Formalin-Fixed Paraffin Embedded (FFPE). DNA from FFPE samples generally underperforms or suffers high failure rates compared to fresh frozen samples because of DNA degradation and cross-linking during FFPE fixation and processing. As FFPE protocols may vary widely between labs and samples may be stored for decades at room temperature, an ideal FFPE CN technology should work on diverse sample sets. Molecular Inversion Probe (MIP) technology has been applied successfully to obtain high quality CN and genotype data from cell line and frozen tumor DNA. Since the MIP probes require only a small (~40 bp) target binding site, we reasoned they may be well suited to assess degraded FFPE DNA. We assessed CN with a MIP panel of 50,000 markers in 93 FFPE tumor samples from 7 diverse collections. For 38 FFPE samples from three collections we were also able to asses CN in matched fresh frozen tumor tissue.RESULTS:Using an input of 37 ng genomic DNA, we generated high quality CN data with MIP technology in 88% of FFPE samples from seven diverse collections. When matched fresh frozen tissue was available, the performance of FFPE DNA was comparable to that of DNA obtained from matched frozen tumor (genotype concordance averaged 99.9%), with only a modest loss in performance in FFPE.CONCLUSION:MIP technology can be used to generate high quality CN and genotype data in FFPE as well as fresh frozen samples.This item is part of the UA Faculty Publications collection. For more information this item or other items in the UA Campus Repository, contact the University of Arizona Libraries at [email protected]

Expanding the diversity of mycobacteriophages: insights into genome architecture and evolution.

Mycobacteriophages are viruses that infect mycobacterial hosts such as Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. All mycobacteriophages characterized to date are dsDNA tailed phages, and have either siphoviral or myoviral morphotypes. However, their genetic diversity is considerable, and although sixty-two genomes have been sequenced and comparatively analyzed, these likely represent only a small portion of the diversity of the mycobacteriophage population at large. Here we report the isolation, sequencing and comparative genomic analysis of 18 new mycobacteriophages isolated from geographically distinct locations within the United States. Although no clear correlation between location and genome type can be discerned, these genomes expand our knowledge of mycobacteriophage diversity and enhance our understanding of the roles of mobile elements in viral evolution. Expansion of the number of mycobacteriophages grouped within Cluster A provides insights into the basis of immune specificity in these temperate phages, and we also describe a novel example of apparent immunity theft. The isolation and genomic analysis of bacteriophages by freshman college students provides an example of an authentic research experience for novice scientists

Modifying Gene Expression to Expose Plasmodium falciparum to Immune System Attack

Downregulation of malarial rif gene expression, a process implicated in malarial evasion of the human immune system, has been linked with repressor protein binding to the DNA element ATGCAA in Plasmodium falciparum. A Pyrrole- and Imidazole-containing polyamide was designed with the purpose of recognizing that DNA sequence based on previously reported pairing rules. The polyamide was also designed to target P. falciparum over mammalian cells by exploitation of the protozoal P2 aminopurine transporter. It is hypothesized that the target molecule, by blocking repressor protein binding, will effectively enhance rif gene expression in P. falciparum, allowing immune destruction of the protozoan. The following will be described: the synthesis of the target compound, a thorough analysis of the compound’s binding affinity and selectivity for the DNA sequence ATGCAA (using thermal melts, CD, ITC, and DNA footprinting), the in vitro cytotoxicity against mammalian cells and P. falciparum, and an investigation into the ability of the compound to alter rif gene expression in the parasite (using real-time PCR)

Foreign direct investment and growth in Est Asia : Lessons for Indonesia

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been important in the growth and global integration of developing economies. Both Northeast and Southeast Asia, especially the latter, have been part of this development, with increasing inflows of FDI and greater foreign participation in local economies. However, Indonesia has been an outlier within the region. Inflows of FDI have been lower to Indonesia than to other countries, especially in manufacturing, and they have been lower than could be expected from Indonesia's size, population and other country characteristics. We show that the inflows that have occurred have benefited Indonesia, and use the East Asian experience to identify measures that are likely to increase these flows. A relatively poor business environment, inefficient government institutions, low levels of education and poor infrastructure all seem to be important explanations for the low inflows of FDI to Indonesia

Acetyl Analogs of the Anticancer Agent Combretastatin A4: Synthesis and Biological Evaluation

Combretastatin A4 (CA-4) is a powerful agent that causes microtubule depolymerization in cells and is known to possess potent cytotoxic activity against the growth of cancer cells in culture. Due to its poor solubility in water, a phosphate-containing prodrug was developed, and it is presently undergoing phase II/III clinical trials for human cancer treatment. In this study, twenty new and theoretically more water-soluble acetyl analogs of CA-4 were designed and synthesized. Molecular modeling and single crystal x-ray crystallography studies showed that the acetyl-analogs have the same twisted conformation as the lead compound, CA-4. Cytotoxicity studies indicated that three analogs were particularly active, and a cell-based assay indicated that at least one of those has the same mechanism (microtubule depolymerization) as CA-4. Finally, in vivo mice studies demonstrated that the acetyl analog most similar to CA-4 demonstrated significant antitumor activity without showing any toxicity to healthy animals

A novel class of trans-methylpyrazoline analogs of combretastatins: Synthesis and in-vitro biological testing

Thirteen methylpyrazoline analogs (1a-m) of combretastatin A-4 (CA-4, 2) were synthesized. The trans-geometry of the two substituted phenyl moieties was ascertained by a single crystal X-ray diffraction study of compound id. The cytotoxicities of the analogs against the growth of murine B16 melanoma and L1210 lymphoma cells in culture were measured using the MU assay. One of the derivatives, 1j, which has the same substituents as CA-4 was the most active in the series with IC50 values of 3.3 mu M and 6.8 mu M against the growth of L1210 and B16 cells, respectively. The activity of this analog against human cancer cell lines was confirmed in the NCI 60 panel. The other active analogs against L1210 were 1b and 1f, which gave IC50 values in the 6-8 mu M range. Compound 1j caused microtubule depolymerization with an EC50 value of 4.1 mu M. This compound has good water solubility of 372 mu M. Molecular modeling studies using OFT showed that compound 1j adopts a twisted conformation mimicking CA-4 that is optimal for binding to the colchicine site of tubulin. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved

Synthesis and antiprotozoal activity of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-2-thioxopyrimidine analogs of combretastatin A-4

Eighteen 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-2-thioxopyrimidine analogs (5a-j, 6a-e, and 7a-c) of combretastatin A-4 were synthesized with the objective of discovering compounds capable of controlling the growth of Trypanosoma lewisii, Leishmania tarantole, Plasmodium falciparum, and Giardia lamblia. Even though the target compounds demonstrated differential cytotoxicity against mammalian cancer cells, with IC50 values ranging from 0.5 to \u3e 100 mu M, the range of activity against Trypanosoma, Leishmania, and Plasmodium, and to a good extent for Giardia, was narrow. The IC50 values of active compounds against the parasites ranged from about 10 mu Ie to slightly greater than 50 mu M. Specifically, compounds 5a, 5g, 5h, 6c, 7a, and 7c were not cytotoxic against mammalian cancer cells (IC50 \u3e 100 mu M) but showed good activity against the parasites, except Giardia (e.g., compounds 6c and 7a), suggesting that these compounds may act in a similar mechanism in parasites. Compounds 5f and 6b were previously shown to promote microtubule depolymerization in mammalian cells