Changing patterns of rent: state, private sector and donors in Jordan, 1989-2000

Two major changes since 1989 have affected the political economy of Jordan, namely: 1) The transformation from an economy primarily based on official economic assistance (an induced rentier state economy) to one primarily based on remittance income (a private sector rentier economy); and 2) The increased level of involvement of the donor community (led by the IMF and the World Bank) which has as its stated aim the desire to increase the involvement of the private sector in the economy at the expense of the state. The thesis sets out to answer the question: what does rentier theory tell us about the effects of these changes on the nature of the state and the private sector and the relationship between the two in Jordan? The study contends that an induced rentier state economy creates a different political economy (induced state rentierism) from a private sector rentier economy (private sector rentierism), both of which are different from a 'normal' market economy. Evidence for these differences can be found in the natures of the economy, the state, the private sector and the relationship between the latter two. The research question is answered with the help of four innovative models: 1) A measure of the level of the induced rentier state economy; 2) A measure of the level of the private sector rentier economy; 3) A five-continua state-market model; and 4) The characteristics of induced state rentierism. The concepts of private sector rentier economy and private sector rentierism are also introduced. The high levels of official economic assistance had by 1989 created a political economy which exhibited the characteristics of induced state rentierism: the existence of a rentier elite; state ownership and/or control of productive assets; state involvement in the market; the use of the economy by the state for political purposes; and the co- optation of the private sector institutions by the state. The state and the rentier elite's raison d’être had become one of maintaining control of and access to the flows of rent. Despite the two aforementioned transformations, the study concludes that: 1) Both the state and the rentier elite have been able to continue to rent-seek—albeit in a reduced and different format; 2) The economy has moved slightly towards the market- end of the state-market continuum, as the role of state has altered from one of direct control to one using indirect methods, such as regulation; and 3) The features of induced state rentierism have been reduced slightly, while the features of both private sector rentierism and the market economy have been strengthened slightly

MUSCLE : automated multi-objective evolutionary optimization of targeted LC-MS/MS analysis:Automated multi-objective evolutionary optimization of targeted LC-MS/MS analysis

Summary: Developing liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analyses of (bio)chemicals is both time consuming and challenging, largely because of the large number of LC and MS instrument parameters that need to be optimized. This bottleneck significantly impedes our ability to establish new (bio)analytical methods in fields such as pharmacology, metabolomics and pesticide research. We report the development of a multi-platform, user-friendly software tool MUSCLE (multi-platform unbiased optimization of spectrometry via closed-loop experimentation) for the robust and fully automated multi-objective optimization of targeted LC-MS/MS analysis. MUSCLE shortened the analysis times and increased the analytical sensitivities of targeted metabolite analysis, which was demonstrated on two different manufacturer’s LC-MS/MS instruments. Availability and implementation: Available at http://www.muscleproject.org. Contact: [email protected] Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online

Community Research Report Wisbech

The Institute for Sustainability Leadership at Cambridge University (CISL) is carrying out research on how supermarkets can support community health and wellbeing. The CISL researchers were keen to understand what support really looked like on the ground, and what difference it made. It was really important to them that the voice and experience of community members was included in the research and so a team from the Centre for Health Promotion Research at Leeds Beckett University supported a group of residents from a town in Cambridgeshire to do a community research project. To explore their research topic, Leeds Beckett researchers used a peer research approach. They trained community members to carry out a research project and the Community Researchers chose the topic of the research: experiences of living in the Cambridgeshire town. This report shares the findings from the research project

Using complementary techniques to distinguish cryptic species: A new Erysimum (Brassicaceae) species from North Africa

• Premise of the study : Cryptic species are superfi cially morphologically indistinguishable and therefore erroneously classifi ed under one single name. The identifi cation and delimitation of these species is usually a diffi cult task. The main aim of this study is to provide an inclusive methodology that combines standard and new tools to allow accurate identifi cation of cryptic species. We used Erysimum nervosum s.l. as a model system. • Methods : Four populations belonging to E. nervosum s.l. were sampled at their two distribution ranges in Morocco (the Atlas Mountains and the Rif Mountains). Fifteen individuals per population were collected to assess standard taxonomic traits. Additionally, corolla color and shape were quantifi ed in 30 individuals per population using spectrophotometry and geometric morphometrics, respectively. Finally, we collected tissue samples from each population per species to study the phylogenetic relationships among them. • Key results : Using the standard taxonomic traits, we could not distinguish the four populations. Nonetheless, there were differences in corolla color and shape between plants from the two mountain ranges. The population differentiation based on quantitative morphological differences were confi rmed and supported by the phylogenetic relationships obtained for these populations and the rest of the Moroccan Erysimum species. • Conclusions : The joint use of the results obtained from standard taxonomic traits, quantitative analyses of plant phenotype, and molecular data suggests the occurrence of two species within E. nervosum s.l. in Morocco, one located in the Atlas Mountains ( E. nervosum s.s.) and the other in the Rif Mountains ( E. riphaeanum sp. nov.). Consequently, we suggest that combining quantitative and molecular approaches with standard taxonomy greatly benefi ts the identifi cation of cryptic species

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

Closed-loop, multiobjective optimization of two-dimensional gas chromatography/mass spectrometry for serum metabolomics

Metabolomics seeks to measure potentially all the metabolites in a biological sample, and consequently, we need to develop and optimize methods to increase significantly the number of metabolites we can detect. We extended the closed-loop (iterative, automated) optimization system that we had previously developed for one-dimensional GC-TOF-MS (O'Hagan, S.; Dunn, W. B.; Brown, M.; Knowles, J. D.; Kell, D. B. Anal. Chem. 2005, 77, 290−303) to comprehensive two-dimensional (GC×GC) chromatography. The heuristic approach used was a multiobjective version of the efficient global optimization algorithm. In just 300 automated runs, we improved the number of metabolites observable relative to those in 1D GC by some 3-fold. The optimized conditions allowed for the detection of over 4000 raw peaks, of which some 1800 were considered to be real metabolite peaks and not impurities or peaks with a signal/noise ratio of less than 5. A variety of computational methods served to explain the basis for the improvement. This closed-loop optimization strategy is a generic and powerful approach for the optimization of any analytical instrumentation