Integration of markets vs. integration by agreements

This paper provides an analysis of the two channels of regional integration: integration via markets and integration via agreements. Given that East Asia and Latin America are two fertile regions where both forms of integrations have taken place, the authors examine the experiences of these two areas. There are four related results. First, East Asia had been integrating via markets long before formal agreements were in vogue in the region. Latin America, by contrast, has primarily used formal regional trade treaties as the main channel of integration. Second, despite the relative lack of formal regional trade treaties until recently, East Asia is more integrated among itself than Latin America. Third, from a purely economic and trade standpoint, the proper sequence of integrations seems to be first integrating via markets and subsequently via formal regional trade agreements. Fourth, regional trade agreements often serve multiple constituents. The reason why integrating via markets first can be helpful is because this can give stronger political bargaining power to the outward-looking economic-oriented forces within the country.Trade Law,Free Trade,Trade and Regional Integration,Trade Policy,Emerging Markets

Impact Of Same-Race Mentoring On Adult Female African-American Students Enrolled At A Regional State College

This qualitative case study explored the importance and role of race in mentoring relationships of adult female African-American students. In addition, this study presents the experiences and obstacles faced by adult female African-American students working one on one with non-minority mentors at Reginal State College. A final purpose of the study was to document students’ perceptions about their levels of academic success with a White mentor or with an African-American mentor. This is a mentoring model in which students are assigned to a mentor from the time they are admitted to the college, and they work one on one with this mentor through graduation. Regional State College is a predominantly White (about 87 % of faculty and staff are White) regional state college in Northeast United States, which historically has struggled with creating an environment that welcomes and appreciates diversity. The study suggests to what extent the race of the mentor matters to student success and development. Eight female African-American students participated in this study. The primary method for data collection was interviews with the selected participants. Data were thoroughly examined through coding techniques to provide a complete analysis of the results. Three major themes emerged from this data providing a strong framework to understand the participants’ perspectives on mentoring relationships. The three themes that emerged from the interpretation of the data provided valuable insights into the educational journeys of eight adult female African-American students and their relationships with their mentors. The results from this study demonstrate that, although some adult female African-American students have been successful in their mentoring relationships with mentors outside of their race and gender, they all expressed their preference to have a female African-American mentor

Single-molecule fret study on structural dynamics of membrane proteins

De Na+ -gekoppelde betaïne symporter BetP van de bacterie Corynebacterium glutamicum gaat hyperosmotische stress tegen en wordt gereguleerd via een osmodetecterend C-terminaal domein. Hoewel de biochemie van het systeem goed is gekarakteriseerd, is structurele informatie slechts gedeeltelijk beschikbaar, vanwege een ontbrekend C-terminaal domein in de kristalstructuur. Dus zowel het activerings- als transportmechanisme blijven onopgelost. We hebben verschillende enkele molecuul technieken ontwikkeld om de conformationele dynamiek en heterogeniteit van BetP te bestuderen in proof-of-principle studies en een gedetailleerde mechanistische studie van transportactivatie.The Na+ coupled betaine symporter BetP counteracts hyperosmotic stress and is regulated via an osmosensing C-terminal domain. While the biochemistry of the system is well characterized, structural information is only partially available due to a lacking C-terminal domain in the crystal structure. Thus, both the activation and transport mechanism remain elusive. In this work, we established different single-molecule-based methods to study the conformational dynamics and heterogeneity of BetP in proof-of-principle studies (chapter 2/3) and a detailed mechanistic study of transport activation. Our studies showed that smFRET approach was sussefully adopted for BetP and we obtained the results that was not yet accompolished by standard strucrtal biology teqniques such as crystal structure method. The established methods will pave the way for future single-molecule studies and enhanced mechanistic understanding of the secondary-active transporter BetP in a near-native biochemistry environment