Diasporas disentangled: The cultivation of an open/spiral imagination in Tourism Studies

© 2015 Cognizant, LLC. This companion article by Ivanova and Hollinshead seeks to show how "the changing same of the diasporic imaginal" (after Leroi Jones, via Gilroy) often conceivably constitutes "a wicked problem" (after Brown, Harris, and Russell) that is often so complex in its characteristics that hard and fast definitions about it (and solutions for its problematics) are not easy to conjure up. Thus, in order to monitor how ethnic, cultural, and historic codes are switched and hybridized in and through the inconstant identifications of diasporic senses of inheritance and aspiration, this article endeavors to show how transdisciplinary lines of inspection may prove useful. Taken in tandem with the previous article by Hollinshead, the two dovetailed articles thereby comprise no tributary celebration of the purity of ethnic or national culture, but one that indeed demands a high degree of open interpretive imagination if such matters of ambivalence and ambiguity are to be gradually and meaningfully deciphered

Developing an Ecological Model of Turnover Intent: Associations Among Child Welfare Caseworkers’ Characteristics, Lived Experience, Professional Attitudes, Agency Culture, and Proclivity to Leave

Almost a quarter of the child welfare workforce leaves their job each year, and despite clarion calls over the decades, our insights into dynamics underlying turnover remain limited. Using survey data from 276 caseworkers in a Midwestern state, this analysis explores an array of personality, stress, attitudinal, and perception measures and their association with three measures of turnover intent: thinking about quitting, intending to search, and intent to leave. Findings indicate that controlling for demographic factors, burnout, and confidence in decision support from agency leadership had consistent and strong associations with all three outcomes (positive for burnout; negative for decision support). In contrast, associations between conscientiousness, open-mindedness, secondary traumatic stress, and attitudes favoring family preservation over child safety varied in their significance, orientation, and strength depending on the outcome in question. Given that the most powerful and consistent predictors of turnover intentions are potentially malleable, these findings indicate that these are two important areas for agencies to consider developing interventions. Moreover, despite the commonalities, the finding that the three outcomes examined were associated with different predictors, suggests they may be distinguishing phases of contemplation and action along a pre-turnover continuum. Future research will explore the relative predictive validity of these scales

Politicization and political contests in and around contemporary multinational corporations: An introduction

© 2018, © The Author(s) 2018. This article looks at core arguments in international business, organization studies and surrounding academic fields that focus on the study of politicization and political contests in and around multinational corporations (MNCs). Two evident streams of debate are identified. Equally evident is that these streams hardly connect. One stream is mainly interested in studying politicization from the outside, whereas the other is mainly interested in politicization from within. As a way of connecting both streams, we introduce the circuits of power framework. Next, we introduce the contributions of our Special Issue, followed by concluding comments which distinguish five emergent themes. First, we show how the application of the circuits of power framework sheds new light on the study of political contests of MNCs. Second, we highlight that the role of nation states has not lost its significance as, for example, political corporate social responsibility (CSR) approaches would have us believe. Third, dominant ideologies play an important role in establishing and controlling circuits of power in and around MNCs. Fourth, it is vital to take labour issues into account in this field of study. Fifth, there is increasing evidence that asymmetric and hierarchical forms of organizing do not disappear in new MNC network forms

A Nuclear Localization Signal in Herpesvirus Protein VP1-2 Is Essential for Infection via Capsid Routing to the Nuclear Pore

To initiate infection, herpesviruses must navigate to and transport their genomes across the nuclear pore. VP1-2 is a large structural protein of the virion that is conserved in all herpesviruses and plays multiple essential roles in virus replication, including roles in early entry. VP1-2 contains an N-terminal basic motif which functions as an efficient nuclear localization signal (NLS). In this study, we constructed a mutant HSV strain, K.VP1-2ΔNLS, which contains a 7-residue deletion of the core NLS at position 475. This mutant fails to spread in normal cells but can be propagated in complementing cell lines. Electron microscopy (EM) analysis of infection in noncomplementing cells demonstrated capsid assembly, cytoplasmic envelopment, and the formation of extracellular enveloped virions. Furthermore, extracellular virions isolated from noncomplementing cells had similar profiles and abundances of structural proteins. Virions containing VP1-2ΔNLS were able to enter and be transported within cells. However, further progress of infection was prevented, with at least a 500- to 1,000-fold reduction in the efficiency of initiating gene expression compared to that in the revertant. Ultrastructural and immunofluorescence analyses revealed that the K.VP1-2ΔNLS mutant was blocked at the microtubule organizing center or immediately upstream of nuclear pore docking and prior to gene expression. These results indicate that the VP1-2 NLS is not required for the known assembly functions of the protein but is a key requirement for the early routing to the nuclear pore that is necessary for successful infection. Given its conservation, we propose that this motif may also be critical for entry of other classes of herpesviruses

Investigating the great crested newt landscape in a pond rich environment : developing a landscape scale management perspective

This thesis investigated graph theoretic analysis of connectivity and habitat availability for landscape scale management of Triturus cristatus, the Great Crested Newt. The ecological foundations of wider landscape management concepts and knowledge base on T. cristatus' habitat requirements, dispersal and migration were explored. Species presence, and aquatic and terrestrial habitat on the Cholmondeley Estate, Malpas, Cheshire, UK was mapped and land cover characterized for suitability and traversibility by T. cristatus. Habitat area available and accessible from ponds were identified. Analysis and modelling of pondscape connectivity using Probability of Connectivity (PC) and related indices, was carried out using Euclidean and Cost Weighted Distance and pond clustering at ecologically relevant scales was examined. Association or correlation of presence with proximity to breeding ponds, pond cluster size, proximity and available quantity of terrestrial habitat, proximity to roads and moving water, and connectivity of breeding ponds were examined at Cost Weighted and Euclidean distances. Connectivity, (PC index), pond count in clusters at 250 and 500m thresholds of connectivity, and proximity to core habitat (broad leaved woodland and rough grassland) using Cost Weighted distances were positively associated with breeding presence. Road proximity and density, proximity of core habitat at Euclidean distances and mean inter-pond distance were not significantly associated with breeding presence. Proximity to moving water was negatively associated with breeding presence. Resistance to movement of various land cover types has important implications for habitat availability and connectivity, , / and important questions are raised in terms of "rule of thumb" guidelines for estimation of connectivity between pond populations and habitat availability around breeding ponds. Graph analysis was used to identify priority areas for maintenance of landscape level connectivity, and enhancement of habitat connectivity and availability on the local population scale, with prioritization of pond creation/protection sites against their contribution to connectivity and habitat I availability, examining various scenarios

A New Inhibitor of Apoptosis from Vaccinia Virus and Eukaryotes

A new apoptosis inhibitor is described from vaccinia virus, camelpox virus, and eukaryotic cells. The inhibitor is a hydrophobic, multiple transmembrane protein that is resident in the Golgi and is named GAAP (Golgi anti-apoptotic protein). Stable expression of both viral GAAP (v-GAAP) and human GAAP (h-GAAP), which is expressed in all human tissues tested, inhibited apoptosis induced by intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic stimuli. Conversely, knockout of h-GAAP by siRNA induced cell death by apoptosis. v-GAAP and h-GAAP display overlapping functions as shown by the ability of v-GAAP to complement for the loss of h-GAAP. Lastly, deletion of the v-GAAP gene from vaccinia virus did not affect virus replication in cell culture, but affected virus virulence in a murine infection model. This study identifies a new regulator of cell death that is highly conserved in evolution from plants to insects, amphibians, mammals, and poxviruses

Performing heritage: the use of live 'actors' in heritage presentations

This paper investigates the phenomenon of 'living history' presentations of heritage, using live 'actors' to portray historical characters. Its aim is to discuss these presentations in the context of what may be understood as 'heritage', and of the nature of 'performance'. Four case studies of heritage sites, each important as a tourist attraction, have been selected for detailed study, together with a number of other examples of heritage performance. It is clear from the empirical work that different performance strategies are employed within the heritage industry and by individual 'actors'. Most of the performers take part as a leisure activity, and many do not consider themselves to be 'performing' at all. The greatest concern of participants lies in the degree of authenticity of the performance. Through 'living history', the 'actors' are drawn into an experience of heritage which has real meaning for them, and which may contribute both to a sense of identity and to an enhanced understanding of society, past and present. The popularity of such presentations with visitors also indicates that similar benefits are perceived by the 'audience'

Session 3: Access to Financial Services - The Promise (and Challenges) of Fintech

For many Americans, the American Dream is a dream deferred. Recently, there has been an explosion in demand for diversity, equity, and inclusion in financial services. This has coincided with an explosion of a different kind related to delivering financial services through innovations in technology, otherwise known as FinTech. We have seen a plethora of FinTech applications on our smartphones, ranging from online lending to remote deposit making. While these applications provide potential opportunities to level the playing field for those whose dream has been deferred, there remain challenges

Dual Function of the pUL7-pUL51 Tegument Protein Complex in Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Infection

The tegument of herpesviruses is a highly complex structural layer between the nucleocapsid and the envelope of virions. Tegument proteins play both structural and regulatory functions during replication and spread, but the interactions and functions of many of these proteins are poorly understood. Here we focus on two tegument proteins from herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1), pUL7 and pUL51, which have homologues in all other herpesviruses. We have now identified that HSV-1 pUL7 and pUL51 form a stable and direct protein-protein interaction, their expression levels rely on the presence of each other, and they function as a complex in infected cells. We demonstrate that expression of the pUL7-pUL51 complex is important for efficient HSV-1 assembly and plaque formation. Furthermore, we also discovered that the pUL7-pUL51 complex localizes to focal adhesions at the plasma membrane in both infected cells and in the absence of other viral proteins. The expression of pUL7-pUL51 is important to stabilize focal adhesions and maintain cell morphology in infected cells and cells infected with viruses lacking pUL7 and/or pUL51 round up more rapidly than cells infected with wild-type HSV-1. Our data suggest that, in addition to the previously reported functions in virus assembly and spread for pUL51, the pUL7-pUL51 complex is important for maintaining the attachment of infected cells to their surroundings through modulating the activity of focal adhesion complexes. $\textbf{IMPORTANCE}$: The $\textit{Herpesviridae }$ is a large family of highly successful human and animal pathogens. Virions of these viruses are composed of many different proteins, most of which are contained within the tegument, a complex structural layer between the nucleocapsid and the envelope within virus particles. Tegument proteins have important roles in assembling virus particles as well as modifying host cells to promote virus replication and spread. However, little is known about the function of many tegument proteins during virus replication. Our study focuses on two tegument proteins from herpes simplex virus 1 that are conserved in all herpesviruses: pUL7 and pUL51. We demonstrate that these proteins directly interact and form a functional complex that is important for both virus assembly and modulation of host cell morphology. Further, we identify for the first time that these conserved herpesvirus tegument proteins localize to focal adhesions in addition to cytoplasmic juxtanuclear membranes within infected cells.This work was supported by the Leverhulme Trust (grant RPG-2012-793 to C.M.C.), the Royal Society (University Research Fellowship UF090010 to C.M.C.), and the Royal Society and the Wellcome Trust (Sir Henry Dale Fellowship 098406/Z/12/Z to S.C.G.). L.D. was supported by Wellcome Trust Ph.D. Programme funding (086158/Z/08/Z). D.J.O. was supported by a John Lucas Walker studentship. M.F.A. was supported by a Commonwealth Scholarship Commission PhD scholarship (BDCA-2014-7)