			Home About us Contact

North East (north + east)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Fluctuating Rounds of Inward Investment in Peripheral Regions: Semiconductors in the North East of England

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2007
Stuart Dawley
Abstract: This article extends economic geography research on foreign direct investment episodes by developing a historically grounded understanding of the socio-institutional relations that shape and constrain different rounds of (dis)investment by multinational enterprises (MNEs) within a host region. Sensitive to the roles of contextuality, path dependency, and contingency, it argues that the temporal and spatial dynamics of volatile MNE (dis)investment are best tackled using a conceptual framework that accords a full and active role to the agency of the firm and its interrelations with the geographically variable socioinstitutional contexts that produce, regulate, and mediate investment decisions. The framework is used to interpret the brief but fluctuating history of the semiconductor fabrication industry in North Tyneside in the old industrial region of North East England. Within each investment episode, the empirical findings reveal the pivotal power and agency of the corporation in shaping and connecting processes across a variety of scales, places, and times. Contrasting corporate strategies illustrate the dynamic and contingent ways in which home and host national institutional contexts matter in mediating and regulating MNE investment decisions. [source]

Survival of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in private drinking water wells: influences of protozoan grazing and elevated copper concentrations

FEMS MICROBIOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 1 2002
Rebekka R.E Artz
Abstract The survival characteristics of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in private drinking water wells were investigated to assess the potential for human exposure. A non-toxigenic, chromosomally lux -marked strain of E. coli O157:H7 was inoculated into well water from four different sites in the North East of Scotland. These waters differed significantly in their heavy metal contents as well as nutrient and bacterial grazer concentrations. Grazing and other biological factors were studied using filtered (3 and 0.2 ,m) and autoclaved water. The survival of E. coli O157:H7 was primarily decreased by elevated copper concentrations. This hypothesis was supported by acute toxicity assay data. In addition, significant protozoan predation effects were observed in untreated water when compared with survival rates in filtered water. The combination of these two factors in particular determines the survival time of the pathogen in a private water well. It therefore appears that wells with higher water quality as assessed using the European Union Drinking Water Directive standards will also allow survival of E. coli O157:H7 for much longer periods. [source]

Spatial and temporal dynamics of Myzus persicae clones in fields and suction traps

AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 2 2008
Louise Kasprowicz
Abstract 1,The population of peach-potato aphid Myzus persicae in Scotland is comprised almost entirely of long-term asexual clones. 2,Over a ten year period, M. persicae from Scottish fields and suction traps were analysed with six microsatellite markers. 3,Out of 1497 individuals analysed, 14 clones (denoted A,N) comprised over 98% of the collection. 4,Some clones were particularly abundant but most clones had a widespread distribution on all available plants. 5,Clones E and L had distinct features in their distributions as clone L was geographically totally restricted to the north east of Scotland and clone E showed a marked preference for brassica crops. 6,Clones E and L provide direct evidence of a role for local adaptations in the distribution of M. persicae clones. [source]

Geschichte und Evolution der Lactose(in)toleranz.

BIOLOGIE IN UNSERER ZEIT (BIUZ), Issue 6 2009
Das Erbe der frühen Viehzüchter
Abstract Die Fähigkeit, auch im Erwachsenenalter noch Lactose verarbeiten zu können, basiert auf Punktmutationen in einem dem Lactase-(LPH-)Gen vorgelagerten Sequenzbereich, der Bindestellen für Regulatorproteine enthält. Die Ursache für die weltweit sehr uneinheitliche Verteilung der Lactase-Persistenz liegt in der europäischen Menschheitsgeschichte: Im Verlauf des 8. vorchristlichen Jahrtausends entwickelte sich im Nahen Osten innerhalb einer größtenteils lactoseintoleranten Population eine Tradition der Milchviehzucht und des Milchverzehrs. Durch den starken Selektionsdruck auf die Lactosetoleranz verbreiteten sich die mutierten Allele sehr schnell. Während des 7. Jahrtausends v. Chr. begannen etliche dieser Populationen sukzessiv Europa zu besiedeln. Auch im nordöstlichen Afrika und auf der arabischen Halbinsel entstand eine Milchwirtschaft, die jedoch auf anderen Mutationen basiert. The ability to digest lactose in adulthood is baised on point mutations within an upstream region of the lactase-(LPH-)gene. This region contains multiple binding sites for different transcription factors. The heterogenous distribution of the lactase persistence all over the world originates from the European history of humanity: in the course of the eighth millennium BC among a mainly lactose-intolerant population in the Near East evolved a cultural practice of dairy farming and milk consumption. As a result of the strong and positive selection the mutated alleles spread out rapidly. In the course of the seventh millennium BC many of these populations gradually settled Central Europe. The beginning of dairy farming in the north east of the African continent and on the Arabian Peninsula are based upon different point mutations. [source]