Developmental stability and leadership effectiveness

Developmental stability is the degree to which we can withstand environmental or genetic stressors during development. Fluctuating asymmetry (FA), concerns the extent to which the right and left side of the body is asymmetrical and is one way to measure developmental stability. Two studies were carried out that examined both the predictive value of leader FA with leadership behaviors and its role in facilitating group performance. The first study examined the hypothesis that a leader's FA is correlated with scores on the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). The results revealed individuals with a more asymmetrical morphology scored higher on the transformational, but not transactional, dimensions of leadership behavior. A second study examined the hypothesis that asymmetrical morphology and leadership effectiveness would share a positive relationship. In this study participants who led a business game exercise, revealed a positive relationship between FA and self-reported well-being and task satisfaction. Importantly, there was also a positive correlation between the leader's FA score and group performance. The role that developmental stability may play in leadership effectiveness is discussed in the wider context of evolutionary psychology.

Innovation, productivity and growth in US business services:a firm-level analysis

This paper examines the impact of innovation on the performance of US business service firms. We distinguish between different levels of innovation (new-to-market and new-to-firm) in our analysis, and allow explicitly for sample selection issues. Reflecting the literature, which highlights the importance of external interaction in service innovation, we pay particular attention to the role of external innovation linkages and their effect on business performance. We find that the presence of service innovation and its extent has a consistently positive effect on growth, but no effect on productivity. There is evidence that the growth effect of innovation can be attributed, at least in part, to the external linkages maintained by innovators in the process of innovation. External linkages have an overwhelmingly positive effect on (innovator) firm performance, regardless of whether innovation is measured as a discrete or continuous variable, and regardless of the level of innovation considered.

Governance regimes, corruption and growth: theory and evidence

We study the role of political accountability as a determinant of corruption and economic growth. Our model identifies two governance regimes defined by the quality of political institutions and shows that the relationship between corruption and growth is regime specific. We use a threshold model to estimate the impact of corruption on growth where corruption is treated as an endogenous variable. We find two governance regimes, conditional on the quality of political institutions. In the regime with high quality political institutions, corruption has a substantial negative impact on growth. In the regime with low quality institutions, corruption has no impact on growth.

Development and growth of the lichen Rhizocarpon geographicum

The development of new areolae on the marginal hypothallus of the lichen Rhizocarpon geographicum (L.) DC was studied after complete or partial removal of the central areolae. New areolae developed slowly on the isolated hypothalli over two years. Development was similar when the areolae were completely removed and when the central areolae were separated from the marginal hypothallus by ‘moats’ 2 to 5 mm in width. However, in intact thalli, the marginal areolae developed rapidly during Jan. – June 1986 but showed periods of retreat from the margin during Oct. - Dec. 1985 and July – Sept. 1986. These results suggested that primary areolae may develop from free-living algal cells trapped by the hypothallus while secondary areolae may develop from zoospores produced by the thallus. Complete removal of the areolae resulted in no measurable radial growth of the marginal hypothallus over 18 months. Removal of the central areolae to within 1 and 2 mm of the hypothallus significantly reduced growth. These results suggest that the areolae may supply the hypothallus with carbon for growth. When the marginal hypothallus was experimentally removed a new hypothallus developed within one year. Regeneration occurred initially by retreat of the marginal areolae and later by new hyphal growth. The concentration of ribitol, arabitol and mannitol was measured in the areolae and marginal hypothallus on four occasions in 1985/6 in a population growing on a steep south facing rock surface. The three carbohydrates were present in significantly higher concentration in the areolae than in the hypothallus. Hence, the slow growth of this species may result from inhibited transport of carbohydrate from areolae to hypothallus.

FDI, trade and growth, a causal link?

. FDI, Trade and Growth, a Causal Link? (RP0710) Prof Nigel DRIFFIELD Dr Rakesh BISSOONDEEAL Mayang Pramadhani Non-technical Summary This paper explores the relationship between imports, exports, foreign direct investment and growth. For some time there has been a good deal of debate whether trade and foreign direct investment) FDI are substitutes and complements, with the existing literature generating some rather contradictory findings. We show, for Indonesia that inward FDI and both imports and exports are complementary, and further that FDI causes an increase in trade. This is of particular interest for a country such as Indonesia, that has attracted a high proportion of export-orientated inward investment. This, theoretically at least is associated with an increase in imports, in the form of capital goods and components, but a reduction in imports. We show that the previous literature that fails to find such a relationship does so because both trade and FDI are associated with growth, and previous work ignores these growth effects when seeking to isolate the relationship between trade and FDI.

Seasonal growth and growth rate-colony size relationships in six species of saxicolous lichens

The pattern of seasonal growth and the relation of growth rate to colony size were studied in four foliose and two crustose species of saxicolous lichens. A new method of measuring growth was used whereby the advance of a sample of lobes along millimetres marked on the substrate was measured under a magnification of x10. Three peaks of growth were found(in March, June and November) for the foliose species and a single peak (in May to August) for the crustose species. THe peaks of growth corresponded approximately to peaks of rainfall. Growth rate in relation to increasing colony size fell in a smooth exponential curve when expressed on a cm squared/ cm squared/ unit time basis. The result is consistent with a linear radial rate for most of the thallus sizes for the six species. There is also evidence for an exponential incresae in growth rate initially until about 1.5 cm thallus diameter in two of the sepcies when the linear radial rate is achieved.

Glycogen, the preferred energy source for extracellular protein formation and growth of Aeromonas salmonicida

A study was made of the effect of supplementing a rich 3% (w/v) tryptone soya broth (TSB) medium and a poorer 1.7% (w/v) tryptone-based medium with glucose, maltose and glycogen, as carbon sources, on growth and exoprotein formation by Aeromonas salmonicida. In TSB, glucose inhibited growth and repressed exoprotein formation whilst maltose and glycogen had little effect, up to 20 h, when compared with an unsupplemented control. By contrast, in the poorer medium, over a 24-h incubation period, growth was stimulated three-fold by glycogen, and whilst exoprotein formation was low in comparison with that observed in TSB, the greatest production was observed in the presence of glycogen. Extracellular alpha-amylase was measured in the tryptone medium in the presence of the three carbon sources and the highest level, produced in the presence of glycogen, was 1.6 times that with added maltose whilst none was detectable with glucose present. This pattern was repeated in the case of the maltose-inducible porin, LamB, of the outer membrane.

Increased potential of a cationic liposome-based delivery system:enhancing stability and sustained immunological activity in pre-clinical development

The combination of dimethyl dioctadecyl ammonium bromide (DDA) and the synthetic cord factor trehalose dibehenate (TDB) with Ag85B-ESAT-6 (H1 fusion protein) has been found to promote strong protective immune responses against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The development of a vaccine formulation that is able to facilitate the requirements of sterility, stability and generation of a vaccine product with acceptable composition, shelf-life and safety profile may necessitate selected alterations in vaccine formulation. This study describes the implementation of a sterilisation protocol and the use of selected lyoprotective agents in order to fulfil these requirements. Concomitantly, close analysis of any alteration in physico-chemical characteristics and parameters of immunogenicity have been examined for this promising DDA liposome-based tuberculosis vaccine. The study addresses the extensive guidelines on parameters for non-clinical assessment, suitable for liposomal vaccines and other vaccine delivery systems issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the European Medicines Agency (EMEA). Physical and chemical stability was observed following alteration in formulations to include novel cryoprotectants and radiation sterilisation. Immunogenicity was maintained following these alterations and even improved by modification with lysine as the cryoprotective agent for sterilised formulations. Taken together, these results outline the successful alteration to a liposomal vaccine, representing improved formulations by rational modification, whilst maintaining biological activity.