Competitiveness for Nodule Colonization in Sinorhizobium meliloti: Combined In Vitro -Tagged Strain Competition and Genome-Wide Association Analysis

Decoding the competitive pattern that occurs in the rhizosphere is challenging in the study of bacterial social interaction strategies. To date, the single-gene approach has mainly been used to uncover the bases of nodulation, but there is still a knowledge gap regarding the main features that a priori characterize rhizobial strains able to outcompete indigenous rhizobia.

Competitive Pattern of Foreign Direct Investment in India

Globalization can be summarized as opening-up of markets, leading to transfer of capital, technology and people. However, another important dimension of globalization is multilateralism. The international economic reforms encourage multilateralism leads allocative efficiency. Multilateralism implies importing capital from a variety of sources as may be most efficient. Indias FDI policy is in alignment with global FDI. In 1991, India had receiving FDI from 86 investing countries, which reached to 137 investing countries in 2013. This indicates global attractiveness and preferred investment destination. The paper examines FDI investing pattern of source countries in India. The period of study is 1991-2013. The paper applies a set of new indices like Index of Rank Dominance (IRD) and Bodenhorns measure of Mobility and Turnover. The most dominant country is USA. The RIRD (Relative Index of Rank Dominance) are top heavy. The first five countries are investing more than 60 percent FDI in India. Asian Tiger countries invested around 11 percent and BRICS countries have insignificant FDI in India. The competitive pattern of FDI has been declined among three different grouping countries. The global FDI in India has been declined 8 percent per annum in spite of favoured investment destination.

Follow the Leaders: competition in the Brazilian Auto Financing Sector

This study seeks to understand the competitive pattern and strategy of the firms in the Brazilian automobile financing market. First, we analyzed the strong segmentation observed in this market, determining market niches. We then estimated reaction functions to price changes. The results indicated that the three largest companies in the sector have a strong influence on interest rate setting within the entire segment. This phenomenon characterizes the competition of this sector as the leader-follower type, rather than Bertrand competition, the latter of which is often expected in the banking sector and it demonstrates the existence of the leading firms' market power.

Competitive Pattern-Based Strategies under Complexity

This chapter augments current Enterprise Architecture (EA) frameworks to become pattern-based. The main motivation behind pattern-based EA is the support for strategic decisions based on the patterns prioritized in a country or industry. Thus, to validate the need for pattern-based EA, it is essential to show how different patterns gain priority under different contexts, such as industries. To this end, this chapter also reveals the value of alternative managerial strategies across different industries and business functions in a specific market, namely Turkey. Value perceptions for alternative managerial strategies were collected via survey, and the values for strategies were analyzed through the rigorous application of statistical techniques. Then, evidence was searched and obtained from business literature that support or refute the statistically supported hypothesis. The results obtained through statistical analysis are typically confirmed with reports of real world cases in the business literature. Results suggest that Turkish firms differ significantly in the way they value different managerial strategies. There also exist differences based on industries and business functions. The study provides guidelines to managers in Turkey, an emerging country, on which strategies are valued most in their industries. This way, managers can have a better understanding of their competitors and business environment and can develop the appropriate pattern-based EA to cope with complexity and succeed in the market.

Selective inhibition of Zn2+-glycerophosphocholine cholinephosphodiesterase by tellurium tetrachloride

A Zn(2+)-glycerophosphocholine cholinephosphodiesterase (EC 3.1.4.38) purified from mouse brain was found to be reversibly inhibited by tellurium tetrachloride. This effect was characterized by a competitive pattern of inhibition, with apparent Ki values of 0.7 microM and 1.5 microM for the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenylphosphocholine and glycerophosphocholine respectively. Interestingly, the inhibitory effect of tellurium tetrachloride was found to be greatly potentiated by tetramethylammonium salt, indicative of a synergistic interaction between the two compounds. Additionally, it was observed that the effect of tellurium tetrachloride was not affected by a number of other metal ions, and was more pronounced at neutral pH, suggesting that the inhibitory role of the tellurium tetrachloride may be of importance under physiological conditions. Thus Zn(2+)-glycerophosphocholine cholinephosphodiesterase is proposed to be one of the target enzymes which is susceptible to the inhibitory effect of tellurium tetrachloride.