Accumulation Strategies Research Articles

Artificial immune network clustering based on affinity accumulation

Artificial immune network clustering is often ineffective when there is noise or undefined cluster boundary in the data.Enlightened by the diversity of immune system,an artificial immune network clustering method based on affinity accumulation was proposed.The method introduced the idea of affinity accumulation and effective evolution strategies into antibodies,and used affinity accumulation in antibodies to describe the distribution trend of spatial density of data.It resulted in a clear cluster structure for the memory network with the effect of secondary immunity.The experimental results show that,the method is effective in clustering while dealing with undefined boundary problems,and is powerful in avoiding noise.

Accumulation Strategies and Human Development in India

India is frequently cited as one of the ‘success stories’ of globalization, with respect to its economic growth performance, during the past two and half decades. However, the very pattern of recent growth resulted in regional imbalances, greater inequalities in the control over assets and incomes, dispossession and displacement without adequate compensation and rehabilitation. Apart from this, there are clear failures of this growth process, even from a long-run perspective. An important failure is the worrying absence of structural change, in terms of the ability to shift the labour force out of low-productivity activities, especially in agriculture, to higher productivity and better remunerated activities. Furthermore, it is evident that the relatively rapid economic growth has not translated into better human development conditions for a large proportion of the population.

Unifying Prolonged Copper Exposure, Accumulation, and Toxicity from Food and Water in a Marine Fish

The link between metal exposure and toxicity is complicated by numerous factors such as exposure route. Here, we exposed a marine fish (juvenile blackhead seabream Acanthopagrus schlegelii schlegelii) to copper either in a commercial fish diet or in seawater. Copper concentrations in intestine/liver were correlated linearly with influx rate, but appeared to be less influenced by uptake pathway (waterborne or dietary exposure). Influx rate best predicted Cu accumulation in the intestine and liver. However, despite being a good predictor of mortality within each pathway, influx rate was not a good predictor of mortality across both exposure pathways, as waterborne Cu caused considerably higher mortality than dietary Cu at a given influx rate. We show that the use of gill Cu accumulation irrespective of the exposure route as a model for observed fish mortality provided a clear relationship between accumulation and toxicity. Investigation of gill Cu accumulation may shed light on the different accumulation strategies from the two exposure pathways. This correlation offers potential for the use of branchial Cu concentration as an indicator of long-term Cu toxicity, allowing for differences in the relative importance of the uptake pathways in different field situations.

Victim of its own success? The platinum mining industry and the apartheid mineral property system in South Africa's political transition

The South African platinum industry has grown phenomenally since the mid 1990s to become the single largest component of the national mining sector in employment and sales-value terms. In line with Fine's (1992) contribution to a general theory of mining, this article presents an initial political economy of that industry by considering the critical role that the apartheid mineral property system played in its dominant strategy of competitive accumulation in the years leading to the current platinum boom. Emphasis is placed on the different forms of minerals ownership that mediated the access of platinum capital to mineral resources in the Bophuthatswana and Lebowa Bantustans, where the bulk of South Africa's vast platinum reserves were geopolitically located under apartheid and how the reproduction of these strategic mineral property relations was secured during the political transition to the benefit of the white platinum corporations. It concludes that the industry's very success in maintaining its proprietary control over the world's largest platinum endowment would combine with an unprecedented surge in global platinum demand to simultaneously position it as the most dynamic element of the post-apartheid mining economy and as the primary target of the new ANC government's minerals reform policy. [Victime de son propre succès? L'industrie minière de platine et le système apartheid de propriété minérale dans la transition politique en Afrique du Sud]. L'industrie du platine sud-africain a connu une croissance phénoménale depuis le milieu des années 1990 pour devenir la composante principale du secteur minier national en termes d'emploi et des ventes des valeurs actualisées. En ligne avec la contribution de Fine (1992) à une théorie générale de l'exploitation minière, cet article présente une économie politique initiale de cette industrie en considérant le rôle crucial que le système apartheid de propriété minérale a joué dans sa stratégie dominante d'accumulation compétitive dans les années qui avaient conduit à l'actuel boom économique de platine. L'accent est mis sur les différentes formes de propriétés minières qui ont servi de médiateur à l'accès du capital de platine pour les ressources minérales dans les bantoustans Bophuthatswana et Lebowa, les endroits géopolitiques de la majeure partie des vastes réserves de l'Afrique du Sud en platine sous l'apartheid, et comment la reproduction de ces rapports des propriétés minières stratégiques a été obtenues lors de la transition politique au profit des sociétés de platine caucasiennes. Il conclut que le succès même du secteur dans le maintien de son contrôle exclusif sur les rèserves mondiales de platine se combineraient avec une augmentation sans précédent de la demande mondiale de platine en le positionnant simultanément comme l'élément le plus dynamique de l'économie minière post apartheid et comme la cible principale du nouveau gouvernement de l'ANC en matière de politique de réforme minière. Mots-clés: exploitations minières de platine droits miniers Afrique du Sud propriété foncière Boputhatswana Lebowa

Theorizing Wisconsin's 2011 protests: Community‐based unionism confronts accumulation by dispossession

ABSTRACTRecent waves of social‐movement protest in Wisconsin challenge conventional understandings of labor activism, as they have responded not only to rollbacks of labor rights but also to privatization of state programs and resources and budget cuts that target poor and working families. Drawing from participant‐observation, I explore the question of whether the movements that arose in Wisconsin in early 2011 represented an expansion of union‐based activism struggling within the “expanded reproduction” of capital or a broader struggle against what New Enclosures Movement scholars have conceptualized as capital's ongoing primitive accumulation strategies. I examine the implications of the answer to this question for community‐based labor movements in Wisconsin and beyond. [community‐based unionism, labor, accumulation by dispossession, social movements, social protest]

In Silico Structural Determination of GPAT Enzyme from Ostreococcus Lucimarinus for Biotechnological Application of Microalgal Biofuel Production

ABSTRACTGlycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (GPAT) is an enzyme in the triacylglycerol (TAG) biosynthetic pathway that catalyses the conversion of glycerol-3-phosphate to lysophosphatidic acid. Targeting key enzymes involved in TAG pathway is considered to be a powerful strategy for augmented lipid accumulation in microorganisms. In the present study three-dimensional structure of the marine microalgae, Ostreococcus lucimarinus GPAT protein was developed based on the crystal structure of Cucurbita moschata GPAT protein. Besides, several structure validation tools were employed to confirm the reliability of the developed model. The predicted and validated model reveals the tertiary structure of GPAT monomer comprising of two domains, the smaller domain I, which folds into a four helix bundle, and the larger domain II, which is constructed from alternating α/β secondary structural elements that give rise to 9-stranded β sheet flanked by 11α helices. Critical structural analysis of the developed model reveals the presence of H(X) 4D motif; the latter being, a consensus sequence conserved amongst many glycerolipid acyltransferase. The detected cluster of positively charged residues H189, K243, H244, R285 and R287 in the model could be conjectured to be important in glycerol-3-phosphate recognition. The structural insight obtained from this in silico study may provide useful clues to further advanced biotechnological studies of strategic site-specific genetic and metabolic engineering of microalgae for enhanced biofuel production.

Foreign investment, black economic empowerment and militarised patronage politics in Zimbabwe

This paper seeks to analyse Zimbabwe's economic empowerment policy. It argues that while there is a felt need for Zimbabwe to redress colonially induced injustices and racial imbalances in the ownership of the means of production, a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to the indigenisation of the economy is fundamentally flawed as it deters investors and may further damage the country's already extremely fragile economy. The implementation of the land reform programme contributed to the decline of Zimbabwe's economy: lessons learnt from the programme and related economic policies of the past 15 years highlight the problems of empowerment policies that are intertwined with patronage politics. The government's negation of basic economic principles and failure to open spaces for critical engagement with all relevant stakeholders epitomises an ill-advised indigenisation and economic empowerment strategy. The policy will not promote and retain foreign investment;nor are there sustainable prospects of internally oriented accumulation strategies on the horizon.

Challenging Patriarchy: Trade, outward migration and the internationalization of Commercial sex among Bayang and Ejagham women in Southwest Cameroon

This paper documents the specific local and global socio-economic forces that led to the outward migration of Bayang and Ejagham women to work as commercial sex workers on the Cameroon-Nigeria border regions in the 1980s and 1990s. It demonstrates that these women’s personal accumulation strategies are adaptative- drawing on time and space specific modes of capitalist accumulation and kinship systems of power. The intertwined nature of these forms of accumulation demonstrate that patriarchal forms of power and capitalist forms of accumulation in this region were not competitive, but rather complementary systems. This conjuncture also gave women the latitude to claim some form of sexual and economic agency, suggesting that at least in Africa, patriarchy as a power field is dynamic and relational, simultaneously opening up spaces for both resistance and agency.The impact of sex work is disproportionate since most women of our study were involved in subsistence sex, with the risk of exposure to violence and HIV/AIDS. These women nevertheless sought to reconfigure gender relations.

Effect of substrate grain size on the growth and morphology of the submersed macrophyte Vallisneria natans L.

Experiments were conducted to investigate the growth and morphology of the submersed macrophyte Vallisneria natans in relation to seven substrate types. The study also aims to evaluate the influence of the grain size of the aquatic substrate on the submersed macrophyte. The results show that growth, morphology and biomass accumulation of V . natans were significantly affected by the physical properties of the growth substrate. Compared with V . natans grown in pebble and gravel substrates, V . natans grown in silt and clay substrates had greater height, more ramets and leaves, as well as greater biomass accumulation. No significant differences in biomass allocation patterns were found among the different experimental treatments. The total porosity and dry bulk density of the growth substrate strongly influence plant traits. Substantial positive correlations were observed between total porosity and height and total biomass. Also, negative correlations were observed between dry bulk density and height, number of ramets, total biomass and lacunal volume. These results indicate that at high concentrations of water-column nutrients, V . natans responds to different physical properties of the growth substrate by changing growth and biomass accumulation strategies, rather than by changing biomass allocation patterns. Compared with V . natans grown in substrates with larger grain sizes, V . natans appeared well-adapted to substrates with smaller grain sizes. Thus, the physical properties of the growth substrate could be important in determining submersed macrophyte colonization and distribution in shallow eutrophic lakes. This information may be useful in managing shallow eutrophic lakes wherein rooted submersed macrophytes are declining.

Improving pattern discovery and visualisation with self-adaptive neural networks through data transformations

The ability to reveal the relevant patterns in an intuitively attractive way through incremental learning makes self-adaptive neural networks (SANNs) a power tool to support pattern discovery and visualisation. Based on the combination of the information related to both the shape and magnitude of the data, this paper introduces a SANN, which implements new similarity matching criteria and error accumulation strategies for network growth. It was tested on two datasets including a real biological gene expression dataset. The results obtained have demonstrated several significant features exhibited by the proposed SANN model for improving pattern discovery and visualisation.

Commentary. The New Urban Politics Thesis

Birthed by and in turn giving substantive content to Harvey’s historical materialist manifesto for urban studies, it is possible to think of the New Urban Politics (NUP) thesis as in many ways a talented sibling carrying the hopes and aspirations of an expectant parent. Harvey’s mission of course was to persuade urban scholars that there existed an inescapable embroilment of urban processes in capitalism’s histories and geographies; cities were both constituted by and in turn were constitutive of, capitalism and its trajectories. The contribution of the NUP thesis was to mobilise this analytical framework to make sense of epochal transformations in the governance of the contemporary capitalist city and therein to provide insights into the ways in which, at this historical moment, Western cities might be apprehended as key sites in the struggle over the division of the national product. In part, the popularisation of the NUP thesis can be accounted for by the worldly dramas which unfolded as they did. In the early 1970s, the mileu in which modern Western cities existed was changing rapidly; the Fordist Keynesian compromise which had underpinned 30 years of economic growth and improved standards of living for all had collapsed. Subsequently, the assault on welfare systems wrought by ascendant rightist governments began and local governments came to recognise the full import of their diminished capacity to serve as managers, administers and adjudicators of the distribution of items of collection consumption. Meanwhile, the growing footlooseness and transnational ambitions of capital served to create a new set of expectations of and burdens on cities who—whether they sought it or not—were now charged with the responsibility of spearheading national accumulation strategies. Urban fortunes and futures would increasingly be defined by the capacity of cities to register the new zeitgeist, digest its meaning and implications, and define and enact a new modus operandus.

Role of the Double Luteinizing Hormone Peak, Luteinizing Follicles, and the Secretion of Inhibin for Dominant Follicle Selection in Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus)1

Elephants express two luteinizing hormone (LH) peaks timed 3 wk apart during the follicular phase. This is in marked contrast with the classic mammalian estrous cycle model with its single, ovulation-inducing LH peak. It is not clear why ovulation and a rise in progesterone only occur after the second LH peak in elephants. However, by combining ovarian ultrasound and hormone measurements in five Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), we have found a novel strategy for dominant follicle selection and luteal tissue accumulation. Two distinct waves of follicles develop during the follicular phase, each of which is terminated by an LH peak. At the first (anovulatory) LH surge, the largest follicles measure between 10 and 19.0 mm. At 7 ± 2.4 days before the second (ovulatory) LH surge, luteinization of these large follicles occurs. Simultaneously with luteinized follicle (LUF) formation, immunoreactive (ir) inhibin concentrations rise and stay elevated for 41.8 ± 5.8 days after ovulation and the subsequent rise in progesterone. We have found a significant relationship between LUF diameter and serum ir-inhibin level (r(2) = 0.82, P < 0.001). The results indicate that circulating ir-inhibin concentrations are derived from the luteinized granulosa cells of LUFs. Therefore, it appears that the development of LUFs is a precondition for inhibin secretion, which in turn impacts the selection of the ovulatory follicle. Only now, a single dominant follicle may deviate from the second follicular wave and ovulate after the second LH peak. Thus, elephants have evolved a different strategy for corpus luteum formation and selection of the ovulatory follicle as compared with other mammals.

Of legitimate and illegitimate corruption

PurposeThe concept of corruption is frequently represented as relating to social practices that violate established rules and norms. This paper, however, seeks to demonstrate that corrupt practices are often only possible because they in fact draw on existing institutional mechanisms and cultural dispositions that grant them a certain social approval and legitimacy. The paper aims to explore these issues through a detailed exploration of corruption in Nicaragua, which outlines how competing élite groups have been able to use different discourses to appropriate resources from the state in quite different ways, reflecting the use of contrasting mechanisms for justifying and legitimizing corruption.Design/methodology/approachThe paper focuses on two key periods of recent Nicaraguan political history: that which occurred during the administration of ex‐President Arnoldo Alemán and the events that unfurled in the aftermath of a chain of bank bankruptcies that occurred in Nicaragua during 2001. These events are explored in the context of David Harvey's ideas of “accumulation by dispossession.”FindingsIn contrast with more classic practices of corruption in Nicaragua that have openly violated existing formal rules and norms but appealed to an ethos of redistribution and a historically‐specific concept of “the public” in order to imbue their actions with legitimacy, the corrupt practices related to recent banking bankruptcies engaged in an extensive instrumentalization of formal state institutions in order to protect élite parochial interests and to achieve “accumulation by dispossession” through appealing to the legitimating support granted by multilateral financial institutions.Originality/valueThe paper illustrates sharply the inadvisability of perspectives that narrowly define corruption in legalistic terms. Such perspectives focus exclusively on the state as the location of corruption, whereas clearly, in Nicaragua as elsewhere, corruption is a far more complicated phenomenon which crosses the artificial boundaries between private and public sectors. It also evolves and takes a myriad different forms which are intimately connected with the ongoing struggles for control of accumulation processes, suggesting a much more integral role for corruption within accumulation strategies than often allowed for in both orthodox economic and Marxist literatures on capital accumulation.

Waterborne nickel bioaccumulation in Gammarus pulex: Comparison of mechanistic models and influence of water cationic composition

The biodynamic and saturation models offer promising lines of enquiry to predict the bioaccumulation of metals by aquatic organisms. However, in order to construct these models, the accumulation strategies have to be defined for each metal/organism couple in controlled conditions. This study aims at modelling the waterborne bioaccumulation of Ni and the influence of the water's geochemical properties on this process in a crustacean that is widely distributed in Europe, Gammarus pulex. In the laboratory, G. pulex was exposed to several Ni concentrations (from 0.001 to 100 mg L −1) in aquatic microcosms. Our results show that G. pulex is very tolerant to Ni (LC50 48 h = 477 mg L −1 Ni). Time course experiments enabled the construction of a biodynamic model by determining the uptake ( k u ) and elimination ( k e ) rate constants. When the exposure concentration exceeded 1 mg L −1 Ni, the metal uptake reached a maximum due to a limited number of binding sites for Ni. Therefore, the organism's maximal capacity to accumulate the metal ( B max ) and the half-saturation constant ( K) were determined to establish the saturation model. We showed that the two models are comparable for the lowest exposure concentrations (<1 mg L −1 Ni), with k u / k e = B max / K. Then, the bioaccumulation of Ni was recorded in waters exhibiting various concentrations of three major ions (Na +, Mg 2+ and Ca 2+). Only Ca had an inhibitory effect on the Ni uptake. This study reports for the first time the bioaccumulation of Ni in G. pulex. Because of its high tolerance to Ni and its high capacity to accumulate this metal, this crustacean could be used as an indicator of Ni bioavailability in freshwaters.

Crisis of temporalities: Global capitalism after the 2007–08 financial collapse

As global capitalism took shape, during the 1990s and early 2000s, high-speed, financialized profit making disrupted long-term strategies of capital accumulation centered upon production, employment, commodity exchange and aggregate demand. In addition, state constructions of time and temporality were besieged by the short-termist tendencies of financialized capitalism. This sharpened temporal disjunctures within the nationally constituted economy and the nationally circumscribed state. And, as upper reaches of many nation states conformed to the temporal urgency of supra-national decision-making bodies such as the IMF, national politics could not effectively process the slower rhythms of the representative assembly, the election cycle, public policy formation and mediated public debate. Against this background, the aftermath and repercussions of the 2007--08 financial collapse will be examined. Global capitalism became pervaded by a crisis of temporalities, manifestations of which can be summarized as follows. First, the temporal contradiction between financialized profit making and long-term strategies of capital accumulation remain unresolved; therefore, financial instability and recessionary spirals will be a recurring pattern. Second, in a world of financial turbulence and global recession, spatio-temporal fixities within and across particular national political economies have weakened or disintegrated. Third, the political impossibility of reconstructing Keynesian policy instruments at a national, supra-national and international level has generated a historic malaise. Unregulated financialized capitalism and neo-liberal policy regimes cannot be sustained over time, yet new political-economic arrangements characterized by spatio-temporal fixity are not in prospect.

The political economy of place at the post‐socialist urban periphery: governing growth on the edge of Moscow

What economic and policy conditions and power relations govern the transformation of the metropolitan periphery in post‐socialist nations and to what extent do these converge on those observed in similar locations in the United States and Western Europe? Drawing on original empirical research conducted on location, we consider the case of the rapidly growing city of Khimki at the edge of Moscow in order to expose the post‐Soviet variety of the political economy of place on the metropolitan periphery. We analyse both a broader institutional context of post‐socialist urbanisation (ideology of transition, Soviet legacy, urban planning, relationships between stakeholders) and more specific aspects of local growth and placemaking in Khimki. Superficially, recent development in Khimki includes elements that resemble those apparent in edge cities in the liberal market economies and even appear to be promoted by a post‐socialist variety of growth machine politics. On closer inspection, however, the post‐socialist local growth regime operates as specific political‐bureaucratic processes that question the relevance of the Western understanding of place‐centred coalitions as the key elements of a political economy of place. Accumulation strategies in the post‐socialist case are found to be less cartelised and localised than in the West and seen to be largely decoupled from any collective placemaking or growth agendas. We argue for the need to de‐emphasise the word ‘place’ and to accentuate the word ‘political’ in notions of a political economy of place when speaking of the post‐socialist metropolitan periphery.

Transforming Livelihoods and Assets through Participatory Approaches: The Kudumbashree in Kerala, India

This article explores to what extent decentralized structures can contribute to asset accumulation among disadvantaged groups, and improving livelihood choices. The process of asset accumulation is tied to the wider context of participatory institutions and opportunities within which social actors can transform assets into meaningful livelihood outcomes. Given its level of social development and civil society in the Indian state of Kerala, the Kudumbashree Initiative, an innovative community-based, decentralized participatory structure aims to build meaningful forms of assets at grassroots levels. Such participatory public action, based on social relationships as well as the combined efforts of the state and grassroots community organizations may provide valuable lessons for developing asset accumulation strategies.

Study of tin accumulation strategy by Cyperus species in pot experiments

The present investigation reports the results of Sn (tin) accumulated by Cyperussp. in a pot experiment on different levels of Sn supply (0, 0.5, 2, 6, 25, 60 mg/kg). All tested Cyperus species showed the different abilities to remove Sn which depend on species and concentrations level. Sn accumulated by the leaves, twigs and roots linearly increased with increasing Sn supply levels. The higher concentration Sn treatments significantly promoted the Sn accumulation. Cyperus rotundus L performed the stronger ability of Sn accumulation under different Sn supply treatments, while Cyperus alternifolius and Cyperus fastigiatus Rottb. had the poorer accumulation ability. Sn in soil was more intensively absorbed in the leaves and twigs for all three C. species, was not retained in roots and was transferred to plant tissues above the ground. The results indicated that Cyperus Sp. have excellent potential for Sn phytoremediation because of their high accumulation ability. Key words: Cyperus sp., tin, accumulation, phytoremediation.

The Changing Formations of the Power Bloc in Iran and the Neo-National Bourgeoisie

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to analyse the changing formation of the power bloc in Iran in the context of the changing global and regional constellation of power. The paper will attempt to examine the specific way through which a new fraction of the ruling class - what we identify as the neo-national bourgeoisie (NNB)2 - is formed and the way in which it has become ‘dominant’. For this purpose, we will analyse the neo-national bourgeoisie’s accumulation strategy, ideological approach and its attempt in restructuring of the state apparatuses.

Plutonium uptake and behavior in vegetation of the desert southwest: A preliminary assessment

Eight species of desert vegetation and associated soils were collected from the Nevada National Security Site (N2S2) and analyzed for 238Pu and 239 + 240Pu concentrations. Amongst the plant species sampled were: atmospheric elemental accumulators (moss and lichen), the very slow growing, long-lived creosote bush and the rapidly growing, short-lived cheatgrass brome. The diversity of growth strategies provided insight into the geochemical behavior and bio-availability of Pu at the N2S2. The highest concentrations of Pu were measured in the onion moss (24.27 Bq kg-1 238Pu and 52.78 Bq kg-1 239 + 240Pu) followed by the rimmed navel lichen (8.18 Bq kg-1 and 18.4 Bq kg-1 respectively), pointing to the importance of eolian transport of Pu. Brome and desert globemallow accumulated between 3 and 9 times higher concentrations of Pu than creosote and sage brush species. These results support the importance of species specific elemental accumulation strategies rather than exposure duration as the dominant variable influencing Pu concentrations in these plants. Total vegetation elemental concentrations of Ce, Fe, Al, Sm and others were also analyzed. Strong correlations were observed between Fe and Pu. This supports the conclusion that Pu was accumulated as a consequence of the active accumulation of Fe and other plant required nutrients. Cerium and Pu are considered to be chemical analogs. Strong correlations observed in plants support the conclusion that these elements displayed similar geochemical behavior in the environment as it related to the biochemical uptake process of vegetation. Soils were also sampled in association with vegetation samples. This allowed for the calculation of a concentration ratio (CR). The CR values for Pu in plants were highly influenced by the heterogeneity of Pu distribution among sites. Results from the naturally occurring elements of concern were more evenly distributed between sample sites. This allowed for the development of a pattern of plant species that accumulated Ce, Sm, Fe and Al. The highest accumulators of these elements were onion moss, lichen flowed by brome. The lowest accumulators were creosote bush and fourwing saltbush. This ranked order corresponds to plant accumulations of Pu.