Author：Yingxi,Ma;Hung,Juann H.

Abstract:What makes foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows more beneficial to economic growth in China than in most other developing countries? This chapter aims to shed light on this question by conducting an analytical review of the literature with a focus on comparing FDI’s estimated effect on growth in China versus that in India. Our literature review indicates FDI inflows have positively affected economic growth in both China and India, but that this positive impact was larger in China than in India. Our analysis suggests that there are two key reasons for this difference. First, China has better transportation and communication infrastructure, therefore better business efficiency. Second, China’s higher level of human capital means Chinese employees learn new technology and managerial know-how brought in by FDI more quickly, speeding up the spillover of technology and improving productivity rapidly in China.

Author：Kirk Davidson,D.;Yin,Juelin

Abstract:© 2019 by IGI Global. All rights reserved. Despite a growing recognition of national contexts in predicting the dynamics of corporate social responsibility (CSR), the limited prior research has failed to disaggregate national institutions to specify the mechanisms between aspects of national institutional contexts and elements of CSR practices. In this paper we offer a framework for analyzing the nature and status of CSR, which is made up of eight elements: history, religions/ideologies, social norms, geography, political structures, the level of economic development, civil society institutions, and the country’s “safety net” provisions. We apply the framework to explain how and why China’s understanding of CSR differs from that in Western countries.

Author：Xu,Qingru;Chen,Kunqi;Meng,Jia

Abstract:N6-Methyladenosine (m6A) is the most prevalent posttranscriptional modification in eukaryotes and plays a pivotal role in various biological processes, such as splicing, RNA degradation, and RNA–protein interaction. Accurately identification of the location of m6A is essential for related downstream studies. In this chapter, we introduce a prediction framework WHISTLE, which enables us to acquire so far the most accurate map of the transcriptome-wide human m6A RNA-methylation sites (with an average AUC: 0.948 and 0.880 under the full transcript or mature messenger RNA models, respectively, when tested on independent datasets). Besides, each individual m6A site was also functionally annotated according to the “guilt-by-association” principle by integrating RNA methylation data, gene expression data and protein–protein interaction data. A web server was constructed for conveniently querying the predicted RNA methylation sites and their putative biological functions. The website supports the query by genes, by GO function, table view, and the download of all the functionally annotated map of predicted map of human m6A epitranscriptome. The WHISTLE web server is freely available at: www.xjtlu.edu.cn/biologicalsciences/whistle and http://whistle-epitranscriptome.com.

Author：Liu,Hui;Ma,Jiani;Meng,Jia;Zhang,Lin

Abstract:N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most prevalent posttranscriptional modification in eukaryotes and plays a pivotal role in various biological processes. A knowledge base with the systematic collection and curation of context specific transcriptome-wide methylations is critical for elucidating their biological functions as well as for developing bioinformatics tools. In this chapter, we present a comprehensive platform MeT-DB V2.0 for elucidating context-specific functions of N6-methyl-adenosine methyltranscriptome. Met-DB V2.0 database contains context specific m6A peaks and single-base sites predicted from 185 samples for 7 species from 26 independent studies. Moreover, it is also integrated with a new database for targets of m6A readers, erasers and writers and expanded with more collections of functional data. The Met-DB V2.0 web interface and genome browser provide more friendly, powerful, and informative ways to query and visualize the data. More importantly, MeT-DB V2.0 offers for the first time a series of tools specifically designed for understanding m6A functions. The MeT-DB V2.0 web server is freely available at: http://compgenomics.utsa.edu/MeTDB and www.xjtlu.edu.cn/metdb2.

Author：Pan,Peng;Song,Pengfei;Dong,Xianke;Zhang,Weize;Sun,Yu;Liu,Xinyu

Abstract:Micromanipulation and immobilization of single cells and small organisms (e.g., Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila larva) are important experimental techniques in biological and biomedical research. Because of the micrometer sizes and highly fragile structures of cells and small organisms, conventional manipulation and immobilization techniques are not accurate and/or efficient enough to meet certain demanding needs in cellular and organismal studies. To this end, different types of microfluidic device have been developed to improve the accuracy, efficiency, and consistency of cell/organism immobilization and manipulation, which enables high-throughput single cell/organism analysis. In this chapter, we will discuss three microfluidic devices we previously developed for immobilization and robotic micromanipulation of single cells and small organisms. In closing, a conclusion and outlook into future trends is also provided.