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This article provides an examination of the evolution of networking in China and the Arab world over two decades and provides an update to, and new insights arising from, an article called Guanxi and Wasta; A Comparison, published in Thunderbird International Business Review in 2006. This article highlights the continued theoretical and practical importance of guanxi in China and wasta in the Arab World and how research, understanding, and practice of guanxi and wasta have developed over 20 years including integrating (limited) focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. As well as presenting the 'dark' and 'light' sides of guanxi and wasta, the article explores how institutional development has weakened use of informal networks but to a greater extent for guanxi than wasta. The article provides practical insights into managing informal networks in international business. The article suggests future directions for research and practice in guanxi and wasta in respect to responding to major foci of business internationally including digitalisation, artificial intelligence, and diversity and inclusion.
Prior research on the victim-offender overlap has largely focused on Western societies and community-based settings, with limited attention to juvenile correctional facilities in East Asian contexts. This study examines institutional misconduct, victimization, and the victim-offender overlap in Taiwan's juvenile correctional facilities using data collected in 2015 from a nationwide survey of incarcerated youth. Drawing on importation and deprivation perspectives, we employ bivariate probit regression models to assess the joint association between misconduct and victimization and to identify shared and distinct risk factors. Results indicate a significant overlap between institutional misconduct and victimization. Gang membership, prior victimization in society, and in-facility environmental stress are significantly associated with both outcomes, supporting the relevance of both theoretical perspectives. These findings highlight the importance of addressing pre-incarceration vulnerabilities and institutional conditions in efforts to reduce misconduct and improve safety in juvenile correctional facilities.
Despite the substantial interest in mass imprisonment, limited research has studied how mass incarceration has occurred across the 3000 city and county jails in the United States. Using Bureau of Justice Statistics surveys and censuses of US jails, we investigate patterns of jail construction over the last 50 years and ask whether these infrastructural changes represent expanding carceral capacity or simply capacity restructuring, whereby jails were consolidated and renovated rather than multiplied. Despite consistent numbers of jails over time, jail populations have increased substantially, suggesting that mass incarceration has functioned differently in jails than in prisons. We posit a theory of "jailization," whereby jails have permeated the membranes of different arms of the criminal legal system to serve as a catchment center or "lobby," and argue for dedicated studies of jails' unique and flexible roles. This contributes to the literature on penal change by showing that changes to jails during the era of mass incarceration look markedly different than that of prisons, underscoring the importance of studying them as unique criminal legal institutions.
BACKGROUND:Multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancer is a major obstacle to achieving success in clinical chemotherapy. It has been observed that overexpression of ATP-Binding Cassette (ABC) transporters plays a crucial role in MDR. OBJECTIVE:This study aimed to find an effective resistance-reversed agent of ABC transporter. A series of new β-carboline derivatives have been synthesized and are being applied in various invention patents. One of these is B-9-8, a novel harman dimer, which was synthesized to conduct a series of experiments. METHODS:In this study, we investigated whether B-9-8 could reverse ABCG2-mediated drug resistance by using MTT assay, [3H]-mitoxantrone accumulation/efflux assay, western blot analysis, immunofluorescence analysis, ATPase assay, and molecular modeling assay. RESULTS:The results showed that B-9-8 could significantly increase the sensitivity to mitoxantrone, SN-38, and topotecan and effectively overcame drug resistance at non-toxic concentrations in ABCG2-overexpressing cells. Further studies showed that B-9-8 increased the intracellular accumulation of [3H]-mitoxantrone by suppressing the efflux function of ABCG2 in ABCG2- overexpressing cells. B-9-8 could down-regulate the ABCG2 protein expression but did not change the subcellular localization of ABCG2. ATPase analysis indicated that B-9-8 inhibited the ATPase activity of ABCG2 in a concentration-dependent manner. In the molecular docking analysis, B-9-8 demonstrated a strong interaction with the human ABCG2 transporter protein. DISCUSSION:B-9-8, as a novel harman dimer, exhibits its reversal activity against ABCG2- mediated multidrug resistance without obvious cytotoxicity. Its actions of inhibiting ABCG2 efflux function and down-regulating the protein expression of ABCG2 are crucial for overcoming drug resistance. This makes B-9-8 a possible candidate drug for combined chemotherapy. Its inhibitory effect of ATPase activity and the strong affinity to ABCG2 further demonstrate the potential of B-9-8 as a targeted modulator for drug resistance. CONCLUSION:Our findings indicated that B-9-8 could reverse ABCG2-mediated MDR as a potential and reversible modulator in combination with conventional chemotherapeutic drugs.
