Giardia lamblia is an early diverging and evolutionarily successful protozoan as it can enter into a dormant cyst stage from a vegetative trophozoite. During dormant stage, its metabolic rate decreases dramatically. However, to date, the regulatory molecules participating in the initiation and maintenance of this process have not been fully investigated. In this study, we have identified a class of abundant small RNAs named sitRNAs, which are ∼46 nucleotides in length and accumulate in G. lamblia encysting cultures. Remarkably, they are derived from the 3′ portion of fully matured tRNAs by cleavage of the anticodon left arm, with the 3′ terminal CCA triplex still connected. During differentiation, only a limited portion of mature tRNAs is cleaved, but this cleavage occurs almost in the entire tRNA family. sitRNAs begin to accumulate as early as 3 h after initiation of encystation and are maintained at a relatively stable level during the whole process, exhibiting an expression peak at around 24 hr. Our studies further show that sitRNAs can be induced by several other stress factors, and in the case of serum deprivation, both tRNAs and sitRNAs degrade rapidly, with the accumulation of tRNA being halved. Our results may provide new insight into a novel mechanism for stressed G. lamblia to regulate gene expression globally.

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The highly competitive electronics manufacturing marketplace demands that suppliers provide low-cost, high-quality products to their customers in a timely fashion. Shortened product life cycles and increasingly global competition have caused traditional manufacturers to focus on their company core competencies, such as product design and development, choosing to outsource the actual manufacturing of their products to contract manufacturers. Although the decision to outsource can have both positive and adverse effects on key areas of the manufacturing supply chain, one positive effect is that the manufacturer's supply chain agility is increased. Outsourcing has caused an increase in the amount of information that is shared between supply chain partners. As a result, a greater reliance on suppliers and alliance partners has become essential for company survival. We examine the ways in which contract manufacturing has increased the agility of the electronics manufacturing supply chain. T h e res ea rc h re g ister fo r th is jo u rn a l is a v a ila b le a t http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregisters T h e c u rre n t is su e a n d fu ll te x t a rc h iv e o f th is jo u rn a l is a v a ila b le a t http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0960-0035.htm This research effort was supported by Avaya Incorporated (www.avaya.com) through the Logistics Institute (www.tli.uark.edu) at the University of Arkansas.

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As a developing country, economic and environmental performance has to be balanced in china. Green supply chain management (GSCM) is emerging to be an important approach for Chinese enterprises to improve performance, possibly on both dimensions. Based upon a database of over 128 manufacturing facilities in china, this paper explored performance measurement for GSCM. The results showed that GSCM was strongly complementary to other advanced management practices, and contributed to improving environmental performance.

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