Puritans, visionaries and survivors

All readings take place in the here-and-now, even of texts written back there and then. Nowhere in management and organization theory has this been truer of anyone than Max Weber. Unread in English during his lifetime, it was nearly 30 years after his death before his ideas had much impact. When they did, they were read in a context and tradition years away from those in which they were conceived. And, ever since, they have been subject to systematic reinterpretation on the one hand and neglect on the other. The paper addresses how one might use Weber today, in terms of his sensitivity to current issues, such as sustainability, as well as the still largely unacknowledged foundation that Weber constructed for contemporary cultural studies. The paper will bring these two themes together, using analysis of contemporary equivalents to the popular culture that formed the basis for some of Weber's own investigations. Copyright © 2005 SAGE Publications

Response of Male Brown-Headed Cowbirds to Broadcast of Complete or Partial Flight Whistles

The vocal repertoire of male Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) during the breeding season is rich and varied, and includes several different vocalizations. The best-known cowbird vocalization, the species-typical song, consists of several low-frequency introductory notes followed by a high-frequency whistle (Friedmann 1929). A second vocalization heard throughout the breeding season is the flight whistle (FW). Cowbird FWs consist of two or more syllables that are largely pure tones, although some FWs may contain extensive frequency sweeps (Rothstein and Fleischer 1987, Rothstein et al. 1988). For example, the FW given by male cowbirds in our study population consists of two parts (Fig. 1). The first half is a single syllable of relatively pure tone, although it has rapid frequency sweeps at its beginning and end. The second half of the FW contains two syllables that always accompany each other in the order shown in Figure 1. The first of these syllables is brief and has an overall rise in frequency, while the second begins with a gradual frequency descent that ends as a pure tone over the last half of the syllable

Prolyl hydroxylase 3 (PHD3) is essential for hypoxic regulation of neutrophilic inflammation in humans and mice

The regulation of neutrophil lifespan by induction of apoptosis is critical for maintaining an effective host response and preventing excessive inflammation. The hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) oxygen-sensing pathway has a major effect on the susceptibility of neutrophils to apoptosis, with a marked delay in cell death observed under hypoxic conditions. HIF expression and transcriptional activity are regulated by the oxygen-sensitive prolyl hydroxylases (PHD1-3), but the role of PHDs in neutrophil survival is unclear. We examined PHD expression in human neutrophils and found that PHD3 was strongly induced in response to hypoxia and inflammatory stimuli in vitro and in vivo. Using neutrophils from mice deficient in Phd3, we demonstrated a unique role for Phd3 in prolonging neutrophil survival during hypoxia, distinct from other hypoxia-associated changes in neutrophil function and metabolic activity. Moreover, this selective defect in neutrophil survival occurred in the presence of preserved HIF transcriptional activity but was associated with upregulation of the proapoptotic mediator Siva1 and loss of its binding target Bcl-xL. In vivo, using an acute lung injury model, we observed increased levels of neutrophil apoptosis and clearance in Phd3-deficient mice compared with WT controls. We also observed reduced neutrophilic inflammation in an acute mouse model of colitis. These data support what we believe to be a novel function for PHD3 in regulating neutrophil survival in hypoxia and may enable the development of new therapeutics for inflammatory disease