Quel avenir pour la gestion des parties prenantes?

articleAu cours des dernières années, le concept de parties prenantes (stakeholders) est, sans aucun doute, l’une des contributions les plus importantes au domaine de l’éthique des affaires. Ce concept exprime un impératif moral en vertu duquel les gestionnaires se doivent de considérer les intérêts de l’ensemble des parties prenantes. Dans sa forme la plus généralement admise, la liste des parties prenantes comprend les employés, les clients, les fournisseurs et la communauté, de même que les actionnaires et les autres investisseurs. Les défenseurs de la gestion des parties prenantes ont raison sur un point : la société à but lucratif moderne doit servir les intérêts de tous les groupes de parties prenantes. Mais là où la gestion des parties prenantes échoue, c’est dans le fait de ne pas reconnaître que des gestionnaires qui agissent dans l’intérêt des actionnaires peuvent aussi,par le fait même,agir dans l'intérêt de tous les groupes de parties prenantes. En effet, dans la mesure où le marché est capable de fournir les bénéfices désirés aux différents groupes de parties prenantes, les gestionnaires n’ont pas explicitement besoin de considérer leurs intérêts lorsqu'ils prennent une décision.Néanmoins,les partisans de la théorie de la gestion des parties prenantes ont raison de rappeler que chacun de ces groupes devraient pouvoir bénéficier des activités de l’entreprise. Ils ont également raison de chercher à rendre les gestionnaires attentifs à leurs responsabilités de créer de la richesse au bénéfice de tous.The concept of stakeholders is, without any doubt, one of the most important contributions to the field of business ethics in the recent years. This concept articulates a moral requirement in virtue of which managers must consider the interests of all stakeholders. In its most common form, the list of stakeholders includes the employees, the customers, the suppliers and the community, as well as shareholders and other investors.The defenders of the stakeholders management theory are right on one point: the modern lucrative business must serve the interests of all stake-holding groups. But the stakeholders management theory fails in not recognizing that managers acting in the interest of the shareholders also can, by the same token, act in the interests of all stakeholders. Indeed, insofar as the market is able to provide the benefits wished by the various stakeholders,the managers do not explicitly need to consider their interests when they make a decision.Nevertheless,partisans of the stakeholders management theory are right to prompt that each one of these groups should be able to profit from the activities of the company. They are also right to recall the responsibilities of managers in creating wealth for the benefit of all

Statements on Isolation, Memory, and Acceptance

The dissertation will be comprised of a fixed-media electronic composition approximately 20 minutes in length in two movements. Spoken word recordings of poetry and prose, drawn from several literary works, comprise the entire sound source for the work. In the first movement, fragments of text are drawn primarily from House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. In the second movement, text is drawn entirely from the Emily Dickinson poem informally known as After great pain, a formal feeling comes, catalogued as number 372. To me, the texts serve to represent contrasting emotional states: the fragments in the first movement convey fear, anxiety, tension, and claustrophobia; the Dickinson text conveys resignation, yielding, and desolation. While these texts differ greatly in their content, they all carry certain sonic properties which enables them to undergo similar processes of manipulation: all are consistently dramatic and yet poetic, and all use imaginative and abstract imagery (“the covering memory permanently hitched to everything preceding it” and “the nerves sit ceremonious like tombs”) which enables the composition to rely on the timbre and aesthetic of the language rather than on the specific content. No original sound synthesis is present; the sonic material is instead drawn from the processing of these recorded voices. The first movement, Stories misremembered, is characterized by the technique known as granular synthesis. Samples of the vocal sounds are increasingly reduced in length until they reach a grain size of 50ms or less, at which point hundreds to thousands of these samples are layered over one another to form a timbre that resembles pink noise from a spectral perspective. This composite noise is then very narrowly filtered to a series of frequencies to a degree that the waveform of each band is nearly sinusoidal, with rapid and minute variations in amplitude stemming from the speech patterns of the two vocalists. This process is underscored by a number of other vocal samples which have been manipulated primarily via time stretching to form low frequency pedals that serves the purpose of mirroring narrative aspects of the source texts. The second movement, Stories forgotten, uses the sonic character of the end of the first movement as its starting point. It begins with a series of narrowly filtered clouds of granulated sound underscored by a recitation of the Dickinson poem by six vocalists. This is comparatively static and should be clearly perceptible to the audience - albeit still manipulated, primarily by means of time stretching and splicing of phonemes. This movement was conceived as a clear background and foreground texture; the foreground consists of occasional statements of clearly audible text fragments while the background texture consists of a succession of sustained frequencies. Whereas the filtered frequencies of the first movement are drawn exclusively from an even-tempered tuning system, the frequencies of this second movement are drawn from the first 1000 prime numbers, with the rationale being that ratios of prime numbers are more likely to be irrational and thus heard as less consonant. These frequencies are always presented in pairs, with the frequency ratios of those pairs being irrational ratios which slowly approach – but never reach – the consonant ratios of 4:3, 3:2, and 2:1. The end result is a gradual but inconclusive approach towards consonance, and the end effect on an audience is an almost imperceptible tension which pervades the movement. The two movements together form a narrative and a commentary on the musical nature of the human voice as it is used to articulate these texts. An additional narrative aspect, conveyed through the ordering of the text fragments, in the first movement conveys a narrator pursued through an enclosed space by a beast of their own psyche; the second movement conveys the narrator accepting their role as both victim and perpetrator and resigning themselves to an impending profound loss. An analysis of these two movements using spectrographs reveals that the initially complex timbre of the voice is gradually destroyed until its waveforms almost approach something sinusoidal, before the process reverses itself and the complexity of the voice is once again revealed. The piece is being written primarily using SuperCollider, a programming language developed in the 1990s for the procedural manipulation of sound, and also involves the use of Audacity, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, and Reason

Drug Delivery to Posterior Intraocular Tissues: Third Annual ARVO/Pfizer Ophthalmics Research Institute Conference

The third Annual ARVO/Pfizer Ophthalmic Research Institute Conference was held Friday and Saturday, May 4 and 5, 2007 at the Fort Lauderdale Grande Hotel and Yacht Club, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The conference, funded by the ARVO Foundation for Eye Research through a grant from Pfizer Ophthalmics, provided an opportunity to gather experts from within and outside ophthalmology to develop strategies to address drug delivery to posterior intraocular tissues—a topic of great interest, as the major route of drug delivery is via intravitreous injection

Every Picture Tells a Story: The 2010 Round of Congressional Redistricting in New England

The United States Constitution requires that the number of representatives in Congress be reapportioned among the states based on a decennial census, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled half a century ago that congressional districts within each state must be, as nearly as practicable, equal in population. However, the actual drawing of district lines for our national lower house and the methods employed for doing so are largely left to the individual states. Redistricting thus presents a fertile field for the comparative examination of state politics and political institutions

Othonna koos-bekkeri Van Jaarsv. is a synonym of Othonna cerarioides Magoswana & J.C.Manning (Asteraceae: Othonninae)

We thank Nick Helme for bringing to our attention the publication of Othonna koos-bekkeri Van Jaarsv. This work is based on research supported by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (Grant Number 118597) awarded through the Foundational Biodiversity Information Programme (FBIP), a joint initiative of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the National Research Foundation and the South African National Biodiversity Institute. Additional funding was provided by Elizabeth Parker of Elandsberg. Thank you to Dr Cornelia Klak of the Bolus Herbarium for alerting us of the Namibian and additional collections of the species.Othonna koos-bekkeri Van Jaarsv. is recognised as a synonym of O. cerarioides Magoswana & J.C.Manning. Copyright: © 2021. The AuthorsSouth African National Biodiversity Institute National Research Foundation 118597 Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India डीएसट

Voluntary exercise modulates pathways associated with amelioration of retinal degenerative diseases

Background: Exercise has been shown to promote a healthier and longer life and linked to a reduced risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases including retinal degenerations. However, the molecular pathways underpinning exercise-induced cellular protection are not well understood. In this work we aim to profile the molecular changes underlying exercise-induced retinal protection and investigate how exercise-induced inflammatory pathway modulation may slow the progression of retinal degenerations. Methods: Female C57Bl/6J mice at 6 weeks old were given free access to open voluntary running wheels for a period of 28 days and then subjected to 5 days of photo-oxidative damage (PD)-induced retinal degeneration. Following, retinal function (electroretinography; ERG), morphology (optical coherence tomography; OCT) and measures of cell death (TUNEL) and inflammation (IBA1) were analysed and compared to sedentary controls. To decipher global gene expression changes as a result of voluntary exercise, RNA sequencing and pathway and modular gene co-expression analyses were performed on retinal lysates of exercised and sedentary mice that were subjected to PD, as well as healthy dim-reared controls. Results: Following 5 days of PD, exercised mice had significantly preserved retinal function, integrity and reduced levels of retinal cell death and inflammation, compared to sedentary controls. In response to voluntary exercise, inflammatory and extracellular matrix integrity pathways were significantly modulated, with the gene expression profile of exercised mice more closely trending towards that of a healthy dim-reared retina. Conclusion: We suggest that voluntary exercise may mediate retinal protection by influencing key pathways involved in regulating retinal health and shifting the transcriptomic profile to a healthy phenotype

Single-stranded oligonucleotide-mediated in vivo gene repair in the rd1 retina

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to test whether oligonucleotide-targeted gene repair can correct the point mutation in genomic DNA of PDE6b(rd1) (rd1) mouse retinas in vivo. METHODS: Oligonucleotides (ODNs) of 25 nucleotide length and complementary to genomic sequence subsuming the rd1 point mutation in the gene encoding the beta-subunit of rod photoreceptor cGMP-phosphodiesterase (beta-PDE), were synthesized with a wild type nucleotide base at the rd1 point mutation position. Control ODNs contained the same nucleotide bases as the wild type ODNs but with varying degrees of sequence mismatch. We previously developed a repeatable and relatively non-invasive technique to enhance ODN delivery to photoreceptor nuclei using transpalpebral iontophoresis prior to intravitreal ODN injection. Three such treatments were performed on C3H/henJ (rd1) mouse pups before postnatal day (PN) 9. Treatment outcomes were evaluated at PN28 or PN33, when retinal degeneration was nearly complete in the untreated rd1 mice. The effect of treatment on photoreceptor survival was evaluated by counting the number of nuclei of photoreceptor cells and by assessing rhodopsin immunohistochemistry on flat-mount retinas and sections. Gene repair in the retina was quantified by allele-specific real time PCR and by detection of beta-PDE-immunoreactive photoreceptors. Confirmatory experiments were conducted using independent rd1 colonies in separate laboratories. These experiments had an additional negative control ODN that contained the rd1 mutant nucleotide base at the rd1 point mutation site such that the sole difference between treatment with wild type and control ODN was the single base at the rd1 point mutation site. RESULTS: Iontophoresis enhanced the penetration of intravitreally injected ODNs in all retinal layers. Using this delivery technique, significant survival of photoreceptors was observed in retinas from eyes treated with wild type ODNs but not control ODNs as demonstrated by cell counting and rhodopsin immunoreactivity at PN28. Beta-PDE immunoreactivity was present in retinas from eyes treated with wild type ODN but not from those treated with control ODNs. Gene correction demonstrated by allele-specific real time PCR and by counts of beta-PDE-immunoreactive cells was estimated at 0.2%. Independent confirmatory experiments showed that retinas from eyes treated with wild type ODN contained many more rhodopsin immunoreactive cells compared to retinas treated with control (rd1 sequence) ODN, even when harvested at PN33. CONCLUSIONS: Short ODNs can be delivered with repeatable efficiency to mouse photoreceptor cells in vivo using a combination of intravitreal injection and iontophoresis. Delivery of therapeutic ODNs to rd1 mouse eyes resulted in genomic DNA conversion from mutant to wild type sequence, low but observable beta-PDE immunoreactivity, and preservation of rhodopsin immunopositive cells in the outer nuclear layer, suggesting that ODN-directed gene repair occurred and preserved rod photoreceptor cells. Effects were not seen in eyes treated with buffer or with ODNs having the rd1 mutant sequence, a definitive control for this therapeutic approach. Importantly, critical experiments were confirmed in two laboratories by several different researchers using independent mouse colonies and ODN preparations from separate sources. These findings suggest that targeted gene repair can be achieved in the retina following enhanced ODN delivery

Interleukin-1 Stimulates β-Cell Necrosis and Release of the Immunological Adjuvant HMGB1

BACKGROUND: There are at least two phases of β-cell death during the development of autoimmune diabetes: an initiation event that results in the release of β-cell-specific antigens, and a second, antigen-driven event in which β-cell death is mediated by the actions of T lymphocytes. In this report, the mechanisms by which the macrophage-derived cytokine interleukin (IL)-1 induces β-cell death are examined. IL-1, known to inhibit glucose-induced insulin secretion by stimulating inducible nitric oxide synthase expression and increased production of nitric oxide by β-cells, also induces β-cell death. METHODS AND FINDINGS: To ascertain the mechanisms of cell death, the effects of IL-1 and known activators of apoptosis on β-cell viability were examined. While IL-1 stimulates β-cell DNA damage, this cytokine fails to activate caspase-3 or to induce phosphatidylserine (PS) externalization; however, apoptosis inducers activate caspase-3 and the externalization of PS on β-cells. In contrast, IL-1 stimulates the release of the immunological adjuvant high mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1; a biochemical maker of necrosis) in a nitric oxide-dependent manner, while apoptosis inducers fail to stimulate HMGB1 release. The release of HMGB1 by β-cells treated with IL-1 is not sensitive to caspase-3 inhibition, while inhibition of this caspase attenuates β-cell death in response to known inducers of apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that IL-1 induces β-cell necrosis and support the hypothesis that macrophage-derived cytokines may participate in the initial stages of diabetes development by inducing β-cell death by a mechanism that promotes antigen release (necrosis) and islet inflammation (HMGB1 release)

Cellular IAPs inhibit a cryptic CD95-induced cell death by limiting RIP1 kinase recruitment

cIAPs keep RIP1 from getting to the DISC complex and complex II; when cIAPs are repressed, signaling is modulated by the cFLIP isoform