Chromosomal Differences between European and North American Atlantic salmon Discovered by Linkage Mapping and Supported by Fluorescence in situ Hybridization Analysis

BACKGROUND:Geographical isolation has generated a distinct difference between Atlantic salmon of European and North American Atlantic origin. The European Atlantic salmon generally has 29 pairs of chromosomes and 74 chromosome arms whereas it has been reported that the North American Atlantic salmon has 27 chromosome pairs and an NF of 72. In order to predict the major chromosomal rearrangements causing these differences, we constructed a dense linkage map for Atlantic salmon of North American origin and compared it with the well-developed map for European Atlantic salmon.RESULTS:The presented male and female genetic maps for the North American subspecies of Atlantic salmon, contains 3,662 SNPs located on 27 linkage groups. The total lengths of the female and male linkage maps were 2,153cM and 968cM respectively, with males characteristically showing recombination only at the telomeres. We compared these maps with recently published SNP maps from European Atlantic salmon, and predicted three chromosomal reorganization events that we then tested using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis. The proposed rearrangements, which define the differences in the karyotypes of the North American Atlantic salmon relative to the European Atlantic salmon, include the translocation of the p arm of ssa01 to ssa23 and polymorphic fusions: ssa26 with ssa28, and ssa08 with ssa29.CONCLUSIONS:This study identified major chromosomal differences between European and North American Atlantic salmon. However, while gross structural differences were significant, the order of genetic markers at the fine-resolution scale was remarkably conserved. This is a good indication that information from the International Cooperation to Sequence the Atlantic salmon Genome, which is sequencing a European Atlantic salmon, can be transferred to Atlantic salmon from North America

Adam Smith’s Green Thumb and Malthus’ Three Horsemen: Cautionary tales from classical political economy

This essay identifies a contradiction between the flourishing interest in the environmental economics of the classical period and a lack of critical parsing of the works of its leading representatives. Its focus is the work of Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus. It offers a critical analysis of their contribution to environmental thought and surveys the work of their contemporary devotees. It scrutinizes Smith's contribution to what Karl Polanyi termed the "economistic fallacy," as well as his defenses of class hierarchy, the "growth imperative" and consumerism. It subjects to critical appraisal Malthus's enthusiasm for private property and the market system, and his opposition to market regulation. While Malthus's principal attraction to ecological economists lies in his having allegedly broadened the scope of economics, and in his narrative of scarcity, this article shows that he, in fact, narrowed the scope of the discipline and conceptualized scarcity in a reified and pseudo-scientific way

Enhancing China’s National Image Through Culture Festivals: A Case Study of China Culture Years in Europe

Since the mid-2000s, the PRC has increasingly focused on pursuing cultural diplomacy abroad to improve its national image and enhance cultural soft power. Although China’s cultural “Charm Offensive” has not gone unnoticed, a variety of specific activities have not been subject to research so far. This paper, therefore, attempts to fill this research gap by analyzing Chinese state-level cultural diplomacy through a comparative case study of three China Culture Year events held in France (2004), Italy (2010), and Germany (2012). These findings are subsequently compared to the China Culture Year in Australia (2012), thereby allowing the identification of spatial variations. I argue that the Chinese government applies a general approach of organizing the events abroad by making use of local institutions. At the same time, through the strategic selection of events, the festivals portray distinct national images that transmit particular narratives of self-presentation to the European audience and take into account country-specific preferences

Assumption without representation: the unacknowledged abstraction from communities and social goods

We have not clearly acknowledged the abstraction from unpriceable “social goods” (derived from communities) which, different from private and public goods, simply disappear if it is attempted to market them. Separability from markets and economics has not been argued, much less established. Acknowledging communities would reinforce rather than undermine them, and thus facilitate the production of social goods. But it would also help economics by facilitating our understanding of – and response to – financial crises as well as environmental destruction and many social problems, and by reducing the alienation from economics often felt by students and the public

The Impact of Brand Quality on Shareholder Wealth

This study examines the impact of brand quality on three components of shareholder wealth: stock returns, systematic risk, and idiosyncratic risk. The study finds that brand quality enhances shareholder wealth insofar as unanticipated changes in brand quality are positively associated with stock returns and negatively related to changes in idiosyncratic risk. However, unanticipated changes in brand quality can also erode shareholder wealth because they have a positive association with changes in systematic risk. The study introduces a contingency theory view to the marketing-finance interface by analyzing the moderating role of two factors that are widely followed by investors. The results show an unanticipated increase (decrease) in current-period earnings enhances (depletes) the positive impact of unanticipated changes in brand quality on stock returns and mitigates (enhances) their deleterious effects on changes in systematic risk. Similarly, brand quality is more valuable for firms facing increasing competition (i.e., unanticipated decreases in industry concentration). The results are robust to endogeneity concerns and across alternative models. The authors conclude by discussing the nuanced implications of their findings for shareholder wealth, reporting brand quality to investors, and its use in employee evaluation

Accounting: A General Commentary on an Empirical Science

Many researchers have questioned the view of accounting as a science. Some maintain that it is a service activity rather than a science, yet others entertain the view that it is an art or merely a technology. While it is true that accounting provides a service and is a technology (a methodology for recording and reporting), that fact does not prevent accounting from being a science. Based upon the structure and knowledge base of the discipline, this paper presents the case for accounting as an empirical science