Le roman d'entreprise: breaking the silence

This article looks at three recent French novels novels in order to explore key themes in what has become known as the roman d’entreprise: Pierre Mari’s Résolution (2005), Nathalie Kuperman’s Nous étions des êtres vivants (2010) and Thierry Beinstingel’s Retour aux mots sauvages (2010). The figure of the entreprise functions both as a fictional representation of the post-Fordist workplace environment in companies such as France Télécom, and also as a means of tackling wider issues of work and social organisation in an era of neoliberal managerialism. The concepts of capitalist realism, organisational miasma and virtuality are used to analyse the ways in which the three novels convey the distinctive affective landscape of the contemporary entreprise. Fiction is used to consider the prolix and self-referential nature of the managerialist entreprise, which enables it to exert a significant influence on the individual and collective subjectivities of employees. The three novels focus on the capacity of the entreprise to capture language and impose an affect of silence on employees

Salvia miniata Fernald (Lamiaceae): characterization of a new clerodane diterpenoid and phytotoxic activity of previously isolated diterpenes

Planta Med 2009; 75 DOI: 10.1055/s-0029-1234884 Salvia miniata Fernald (Lamiaceae): characterization of a new clerodane diterpenoid and phytotoxic activity of previously isolated diterpenes A Bisio 1, D Fraternale 2, E Russo 1, G Romussi 1, S Cafaggi 1, G Caviglioli 1, N De Tommasi 3 1 Dipartimento di Chimica e Tecnologie Farmaceutiche e Alimentari, Universit\ue0 di Genova, Via Brigata Salerno, 16147 Genova, Italia 2 Istituto di Botanica, Universit\ue0 di Urbino, Via Bramante 28, 61029 Urbino, Italia 3 Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Universit\ue0 di Salerno, Via ponte Don Melillo, 84084 Salerno, Italia In a preliminary test, the aerial part exudate of Salvia miniata Fernald [1] showed anti-germinative activity against Papaver rhoeas L. and Avena sativa L. In this work, the antigerminative activity of previously isolated diterpenes [2] has been evaluated and the phytotoxicity (total germination inhibition at 60mg/L against Papaver and at 80mg/L against Avena) of one of these is described. Moreover, we report a new compound obtained from the chromatographic separation of a not previously considered exudate fraction. The surface exudate, obtained by rinsing the plant material with CH2Cl2, and subjected to repeated column chromatography on Sephadex LH-20 and silica gel and to semi-preparative reversed-phase HPLC, yielded a new clerodane diterpenoid (1), identified by IR and NMR analysis, including TOCSY, COSY, HSQC, HMBC and ROESY experiments. References: [1] Epling, C. (1940) A Revision of Salvia, subgenus Calosphace. In: Repertorium Specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis. Vol.110. Fedde F. Berkley, California: University of California Press. [2] Bisio, A. et al. (2008) Planta Med. 74:1041-104

Phytotoxicity of Salvia spp. exudates

A study on thirteen Salvia species about the phytotoxicity of their aerial part exudates is reported. The selected species were: Salvia namaensis Schinz (1), Salvia fallax Fernald (2), Salvia disermas L. (3), Salvia chamaedryoides Cav. (4), Salvia confertiflora Pohl. (5), S. x jamensis J.Compton (6), Salvia buchananii Hedge (7), S. wagneriana Polak (8), Salvia scabra Linn.fil. (9), Salvia miniata Fernald (10), Salvia cacaliaefolia Benth.(11), Salvia adenophora Fernald (12), Salvia rutilans Carri\ue8re (13). For each species the inhibitory potential against Papaver rhoeas L. and Avena sativa L. was evidenced by dose-response studies and growth experiments performed both in Petri dish and in pot and also evaluated by means of germination indices and growth parameters. New indices useful for describing the phytotoxic response by a reduced number of testing solutions are proposed. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the germination data revealed that the exudate concentrations most significant in explaining the data variability were 1 and 2 mg/mL in Petri dish and 10 and 20 mg/mL in pot experiments. Root length and seedling weight were more important with respect to the other growth parameters