Conceptual frameworks in historical analysis: using reputation as interpretive prism

Purpose This paper aims to advocate a revised perspective in historical analysis. The author calls for historians to apply the concept of reputation as interpretive lens in the analysis of historical processes and outcomes. Design/methodology/approach Widely used in management and marketing writing, but also relied upon in political science, the concept of reputation helps predict behaviour of individuals and entities that are bound by political constraints to align their actions to the goal of generating a popular standing. The lens also serves to cast light on the actions engaged in by external stakeholders that are informed by reputational cues. This theoretical contention is illustrated in four case studies resulting from investigations into political decisions and military conflicts, both in the republican and imperial period that ascertain how success and expansion as well as failure and decline of ancient Rome can be viewed and better understood by applying reputation as an instrument to direct and focus historical analysis. Findings This paper does not only advance complementary angles and alternative answers to issues in ancient Roman history. The cases considered also demonstrate how failure to recognise reputation as a significant concept in historical analysis does not only impair a comprehensive and balanced reflection of personal and organisational stakeholder behaviour but also thwarts a full appreciation of the motivation that drives individual protagonists and institutional agents, whose decisions are central to historical processes and outcomes. Originality/value The findings advanced in this paper – informed by four case studies – evidence the need of a new analytical prism in historical enquiry that will define the questions raised and direct the researcher’s attention. It has been shown how the concept of reputation can play a tangible role in sketching out a distinct new angle in historical investigation that leads to reviewing current narrative of past events and phenomena

Understanding a leader’s behaviour: Revisiting the role of reputation management in leadership research

This paper argues for the adoption of reputation as a conceptual prism to discern patterns in political leadership behaviour. The author intends to reach a judgement about the concept’s value for our understanding of leadership by offering a fuller appreciation of reputation itself that is grounded in a recognition of its role in managing followers and entrenching power structures, which makes it critical both to the incumbent leader and challengers. Methodologically, for this analysis both theoretical and descriptive materials have been selected and discussed in order to fully appreciate reputation’s applicability in leadership research. In light of the evidence reviewed one may infer that what renders a leader decisive or passive is essentially a reflection of reputational strength or weakness. In turn this leads us to conclude that concern with reputation engenders and shapes activity we observe in leaders and at the same time guides our interpretation of political decisions and phenomena. Eventually, we may come to see reputation as a concept that serves as a lens through which we view leaders’ responses to challenges. The rationale for this approach is leaders’ own focus on their respective reputation that may at times incentivise action or, alternatively, administrative and political immobility

I, Claudius the Idiot: Lessons to be learned from reputation management in Ancient Rome

Within hours of the assassination of his predecessor, Caligula, Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, henceforth referred to as Claudius, succeeded to the Roman Empire’s throne. Even though he was nephew to Emperor Tiberius, he had not even been considered a remote contender as he was widely regarded unfit for the job. Out of despair he had turned to drinking, gambling, and writing history. At the age of 51, he would succeed the likes of Julius Caesar or Octavian Augustus to great success for Rome. What followed next was a unique exercise in personality public relations. Claudius’s systematic management of his image holds lessons both for academics and practitioners, suggesting that image making by individual political leaders goes back well into history, predating the modern political era considerably

Exploring the strategy of government: a statecraft assessment of Angela Merkel’s chancellorship from 2005 to 2017

As chancellor Angela Merkel is on course to tie with Helmut Kohl as the longest serving democratically elected German head of government, it is time to attempt an initial assessment of the first 12 years of her chancellorship from 2005 to 2017 which left its marks both on German politics and European affairs. Bulpitt’s statecraft model is applied to evaluate the chancellor’s performance and to judge both achievements and shortcomings of Merkel’s incumbency. The theoretical approach chosen provides a scaffolding to direct the research which casts particular attention on four descriptive categories that help condition judgements of a leader’s success and failure and take into consideration attitude and behaviour of elites within the system whose actions and degree of allegiance may have advanced or constrained Merkel’s leadership. The findings suggest a mixed record that portrays Merkel as an efficient operator whose clout hinged on a firm grip on the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) apparatus and effective management of the parliamentary party. Yet even at the apex of her power, Merkel did not achieve or seek argument hegemony in the public discourse

Adenoid basal carcinoma of the cervix in a 20-year-old female: a case report

BACKGROUND: Adenoid basal carcinoma of the cervix is a rare condition mostly occurring among postmenopausal women. Although it can be confused with adenoid cystic carcinoma of the cervix, adenoid basal carcinoma has several clinicopathologic features that will allow distinction from adenoid cystic carcinoma. CASE PRESENTATION: This is the case of a twenty-year old African-American female who initially presented with a high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion on Pap smear, with a subsequent cervical LEEP specimen revealing adenoid basal carcinoma. The lesion showed the characteristic histologic features of adenoid basal carcinoma and was positive for the immunohistochemical marker EMA and negative for collagen IV, further defining the tumor while helping to rule out the possibility of adenoid cystic carcinoma. As far as the authors are aware, this is the youngest reported case of adenoid basal carcinoma to date. CONCLUSION: This case shows that adenoid basal carcinoma can deviate markedly from its typical postmenopausal demographics to affect women as young as 20 years of age. In addition, adenoid basal carcinoma has several identifiable features that will differentiate it from adenoid cystic carcinoma including histologic and cellular morphologies, as well as immunohistochemistry. Treatment for most patients involves hysterectomy, LEEP, or a conization procedure which provides a favorable prognosis because of this lesion's low potential for recurrence and metastasis

Redox cycling of straw-amended soil simultaneously increases iron oxide crystallinity and the content of highly disordered organo-iron(III) solids

Iron speciation in soils is influenced largely by its redox state, but the extent of and controls on Fe speciation during recurrent reduction and oxidation events are not fully understood. To investigate the effects of organic matter (OM) inputs and the frequency and duration of redox oscillations on soil Fe speciation, we conducted redox-oscillation experiments with topsoil from a Fluvisol mixed with rice straw (0, 10, 50 g/kg organic carbon, OC). The soil was initially dominated by short-range ordered (SRO) Fe(III) solids and subjected to 14- and 28-day reduction–oxidation cycles for 112 days, with the time spent under anoxic and oxic conditions maintained at 6:1. Reduction was initiated by flooding reactors with artificial river water. To simulate leaching conditions, soil re-oxidation was achieved by air-drying soil after removal of reacted solutions. Fresh river water was then added for each new redox cycle. We monitored changes in solution composition (Eh, pH, Fe(II), total Fe, OC, and Si) and assessed changes of solid-phase Fe speciation by selective extractions, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. Dissolved OC and Fe increased with increasing straw addition, but decreased in each treatment through consecutive reduction intervals. Release rates of dissolved Fe and OC were highly correlated, implying that microbial reduction of soil Fe(III) solids was fostered by straw amendments. Reduction-induced losses of OC and Fe from straw amended soil were amplified at high redox frequency. Ferrous Fe did not detectably accumulate in the solid phase upon repeated soil oxidation. Although Fe(III)-poor phyllosilicates gained in relative importance in redox-cycled soils, their fraction was hardly affected during redox cycling. Instead, straw additions led to an enhanced depletion of ferrihydrite during soil redox cycling and a relative enrichment of highly disordered Fe(III) species [‘very SRO (vSRO) Fe(III) solids’], which remained only partially ordered in 5-K Mössbauer spectra and likely consisted predominantly of polynuclear organic Fe complexes. The depletion of ferrihydrite in straw-amended soils after 112 days was greater in the 14-day cycle than in the 28-day cycle experiment and accompanied by a less pronounced enrichment of vSRO Fe(III) solids. The crystallinity of distinct Fe oxides (ferrihydrite, lepidocrocite, and hematite) increased during soil redox cycling especially in straw-amended soils, but without noticeable ferrihydrite conversion into crystalline Fe oxides. The increase in the crystallinity of distinct Fe oxides after 112 days was greater at low redox frequency in straw-free soil, however this frequency effect was suppressed by straw additions. Longer soil redox cycling (112 vs. 56 days) increased the crystallinity of distinct Fe oxides, which was most pronounced at high straw levels and low redox frequency. Our results imply that redox changes in SRO Fe oxide- and OM-rich soils can cause a relative enrichment of more crystalline Fe oxides, while still maintaining a pool of vSRO Fe(III) solids. We conclude that soil redox oscillations can lead to divergent transformation pathways of Fe oxides, which concomitantly increase bulk Fe-oxide crystallinity and generate increasing fractions of highly disordered Fe(III) solids on comparatively short time scales. In addition, our study suggests that faster redox cycling in soils with ample electron donor supply and water leaching leads to higher element exports (e.g., OC, metal(loid)s) from soil due to weekly redox pulsing than more slowly alternating redox conditions

Worker assistance and quality inspection – application of optical 3D metrology and augmented reality technologies

Numerous industrial mount processes are characterized by a high variance due to the individuality of the final products. Manual assembly work subjectively influences the quality of an end product and errors thereby cannot be excluded. Errors that occur in production increase costs as it is likely to happen in the assembly of clamping which is used in CNC machining centers. As they are usually assembled manually, errors might occur

In Vitro Antibacterial Activity of Microbial Natural Products against Bacterial Pathogens of Veterinary and Zoonotic Relevance

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is considered one of the greatest threats to both human and animal health. Efforts to address AMR include implementing antimicrobial stewardship programs and introducing alternative treatment options. Nevertheless, effective treatment of infectious diseases caused by bacteria will still require the identification and development of new antimicrobial agents. Eight different natural products were tested for antimicrobial activity against seven pathogenic bacterial species (Brachyspira sp., Chlamydia sp., Clostridioides sp., Mannheimia sp., Mycobacterium sp., Mycoplasma sp., Pasteurella sp.). In a first pre-screening, most compounds (five out of eight) inhibited bacterial growth only at high concentrations, but three natural products (celastramycin A [CA], closthioamide [CT], maduranic acid [MA]) displayed activity at concentrations 16 µg/mL against Mannheimia for CA, CT, and MA, respectively. CA, CT, and MA exhibited higher MIC50 and MIC90 values against Pasteurella isolates with a known AMR phenotype against commonly used therapeutic antimicrobial agents than against isolates with unknown AMR profiles. This study demonstrates the importance of whole-cell antibacterial screening of natural products to identify promising scaffolds with broad- or narrow-spectrum antimicrobial activity against important Gram-negative veterinary pathogens with zoonotic potentia