Medizin und Ueberkultur 1 )

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Reproductive biology of the nonnative oyster, Crassostrea gigas (Thunber, 1793) as a key for its successful spread along the rocky shores of Northern Patagonia, Argentina

Crassostrea gigas was introduced in Anegada Bay (North Patagonia, Argentina), in 1981 for aquaculture purposes. The species has, since established in the field, covered all available hard substrata in the bay and gradually expanded south along the coast of the neighboring province of Río Negro, 90 km away from its original introduction site. Our work focused on the reproductive dynamics of the species at the introduction site, with emphasis on the thermal thresholds needed for each stage of gonad development. During early spring, the oysters in Anegada Bay go through active gonad proliferation. Maturity extends mainly from October to January. The first spawning occurs in November, when seawater temperature exceeds 17°C, and peaks from December to February, when seawater temperature lies in the range ot 19–21.5°C. The timing of gonad development is size dependent. Larger (≥70 mm) and medium-size oysters begin spawning first, whereas small oysters ( 17°C), and spawning only occurs in those sites where this threshold is reached.Versión del editor

Albert Pierrepoint and the cultural persona of the twentieth-century hangman

Albert Pierrepoint was Britain’s most famous 20th-century hangman. This article utilises diverse sources in order to chart his public representation, or cultural persona, as hangman from his rise to prominence in the mid-1940s to his portrayal in the biopic Pierrepoint(2005). It argues that Pierrepoint exercised agency in shaping this persona through publishing his autobiography and engagement with the media, although there were also representations that he did not influence. In particular, it explores three iterations of his cultural persona – the Professional Hangman, the Reformed Hangman and the Haunted Hangman. Each of these built on and reworked historical antecedents and also communicated wider understandings and contested meanings in relation to capital punishment. As a hangman who remained in the public eye after the death penalty in Britain was abolished, Pierrepoint was an important, authentic link to the practice of execution and a symbolic figure in debates over reintroduction. In the 21st century, he was portrayed as a victim of the ‘secondary trauma’ of the death penalty, which resonated with worldwide campaigns for abolition

Ambicultural blending between Eastern and Western paradigms : fresh perspectives for international management research

East and Southeast Asian worldviews are distinctly different from those of the West. Westerners and Asians construct their environments differently, not least because they construct the notion of \u27self\u27 very differently. This paper describes and exemplifies distinctions in cognitive and linguistic styles between the East and the West and outlines the implications of these styles for environmental perspectives and research paradigms. Examples from Thailand illustrate the philosophical roots and practical implications of an indigenous Eastern perspective for local business interactions. We explore the privilege afforded in Western, Cartesian paradigms in (Asian) management research and stimulate debate on the benefits of promoting alternative Asian indigenous perspectives for both management research and management practice. We support the idea that Asian management discourse needs more self-confidence and deserves a more prominent place in international research, not least because international management research will greatly benefit from freshly \u27blended\u27 perspectives that incorporate Eastern and Western perspectives

The Arabidopsis leucine-rich repeat receptor kinase MIK2/LRR-KISS connects cell wall integrity sensing, root growth and response to abiotic and biotic stresses

Plants actively perceive and respond to perturbations in their cell walls which arise during growth, biotic and abiotic stresses. However, few components involved in plant cell wall integrity sensing have been described to date. Using a reverse-genetic approach, we identified the Arabidopsis thaliana leucine-rich repeat receptor kinase MIK2 as an important regulator of cell wall damage responses triggered upon cellulose biosynthesis inhibition. Indeed, loss-of-function mik2 alleles are strongly affected in immune marker gene expression, jasmonic acid production and lignin deposition. MIK2 has both overlapping and distinct functions with THE1, a malectin-like receptor kinase previously proposed as cell wall integrity sensor. In addition, mik2 mutant plants exhibit enhanced leftward root skewing when grown on vertical plates. Notably, natural variation in MIK2 (also named LRR-KISS) has been correlated recently to mild salt stress tolerance, which we could confirm using our insertional alleles. Strikingly, both the increased root skewing and salt stress sensitivity phenotypes observed in the mik2 mutant are dependent on THE1. Finally, we found that MIK2 is required for resistance to the fungal root pathogen Fusarium oxysporum. Together, our data identify MIK2 as a novel component in cell wall integrity sensing and suggest that MIK2 is a nexus linking cell wall integrity sensing to growth and environmental cues

Body size trends and recovery amongst bivalves following the end-Triassic mass extinction

Fossils in the immediate aftermath of mass extinctions are often of small size, a phenomenon attributed to the Lilliput Effect (temporary, size reduction of surviving species). There has been little attempt to study size trends during subsequent recovery intervals nor has the relationship between size, diversity and environmental controls been evaluated. Here we examine the recovery following the end-Triassic mass extinction amongst bivalves of the British Lower and Middle Lias. Three distinct phases of size change are seen that are independent of other recovery metrics: initially bivalves are small but the Lilliput Effect is a minor factor, the majority of small taxa belong to new species that undergo a later within-species size increase (the Brobdingnag Effect) throughout the subsequent Hettangian Stage. New species that appeared during the Hettangian were also progressively larger and Cope's Rule (size increase between successive species) is seen – notably amongst ammonites. The size increase was reversed during the Sinemurian Stage, when bivalves once again exhibited small body sizes. During the Pliensbachian Stage another phase of size increase occurred with further evidence of the Brobdingnag Effect. These three phases of size change are seen across all suspension feeding ecological guilds of bivalve but are not expressed among deposit feeders. Local environmental conditions explain some aspects of size patterns, but factors such as temperature, marine oxygenation and sea level, do not correlate with the long-term size trends. The Brobdingnag Effect may reflect increased availability/quality of food during the recovery interval: a factor that controlled bivalve size but not evolution