Practicing Capitals Across Fields: Extending Bourdieu to Study Inter-Field Dynamics

This essay extends a Bourdieusian perspective on the microfoundations of institutions. Drawing on this perspective, we argue that the recursive dynamics of institutions and action orient actors towards the maintenance of distinct and contradictory practices within, rather than bridging across, different fields. We corroborate our argument with an illustration of how corporate executives strategize within the tax field compared to the philanthropy field. Specifically, we show how actors are simultaneously oriented by different capitals towards apparently contradictory strategies. Our essay provides promising avenues for future research on the microfoundations of institutions, inter-field dynamics, and critical accounting and business ethics studies

Trading risks: The value of relationships, models and face-to-face interaction in the global reinsurance market

Over the past 20 years, the reinsurance industry has experienced three profound forces for change. First, technological change has improved information distribution and strengthened connections between global markets. Second, regulatory emphasis on global equivalence in trading practices has generated pressure for convergence across different marketplaces. Third, the widespread acceptance of vendor property catastrophe models has led to more standardised approaches to the evaluation of reinsurance risks, levelling the playing field for decision-making on at least some classes of business. These changes have intensified competition between reinsurance markets. Reinsurance trading centres in remote geographic locations, such as Bermuda, where it is more difficult to transact business face-to-face, have been able to write risk via electronic communications and now have very significant positions in the global reinsurance market. Simultaneously, Lloyd’s of London, one of the original reinsurance markets that is still very much based on the face-to-face approach, has demonstrated its capability to weather financial shocks and downturns and remains an important player in global reinsurance

In-situ monitoring for CVD processes

Aiming towards process control of industrial high yield/high volume CVD reactors, the potential of optical sensors as a monitoring tool has been explored. The sensors selected are based on both Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and tunable diode laser spectroscopy (NIR-DLS). The former has the advantage of wide spectral capability, and well established databases. NIR-DLS spectroscopy has potentially high sensitivity, laser spatial resolution, and the benefits of comparatively easier integration capabilities-including optical fibre compatibility. The proposed technical approach for process control is characterised by a 'chemistry based' feedback system with in-situ optical data as input information. The selected optical sensors continuously analyze the gas phase near the surface of the growing layer. The spectroscopic data has been correlated with process performance and layer properties which, in turn establish data basis for process control. The new process control approach is currently being verified on different industrialised CVD coaters. One of the selected applications deals with the deposition of SnO2 layers on glass based on the oxidation of (CH3)2SnCl2, which is used in high volume production for low-E glazing

Agreeing on what? creating joint accounts of strategic change

This paper addresses a fundamental conundrum at the heart of meaning-making: how are multiple meanings accommodated within a joint account, given the plurivocal nature of organizations? While a new strategic initiative introduces new meanings that must coexist within multiple prevailing meanings; studies on meaning-making processes place different emphases on the accommodation of such multiplicity within a joint account. Based on the findings from a longitudinal case study conducted in a university setting, we develop a framework that demonstrates two patterns of meaning-making on the basis of distinct micro processes of expanding, combining and reframing that are involved in the accomplishment of a joint account. Our study offers counter-intuitive insights into the way vested interests enable or constrain the construction of a joint account of meaning. In doing so, we contribute to knowledge about resistance, ambiguity and the role of agreement, or lack of agreement in constructing joint accounts within a plurivocal context

COMMD1-deficient dogs accumulate copper in hepatocytes and provide a good model for chronic hepatitis and fibrosis

New therapeutic concepts developed in rodent models should ideally be evaluated in large animal models prior to human clinical application. COMMD1-deficiency in dogs leads to hepatic copper accumulation and chronic hepatitis representing a Wilson's disease like phenotype. Detailed understanding of the pathogenesis and time course of this animal model is required to test its feasibility as a large animal model for chronic hepatitis. In addition to mouse models, true longitudinal studies are possible due to the size of these dogs permitting detailed analysis of the sequence of events from initial insult to final cirrhosis. Therefore, liver biopsies were taken each half year from five new born COMMD1-deficient dogs over a period of 42 months. Biopsies were used for H&E, reticulin, and rubeanic acid (copper) staining. Immunohistochemistry was performed on hepatic stellate cell (HSC) activation marker (alpha-smooth muscle actin, α-SMA), proliferation (Ki67), apoptosis (caspase-3), and bile duct and liver progenitor cell (LPC) markers keratin (K) 19 and 7. Quantitative RT-PCR and Western Blots were performed on gene products involved in the regenerative and fibrotic pathways. Maximum copper accumulation was reached at 12 months of age, which coincided with the first signs of hepatitis. HSCs were activated (α-SMA) from 18 months onwards, with increasing reticulin deposition and hepatocytic proliferation in later stages. Hepatitis and caspase-3 activity (first noticed at 18 months) increased over time. Both HGF and TGF-β1 gene expression peaked at 24 months, and thereafter decreased gradually. Both STAT3 and c-MET showed an increased time-dependent activation. Smad2/3 phosphorylation, indicative for fibrogenesis, was present at all time-points. COMMD1-deficient dogs develop chronic liver disease and cirrhosis comparable to human chronic hepatitis, although at much higher pace. Therefore they represent a genetically-defined large animal model to test clinical applicability of new therapeutics developed in rodent models

Козацькі могили у творчості Тараса Шевченка

The detoxification of ammonia occurs mainly through conversion of ammonia to urea in the liver via the urea cycle and glutamine synthesis. Congenital portosystemic shunts (CPSS) in dogs cause hyperammonemia eventually leading to hepatic encephalopathy. In this study, the gene expression of urea cycle enzymes (carbamoylphosphate synthetase (CPS1), ornithine carbamoyltransferase (OTC), argininosuccinate synthetase (ASS1), argininosuccinate lyase (ASL), and arginase (ARG1)), N-acetylglutamate synthase (NAGS), Glutamate dehydrogenase (GLUD1), and glutamate-ammonia ligase (GLUL) was evaluated in dogs with CPSS before and after surgical closure of the shunt. Additionally, immunohistochemistry was performed on urea cycle enzymes and GLUL on liver samples of healthy dogs and dogs with CPSS to investigate a possible zonal distribution of these enzymes within the liver lobule and to investigate possible differences in distribution in dogs with CPSS compared to healthy dogs. Furthermore, the effect of increasing ammonia concentrations on the expression of the urea cycle enzymes was investigated in primary hepatocytes in vitro. Gene-expression of CPS1, OTC, ASL, GLUD1 and NAGS was down regulated in dogs with CPSS and did not normalize after surgical closure of the shunt. In all dogs GLUL distribution was localized pericentrally. CPS1, OTC and ASS1 were localized periportally in healthy dogs, whereas in CPSS dogs, these enzymes lacked a clear zonal distribution. In primary hepatocytes higher ammonia concentrations induced mRNA levels of CPS1. We hypothesize that the reduction in expression of urea cycle enzymes, NAGS and GLUD1 as well as the alterations in zonal distribution in dogs with CPSS may be caused by a developmental arrest of these enzymes during the embryonic or early postnatal phase

Routine dynamics in action: replication and transformation

Contains an Open Access chapter.This book explores central themes in the enactment and coordination of organizational routines, including replication and transfer, ecologies and interdependence, action and the generation of novelty and technology and sociomateriality.

The potential and limitations of intrahepatic cholangiocyte organoids to study inborn errors of metabolism

Inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs) comprise a diverse group of individually rare monogenic disorders that affect metabolic pathways. Mutations lead to enzymatic deficiency or dysfunction, which results in intermediate metabolite accumulation or deficit leading to disease phenotypes. Currently, treatment options for many IEMs are insufficient. Rarity of individual IEMs hampers therapy development and phenotypic and genetic heterogeneity suggest beneficial effects of personalized approaches. Recently, cultures of patient-own liver-derived intrahepatic cholangiocyte organoids (ICOs) have been established. Since most metabolic genes are expressed in the liver, patient-derived ICOs represent exciting possibilities for in vitro modeling and personalized drug testing for IEMs. However, the exact application range of ICOs remains unclear. To address this, we examined which metabolic pathways can be studied with ICOs and what the potential and limitations of patient-derived ICOs are to model metabolic functions. We present functional assays in patient ICOs with defects in branched-chain amino acid metabolism (methylmalonic acidemia), copper metabolism (Wilson disease), and transporter defects (cystic fibrosis). We discuss the broad range of functional assays that can be applied to ICOs, but also address the limitations of these patient-specific cell models. In doing so, we aim to guide the selection of the appropriate cell model for studies of a specific disease or metabolic process

Bridging practice and process research to study transient manifestations of strategy

At the intersection of Strategy Process (SP) and Strategy-as-Practice (SAP) research lies the focal phenomenon they share – strategy, which manifests itself in a variety of ways: intended, realized, deliberate, emergent, unrealized, and ephemeral strategy. We present a methodology comprised of three stages that, when integrated in the manner we suggest, permit a rich operationalization and tracking of strategy content for all manifestations. We illustrate the utility of our methodology for bridging SP and SAP research by theorizing practices that are more likely to give rise to unrealized and ephemeral strategy, identifying their likely consequences, and presenting a research agenda for studying these transient manifestations