Iodate Transformation By Marine Phytoplankton

The speciation and distribution of iodine in the oceans are partly under biological control. Phytoplankton are suspected to mediate the transformation of iodate to iodide via reduction by the enzyme nitrate reductase. However, there has been no direct evidence to support this hypothesis. The influence of phytoplankton on the speciation of iodine was examined with emphasis on the transformation of iodate to iodide. Six cultures of marine phytoplankton: Skeletonema costatum, Dunaliella tertiolecta, Amphidinium carterae, Tetraselmis levis, Emiliania huxleyi, and Synechococcus sp. , have been examined for their ability to take up and reduce iodate under a reduced nitrate environment. In both natural and elevated iodate environments, all phytoplankton took up iodate and produced iodide. Iodate loss from the medium was not always equivalent to iodide production indicating either the accumulation of iodine in phytoplankton cells or the presence of other reduced forms of iodine besides iodide. Under an ambient iodate concentration of 359 nM, the uptake of iodate decreased in the order of A. carterae \u3e Synechococcus sp. \u3e T. levis \u3e D. tertiolecta \u3e E. huxleyi \u3e S. costatum. The highest rate of iodate uptake, 0.93 nM- μg chi a-1-d-1, was observed in A. carterae, a coastal dinoflagellate. The oceanic cyanobacteria, Synechococcus sp., took up only 0.32 nM-μg chi a-1- d-1 of iodate and released 0.31 nM*(ig chi a-1-d-1 as iodide. This iodide release was the highest rate among the phytoplankton tested. Because of its abundance, this cyanobacteria could act as a major producer of iodide in the ocean. On the other hand, in coastal waters the spring bloom of diatoms and dinoflagellates may be responsible for the low concentration of iodate and the presence of organic iodine. There was no evidence of inhibitory effects of high concentrations of iodate on growth and development of phytoplankton. In addition, in these experiments there was no evidence that bacterial activities were responsible for the uptake and reduction of iodate. Studies on the transformation of iodate in the diatom S. costatum revealed that the changes in concentration of iodate had a significant inverse relationship with the increase of phytoplankton cell density (R = -0.98, P-value \u3c 0.001, N = 6) . The variation in iodide was best explained by the change in phaeo-pigments which are the indicator of senescent cells (R = 0.95, P-value = 0.003, N = 5) . The ratio I: C calculated from the changes in the sum of iodate and iodide and the chlorophyll-specific photosynthetic rate(Pchl) was close to those values previously reported in hydrographic data as well as in planktonic tissue by other investigators. To examine the effect of nitrogen sources on the uptake of iodate, S. costatum was grown in two different media based on nitrate and ammonium as nitrogen sources. The time course variations in iodate and iodide concentration were monitored for 9 days. The decrease in iodate concentration was more intense in the culture with nitrate than in ammonium-enriched culture. The change in iodate concentration related to nitrate was highly significant (R = 0.89). The presence of ammonium ion in the media suppressed the transformation of iodate to iodide. The result implied the close relationship between iodate reduction and nitrate reduction in phytoplankton. The processes of iodate transformation may occur at the surface of or inside the phytoplankton cell. Iodate removal rate by S. costatum ranged from 0.10 to 0.57 nM.μg chi a-1-d-1 depending on the growth stages. The removal rate was higher in the exponential phase than in the stationary phase. On the other hand, the production of iodide occurred mostly after the cell approached the stationary phase. The rate of iodide production in this species ranged from 0.01 to 0.07 nM.μg chi a-1-d-1

Cultural and Intuitive Intelligence of SME’s Leaders

SMEs' decision makers inescapable face with anumber of challenges in pursuing their going internationalprocess. For SME’s to be considered a success with thecontinuation of global processes the skills and competencies ofthe individuals determining the final verdict will ultimately bethe decision makers. The following study examines individuals tosee whether or not cultural intelligence (CQ) and intuitiveintelligence (IUQ) will improve once included in their SME’scurrent international process. In 2015 a survey was issued inSwitzerland, of which a total of 75 were returned. The surveyswere then sifted through to make sure that they were completed,of all the surveys 53 were finished and eligible to be used for theanalysis. Pinpointing the gist of the empirical study it can beshown that the cultural intelligence profile and the decisionsmade by SME’s leaders will end up having a higher – but notsignificantly higher – level of these leaders’ intuitive intelligence(IUC) and a significantly higher level of cultural intelligence(CQ)

Unknown Territory – How SMEs Manage Trust While Doing Business Internationally: Cases from 18 Small and Medium Sized Swiss Enterprises

The decision to enter a new international business venture often depends on the level of trust between the potential business partners. The level of trust can also pose challenges at the beginning of any new business relationship, especially international ones, as partners have little or no experience of each other. This research explores whether having trust in one’s business partner is a mandatory precondition for Small and Medium Sized Swiss Enterprises (SMEs) to undertake international business opportunities (ex-ante trust). The research also considers if the SMEs would rather follow an effectual approach, in which trust formation is an ongoing process, being built ex-post after contracts are signed (ex-post trust). The research looks at the procedures Swiss SMEs implement to examine the trustworthiness of their potential new business partners, in the early stages of the formation of international business partnerships. Eighteen in-depth interviews were conducted with Swiss SMEs that have engaged in international operations. Results show that Swiss SMEs do not act opportunistically, but instead rely on detailed consideration to ascertain whether a potential partner is the right match, and whether the potential partner is trustworthy, by implementing systematic and objective methods prior to entering a contractual agreement as an assurance of ex-ante trust

Were Relationships in the Workplace Changed? An Exploration of the Impacts of the Mandatory Work from Home Policy on Small and Medium-Sized Family Businesses in Switzerland

Small- and medium-sized family business competitiveness is built largely upon trusted relationships between owners, management, and employees. This paper questions whether the quality of such relationships were changed by the work from home policy (WFH) utilized during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research analyses how mandatory WFH impacted interpersonal relationships between  employees  and  supervisors  in  small  and  medium-sized  family  businesses  (SMFB) by applying leader-member exchange theory (LMX). Thirteen in-depth interviews were conducted with owners or the executive management of Swiss SMFB. The study concludes that WFH affects the quality of the relationship between leaders and their employees. WFH is beneficial for the family business and its special relationships as long as all parties can count on well-established, trusted relationships and motivated and open-minded leaders who are capable of keeping the level of interpersonal communication with their employees well balanced. Where employees are struggling with WFH tasks while perceiving a denaturation of the leader-employee relationship a “call back to office” should be considered and indicates that effort is needed to improve the interpersonal relationship. A decent level of mutual trust between the parties helps firms to go through or overcome the down sides and turbulences under WFH and supports maintaining and enhancing leader-follower relationships during challenging times

A Study on Competencies for Managing Workforce Diversity: Evidences from Multi-National Enterprises in Switzerland

Managing diverse teams has become an important issue in the globalized business world. This study aimed to explore management competencies that facilitate the performance of diverse teams. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with eight managers and eight team members leading or working in a diverse team in Switzerland. The results confirmed the five competencies managers need to possess in order to manage diversity effectively, namely Intrapersonal Competence, Interpersonal Management Competence, Leadership Competence, Actional/Business Management Competence, and Diversity Management Competence. The analysis highlighted some unique requirements that stand out in the Swiss Context. Some gaps of competencies that managers think are important and what team members think or expect from their managers were observed and underlined

Molecular dissection of Penelope transposable element regulatory machinery

© 2008 The Authors. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The definitive version was published in Nucleic Acids Research 36 (2008): 2522-2529, doi:10.1093/nar/gkm1166Penelope-like elements (PLEs) represent a new class of retroelements identified in more than 80 species belonging to at least 10 animal phyla. Penelope isolated from Drosophila virilis is the only known transpositionally active representative of this class. Although the size and structure of the Penelope major transcript has been previously described in both D. virilis and D. melanogaster transgenic strains, the architecture of the Penelope regulatory region remains unknown. In order to determine the localization of presumptive Penelope promoter and enhancer-like elements, segments of the putative Penelope regulatory region were linked to a CAT reporter gene and introduced into D. melanogaster by P-element-mediated transformation. The results obtained using ELISA to measure CAT expression levels and RNA studies, including RT–PCR, suggest that the active Penelope transposon contains an internal promoter similar to the TATA-less promoters of LINEs. The results also suggest that some of the Penelope regulatory sequences control the preferential expression in the ovaries of the adult flies by enhancing expression in the ovary and reducing expression in the carcass. The possible significance of the intron within Penelope for the function and evolution of PLEs, and the effect of Penelope insertions on adjacent genes, are discussed.This work was supported by grants from Russian Academy of Sciences (Cell and Molecular Biology to M.E.), and Welcome Trust Grant (075698) to M.E and D.J.F

The Effects of a Mandatory Work from Home Policy on Respect, Trust, and Mutual Obligations During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Switzerland

This research explores how a mandatory Work from Home (WFH) policy during the Covid-19 Pandemic impacts the relationship between supervisors and supervisees. Using the Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX) as a framework, dyadic relationships in the workplace involving respect, trust, and mutual obligations, are explored through in-depth semi-structured interviews with six supervisors and six supervisees under a WFH policy in Switzerland.The findings of this study indicate that a mandatory WFH policy does not have negative impacts on respect, trust, and mutual obligations, between supervisors and supervisees. For supervisors, however, frequent communication is of paramount importance in maintaining a high level of trust. The results also indicate that WFH can potentially slow down the development of new relationships; and therefore, supervisors are reluctant to recruit new employees as they feel that this would impose limitations on establishing a well-functioning relationship in a WFH situation. Last but not least, this study finds that the benefits of WFH are highly valued by both supervisors and supervisees, who have stated that they would prefer to work from home at least a few days a week in the future, once the pandemic is contained