Community involvement lends legitimacy to firms’ social accounting

Sheila Killian and Philip O'Regan did a case study of Shell and its community reporting in North-West Irelan

Class, status and the stratification of residential preferences amongst accountants

"Using data from the 1911 Irish Census, and adopting a Weberian focus, this paper investigates the separate explanatory power of class and status in the stratification of outcomes. We find that both class and status have independent explanatory power in terms of the geographical residential patterns of various occupations, including accountants, in early twentieth-century Dublin, Ireland. We also demonstrate the usefulness of considering the experience of accountants in a comparative context." (author's abstract

How do high performance work systems influence organizational innovation in professional service firms?

Purpose - The aim of this paper is examine how a system of human resource management (HRM) practices, labelled high performance work systems (HPWS), influences organizational innovation in professional service firms (PSFs). In this study, innovation in PSFs is seen as an indicator of firm performance and is calculated as the revenue per person generated from new clients and new services respectively. Design/methodology/approach– Quantitative data was collected from 195 Managing Partners, HR Managers or experienced Partners in 120 Irish accounting firms. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Findings - The analysis results indicate strong support for the mediating role of employees’ innovative work behaviours in the relationship between HPWS and two types of PSFs’ innovation performance. Practical implications - Managers need to effectively adopt and implement innovation-based HRM practices to encourage and support employees’ creative thinking and innovation. Through the adoption and utilization of these practices managers can enhance the firm’s innovation and its performance. Originality/value - This study contributes to our understanding of the link between HRM and firm innovation by explicating a pathway between these variables. This study also generalizes consistent findings on the HRM-firm innovation relationship to a different context, i.e. professional service firms

The pesticide adjuvant, Toximul™, alters hepatic metabolism through effects on downstream targets of PPARα

AbstractPrevious studies demonstrated that chronic dermal exposure to the pesticide adjuvant (surfactant), Toximul™ (Tox), has significant detrimental effects on hepatic lipid metabolism. This study demonstrated that young mice dermally exposed to Tox for 12 days have significant increases in expression of peroxisomal acyl-CoA oxidase (mRNA and protein), bifunctional enzyme (mRNA) and thiolase (mRNA), as well as the P450 oxidizing enzymes Cyp4A10 and Cyp4A14 (mRNA and protein). Tox produced a similar pattern of increases in wild type adult female mice but did not induce these responses in PPARα-null mice. These data support the hypothesis that Tox, a heterogeneous blend of nonionic and anionic surfactants, modulates hepatic metabolism at least in part through activation of PPARα. Notably, all three groups of Tox-treated mice had increased relative liver weights due to significant accumulation of lipid. This could be endogenous in nature and/or a component(s) of Tox or a metabolite thereof. The ability of Tox and other hydrocarbon pollutants to induce fatty liver despite being PPARα agonists indicates a novel consequence of exposure to this class of chemicals, and may provide a new understanding of fatty liver in populations with industrial exposure

Up-Regulation and Profibrotic Role of Osteopontin in Human Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

BACKGROUND: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive and lethal disorder characterized by fibroproliferation and excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix in the lung. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Using oligonucleotide arrays, we identified osteopontin as one of the genes that significantly distinguishes IPF from normal lungs. Osteopontin was localized to alveolar epithelial cells in IPF lungs and was also significantly elevated in bronchoalveolar lavage from IPF patients. To study the fibrosis-relevant effects of osteopontin we stimulated primary human lung fibroblasts and alveolar epithelial cells (A549) with recombinant osteopontin. Osteopontin induced a significant increase of migration and proliferation in both fibroblasts and epithelial cells. Epithelial growth was inhibited by the pentapeptide Gly-Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser (GRGDS) and antibody to CD44, while fibroproliferation was inhibited by GRGDS and antibody to α(v)β(3) integrin. Fibroblast and epithelial cell migration were inhibited by GRGDS, anti-CD44, and anti-α(v)β(3). In fibroblasts, osteopontin up-regulated tissue inhibitor of metalloprotease-1 and type I collagen, and down-regulated matrix metalloprotease-1 (MMP-1) expression, while in A549 cells it caused up-regulation of MMP-7. In human IPF lungs, osteopontin colocalized with MMP-7 in alveolar epithelial cells, and application of weakest link statistical models to microarray data suggested a significant interaction between osteopontin and MMP-7. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide a potential mechanism by which osteopontin secreted from the alveolar epithelium may exert a profibrotic effect in IPF lungs and highlight osteopontin as a potential target for therapeutic intervention in this incurable disease

Updates in head and neck cytopathology : Insights from European Congress of Pathology Short Course

Cytological specimens play a pivotal role in head and neck nodule/mass work up and diagnoses. The specimens´ importance has grown with the onset of personalized medicine and the routine use of molecular markers in the diagnostic work up. The Updates in Head and Neck Cytopathology Short Course ran during the 35th European Congress of Pathology held in Dublin, Ireland, in 2023 and brought together experts in cytopathology, pathology, and related fields to share their expertise and experience in the field of head and neck cytopathology and its future directions. Topics such as a one-stop clinic, the Milan System for Reporting Salivary Gland Cytopathology, next generation sequencing, and human papilloma virus detection in the head and neck area were covered during the short course. These topics are briefly summarized in the present review.Peer reviewe

Interpretation of inverted photocurrent transients in organic lead halide perovskite solar cells: proof of the field screening by mobile ions and determination of the space charge layer widths

In Methyl Ammonium Lead Iodide (MAPI) perovskite solar cells, screening of the built-in field by mobile ions has been proposed as part of the cause of the large hysteresis observed in the current/voltage scans in many cells. We show that photocurrent transients measured immediately (e.g. 100 μs) after a voltage step can provide direct evidence that this field screening exists. Just after a step to forward bias, the photocurrent transients are reversed in sign (i.e. inverted), and the magnitude of the inverted transients can be used to find an upper bound on the width of the space charge layers adjacent to the electrodes. This in turn provides a lower bound on the mobile charge concentration, which we find to be ≳1 × 1017 cm−3. Using a new photocurrent transient experiment, we show that the space charge layer thickness remains approximately constant as a function of bias, as expected for mobile ions in a solid electrolyte. We also discuss additional characteristics of the inverted photocurrent transients that imply either an unusually stable deep trapping, or a photo effect on the mobile ion conductivity

Osteopontin: A Novel Regulator at the Cross Roads of Inflammation, Obesity and Diabetes

Since its first description more than 20 years ago osteopontin has emerged as an active player in many physiological and pathological processes, including biomineralization, tissue remodeling and inflammation. As an extracellular matrix protein and proinflammatory cytokine osteopontin is thought to facilitate the recruitment of monocytes/macrophages and to mediate cytokine secretion in leukocytes. Modulation of immune cell response by osteopontin has been associated with various inflammatory diseases and may play a pivotal role in the development of adipose tissue inflammation and insulin resistance. Here we summarize recent findings on the role of osteopontin in metabolic disorders, particularly focusing on diabetes and obesity