Vascular smooth muscle cell phenotypic modulation in culture is associated with reorganisation of contractile and cytoskeletal proteins

Smooth muscle cells (SMC) exhibit a functional plasticity, modulating from the mature phenotype in which the primary function is contraction, to a less differentiated state with increased capacities for motility, protein synthesis, and proliferation. The present study determined, using Western analysis, double-label immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy, whether changes in phenotypic expression of rabbit aortic SMC in culture could be correlated with alterations in expression and distribution of structural proteins. Contractile state SMC (days 1 and 3 of primary culture) showed distinct sorting of proteins into subcellular domains, consistent with the theory that the SMC structural machinery is compartmentalised within the cell. Proteins specialised for contraction (alpha -SM actin, SM-MHC, and calponin) were highly expressed in these cells and concentrated in the upper central region of the cell. Vimentin was confined to the body of the cell, providing support for the contractile apparatus but not co-localising with it. In line with its role in cell attachment and motility, beta -NM actin was localised to the cell periphery and basal cortex. The dense body protein alpha -actinin was concentrated at the cell periphery, possibly stabilising both contractile and motile apparatus. Vinculin-containing focal adhesions were well developed, indicating the cells' strong adhesion to substrate. In synthetic state SMC (passages 2-3 of culture), there was decreased expression of contractile and adhesion (vinculin) proteins with a concomitant increase in cytoskeletal proteins (beta -non-muscle [NM] actin and vimentin). These quantitative changes in structural proteins were associated with dramatic chan-es in their distribution. The distinct compartmentalisation of structural proteins observed in contractile state SMC was no longer obvious, with proteins more evenly distributed throughout die cytoplasm to accommodate altered cell function. Thus, SMC phenotypic modulation involves not only quantitative changes in contractile and cytoskeletal proteins, but also reorganisation of these proteins. Since the cytoskeleton acts as a spatial regulator of intracellular signalling, reorganisation of the cytoskeleton may lead to realignment of signalling molecules, which, in turn, may mediate the changes in function associated with SMC phenotypic modulation. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Application of fairness theory to service failures and service recovery

This article presents a fairness theory-based conceptual framework for studying and managing consumers’ emotions during service recovery attempts. The conceptual framework highlights the central role played by counterfactual thinking and accountability. Findings from five focus groups are also presented to lend further support to the conceptual framework. Essentially, the article argues that a service failure event triggers an emotional response in the consumer, and from here the consumer commences an assessment of the situation, considering procedural justice, interactional justice, and distributive justice elements, while engaging in counterfactual thinking and apportioning accountability. More specifically, the customer assesses whether the service provider could and should have done something more to remedy the problem and how the customer would have felt had these actions been taken. The authors argue that during this process situational effort is taken into account when assessing accountability. When service providers do not appear to exhibit an appropriate level of effort, consumers attribute this to the service provider not caring. This in turn leads to the customer feeling more negative emotions, such as anger and frustration. Managerial implications of the study are discussed.

Climate of fear in organisational settings: Construct definition, measurement and a test of theory

This paper reports a study that explored a new construct: climate of fear. We hypothesised that climate of fear would vary across work sites within organisations, but not across organisations. This is in contrast a to measures of organisational culture, which were expected to vary both within and across organisations. To test our hypotheses, we developed a new 13-item measure of perceived fear in organisations and tested it in 20 sites across two organisations (N = 209). Culture variables measured were innovative leadership culture, and communication culture. Results were that climate of fear did vary across sites in both organisations, while differences across organisations were not significant, as we anticipated. Organisational culture, however, varied between the organisations, and within one of the organisations. The climate of fear scale exhibited acceptable psychometric properties.

Performing race, culture, and gender in an Indigenous Australian women's music and dance classroom

One perpetual concern among Indigenous Australian peoples is authenticity of voice. Who has the right to speak for, and to make representations about, the knowledges and cultures of Indigenous Australian peoples? Whose voice is more authentic, and what happens to these ways of knowing when they make the journey into mainstream Western academic classrooms? In this paper, I examine these questions within the politics of “doing” Indigenous Australian studies by focusing on my own experiences as a lecturer in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at the University of Queensland. My findings suggest that representation is a matter of problematizing positionality and, from a pedagogical standpoint, being aware of, and willing to address, the ways in which power, authority, and voice are performed and negotiated as teachers and learners of Indigenous Australian studies.

Cultures within culture: Unity and diversity of two generations of employees in state-owned enterprises

This study adopts integration and differentiation perspectives to examine why unity and diversity of organizational cultures emerged as a function of economic reform, and how subcultural differences were reflected in employees' perceptions of cultural practices. Data were gathered from in-depth interviews and a large-scale survey in two large, state-owned enterprises in north-east China. Results indicated that, although all employees were oriented towards a common set of cultural themes, the two generations of employees did not exemplify the themes in the same way. Specifically, unity was illustrated by employees' desire to maintain Harmony and to reduce Inequality. Diversity was revealed by first-generation employees' higher ratings on Loyalty, Security and even Bureaucracy. The findings are discussed in the light of traditional Chinese cultural values, political ideology and the social context. Implications are drawn for organizational cultural theory and research.

Do Australian public sector employees have the type of culture they want in the era of new public management?

New public management theory proposes that public sector organisations should be managed more like private sector organisations. It is therefore expected that public sector managers will have preferences for an organisational culture that will reflect the culture of private sector organisations, with an external rather than internal orientation. The current research investigated the idea that managers' perceptions of ideal organisational culture would be different to the bureaucratic model of culture (internally oriented), which has traditionally been associated with public sector organisations. Responses to a competing values culture inventory were received from 925 public sector employees. Results indicated that the bureaucratic model is still pervasive; however, managers prefer a culture that is more external, and less control focussed, as expected. Lower level employees expressed a desire for a culture that emphasised human relations values.

Bodies in translation: French feminist influences on anglophone feminist theory: Review article

Review of the following books: French Feminist Theory. Dani Cavallaro, 2003. London and New York, Continuum. The Sex of Knowing, Miche` le Le Doeuff, 2003. translated by Kathryn Hamer and Lorraine Code. New York and London, Routledge. Touching Thought: Ontology and Sexual Difference . Ellen Mortensen, 2003. Lanham, Boulder, New York and Oxford, Lexington.

Evolutionary theory of history

Several attempts have been made recently to apply Darwinian evolutionary theory to the study of culture change and social history. The essential elements in such a theory are that variations occur in population, and that a process of selective retention operates during their replication and transmission. Location of such variable units in the semantic structure of cognition provides the individual psychological basis for an evolutionary theory of history. Selection operates on both the level of cognition and on its phenotypic expression in action in relation to individual preferred sources of psychological satisfaction. Social power comprises the principal selective forces within the unintended consequences of action and through the struggle of individuals and groups in pursuit of opposing interests. The implication for historiography are methodological in that evolutionary theory of history sharpens the focus of explanatory situational analysis, and interpretive in that it provides a paradigmatic metanarrative for the understanding of historical change.