Colorado State University

About: Colorado State University is a education organization based out in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Laser. The organization has 31430 authors who have published 69040 publications receiving 2724463 citations. The organization is also known as: CSU & Colorado Agricultural College.

Market orientation and performance: an integration of disparate approaches

Abstract: A series of five Strategic Management Journal articles has debated several issues concerning the role of market orientation in shaping firm performance. This debate has defined market orientation as a cultural emphasis. Yet, a large body of research in the marketing field views market orientation as an emphasis on certain market information-processing activities. Using data from 217 firms, we test a model that includes both cultural and information-processing elements. The findings suggest that both approaches to market orientation help explain performance, but their effects are mediated by organizational responsiveness. Thus, researchers should not only account for both definitions of market orientation, but they should also investigate market orientation in combination with other important performance antecedents. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Transnational Networks and Global Environmental Governance: The Cities for Climate Protection Program

Abstract: The past decade has witnessed a growing interest among scholars of international relations, and global environmental governance in particular, in the role of transnational networks within the international arena. While the existence and potential significance of such networks has been documented, many questions concerning the nature of governance conducted by such networks and their impact remain. We contribute to these debates by examining how such networks are created and maintained and the extent to which they can foster policy learning and change. We focus on the Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) program, a network of some 550 local governments concerned with promoting local initiatives for the mitigation of climate change. It is frequently asserted that the importance of such networks lies in their ability to exchange knowledge and information, and to forge norms about the nature and terms of particular issues. However, we find that those local governments most effectively engaged with the network are mobilized more by the financial and political resources it offers, and the legitimacy conferred to particular norms about climate protection, than by access to information. Moreover, processes of policy learning within the CCP program take place in discursive struggles as different actors seek legitimacy for their interpretations of what local climate protection policies should mean. In conclusion, we reflect upon the implications of these findings for understanding the role of transnational networks in global environmental governance.

Regions of the skeletal muscle dihydropyridine receptor critical for excitation-contraction coupling.

Abstract: IT is thought that in skeletal muscle excitation–contraction (EC) coupling, the release of Ca2+ from the sarcoplasmic reticulum is controlled by the dihydropyridine (DHP) receptor in the transverse tubular membrane, where it serves as the voltage sensor1–3. We have shown previously4 that injection of an expression plasmid carrying the skeletal muscle DHP receptor complementary DNA3 restores EC coupling and L-type calcium current that are missing in skeletal muscle myotubes from mutant mice with muscular dysgenesis5–9. This restored coupling resembles normal skeletal muscle EC coupling4, which does not require entry of extracellular Ca2+ (refs 10, 11). By contrast, injection into dysgenic myotubes of an expression plasmid carrying the cardiac DHP receptor cDNA12 produces L-type calcium current and cardiac-type EC coupling13, which does require entry of extracellular Ca2+ (refs 14–16). To identify the regions responsible for this important functional difference between the two structurally similar DHP receptors, we have expressed various chimaeric DHP receptor cDNAs in dysgenic myotubes. The results obtained indicate that the putative cytoplasmic region between repeats II and III of the skeletal muscle DHP receptor3 is an important determinant of skeletal-type EC coupling.

Coping with Stresses: Roles of Calcium- and Calcium/Calmodulin-Regulated Gene Expression

Abstract: Abiotic and biotic stresses are major limiting factors of crop yields and cause billions of dollars of losses annually around the world. It is hoped that understanding at the molecular level how plants respond to adverse conditions and adapt to a changing environment will help in developing plants that can better cope with stresses. Acquisition of stress tolerance requires orchestration of a multitude of biochemical and physiological changes, and most of these depend on changes in gene expression. Research during the last two decades has established that different stresses cause signal-specific changes in cellular Ca2+ level, which functions as a messenger in modulating diverse physiological processes that are important for stress adaptation. In recent years, many Ca2+ and Ca2+/calmodulin (CaM) binding transcription factors (TFs) have been identified in plants. Functional analyses of some of these TFs indicate that they play key roles in stress signaling pathways. Here, we review recent progress in this area with emphasis on the roles of Ca2+- and Ca2+/CaM-regulated transcription in stress responses. We will discuss emerging paradigms in the field, highlight the areas that need further investigation, and present some promising novel high-throughput tools to address Ca2+-regulated transcriptional networks.