FORMS OF INDUSTRIAL AND ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY: A COMPARISON OF PREVAILING APPROACHES

One of the most notable outcomes of the late 196 Os international movement for participatory democracy has been the increased demand for expanded worker rights in decision making, both on the shopfloor and in the economy as a whole. Whether workplace reforms have meant co-optation or increased worker control has been hotly debated; equally controversial has been the question of the survival of workplace reforms in light of the growing economic crisisfacing all western industrialized nations. This paper explores the emergence and developments in industrial and economic democracy from an international perspective, focusing primarily on Western Europe and the United States. Similarities and dissimilarities between alternative forms of worker participation are discussed, and conclusions are drawn which view these new institutional arrangements for participation within the context of the wider issue ofrepresentation in society

Gene regulatory networks elucidating huanglongbing disease mechanisms.

Next-generation sequencing was exploited to gain deeper insight into the response to infection by Candidatus liberibacter asiaticus (CaLas), especially the immune disregulation and metabolic dysfunction caused by source-sink disruption. Previous fruit transcriptome data were compared with additional RNA-Seq data in three tissues: immature fruit, and young and mature leaves. Four categories of orchard trees were studied: symptomatic, asymptomatic, apparently healthy, and healthy. Principal component analysis found distinct expression patterns between immature and mature fruits and leaf samples for all four categories of trees. A predicted protein - protein interaction network identified HLB-regulated genes for sugar transporters playing key roles in the overall plant responses. Gene set and pathway enrichment analyses highlight the role of sucrose and starch metabolism in disease symptom development in all tissues. HLB-regulated genes (glucose-phosphate-transporter, invertase, starch-related genes) would likely determine the source-sink relationship disruption. In infected leaves, transcriptomic changes were observed for light reactions genes (downregulation), sucrose metabolism (upregulation), and starch biosynthesis (upregulation). In parallel, symptomatic fruits over-expressed genes involved in photosynthesis, sucrose and raffinose metabolism, and downregulated starch biosynthesis. We visualized gene networks between tissues inducing a source-sink shift. CaLas alters the hormone crosstalk, resulting in weak and ineffective tissue-specific plant immune responses necessary for bacterial clearance. Accordingly, expression of WRKYs (including WRKY70) was higher in fruits than in leaves. Systemic acquired responses were inadequately activated in young leaves, generally considered the sites where most new infections occur

Immigrant assimilation and BMI and waist size: A longitudinal examination among hispanic and chinese participants in the multi‐ethnic study of atherosclerosis

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/99611/1/oby20104.pd

The Role of Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviors in Explaining the Association between Acculturation and Obesity among Mexican-American Adults

We investigated associations of acculturation with various types of activity (moderate-vigorous leisure-time physical activity (LTPA), moderate-vigorous work- and transportation-related physical activity and sedentary activity), and whether these activities mediated the acculturation-obesity association among Mexican-Americans

Biomass and Productivity of Thalassia testudinum in Estuaries of the Florida Panhandle

Thalassia testudinum often dominates seagrass meadows of the Florida panhandle but few measurements of productivity, biomass, density, turnover or leaf area index in this region have been made. We targeted 5 estuaries located at similar latitudes, 30⁰ ± 0.3⁰N: Big Lagoon, Santa Rosa Sound, St. Andrew Bay, St. Joseph Bay, and St. George Sound. This study was one component of a collaborative partnership of state and local researchers examining factors preventing recovery in panhandle estuarine areas that had historically contained seagrass in the 1940s and 1950s. Measurements were made twice in 2016, once in June and then again in summer or fall, except in Santa Rosa Sound where measurements were made 3 times. In the estuaries sampled for the second time in July or August, aboveground productivity was greater than in June. St. Joseph Bay had the highest aboveground productivity (4.3 g/m2/d) and 1—sided leaf area index (4.2) while St. George Sound had the lowest values (0.41 g/m2/d and 1.0). Principal component analysis suggested that St. Andrew Bay, Big Lagoon and Santa Rosa Sound were the most similar, with higher values for shoot densities and leaf turnover and lower salinities and watershed:water ratios. St. Joseph Bay had high aboveground productivity and salinity, and low turbidity. St. George Sound had low aboveground productivity, high total suspended solids and the highest watershed:water ratio. These baseline productivity estimates will be useful to assess the success of restoration efforts targeting seagrasses in the Florida panhandle and evaluate impacts of climate change on seagrasses

Neighborhood Ethnic Composition, Spatial Assimilation, and Change in Body Mass Index Over Time Among Hispanic and Chinese Immigrants: Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Objectives. We investigated relations between changes in neighborhood ethnic composition and changes in body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference among Chinese and Hispanic immigrants in the United States

Change in waist circumference with longer time in the United States among Hispanic and Chinese immigrants: the modifying role of the neighborhood built environment

We examined whether living in neighborhoods supportive of healthier diets and more active lifestyles may buffer immigrants against the unhealthy weight gain that is purported to occur with longer length of US residence

Can we abandon phosphorus starter fertilizer in maize? Results from a diverse panel of elite and doubled haploid landrace lines of maize (Zea mays L.)

The importance of phosphorus (P) in agriculture contrasts with the negative environmental impact and the limited resources worldwide. Reducing P fertilizer application by utilizing more efficient genotypes is a promising way to address these issues. To approach this, a large panel of maize (Zea mays L.) comprising each 100 Flint and Dent elite lines and 199 doubled haploid lines from six landraces was assessed in multi-environment field trials with and without the application of P starter fertilizer. The treatment comparison showed that omitting the starter fertilizer can significantly affect traits in early plant development but had no effect on grain yield. Young maize plants provided with additional P showed an increased biomass, faster growth and superior vigor, which, however, was only the case under environmental conditions considered stressful for maize cultivation. Importantly, though the genotype-by-treatment interaction variance was comparably small, there is genotypic variation for this response that can be utilized in breeding. The comparison of elite and doubled haploid landrace lines revealed a superior agronomic performance of elite material but also potentially valuable variation for early traits in the landrace doubled haploid lines. In conclusion, our results illustrate that breeding for P efficient maize cultivars is possible towards a reduction of P fertilizer in a more sustainable agriculture

Parent-of-origin-specific allelic associations among 106 genomic loci for age at menarche.

Age at menarche is a marker of timing of puberty in females. It varies widely between individuals, is a heritable trait and is associated with risks for obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, breast cancer and all-cause mortality. Studies of rare human disorders of puberty and animal models point to a complex hypothalamic-pituitary-hormonal regulation, but the mechanisms that determine pubertal timing and underlie its links to disease risk remain unclear. Here, using genome-wide and custom-genotyping arrays in up to 182,416 women of European descent from 57 studies, we found robust evidence (P < 5 × 10(-8)) for 123 signals at 106 genomic loci associated with age at menarche. Many loci were associated with other pubertal traits in both sexes, and there was substantial overlap with genes implicated in body mass index and various diseases, including rare disorders of puberty. Menarche signals were enriched in imprinted regions, with three loci (DLK1-WDR25, MKRN3-MAGEL2 and KCNK9) demonstrating parent-of-origin-specific associations concordant with known parental expression patterns. Pathway analyses implicated nuclear hormone receptors, particularly retinoic acid and γ-aminobutyric acid-B2 receptor signalling, among novel mechanisms that regulate pubertal timing in humans. Our findings suggest a genetic architecture involving at least hundreds of common variants in the coordinated timing of the pubertal transition

Transcriptome Profiling of Citrus Fruit Response to Huanglongbing Disease

Huanglongbing (HLB) or “citrus greening” is the most destructive citrus disease worldwide. In this work, we studied host responses of citrus to infection with Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CaLas) using next-generation sequencing technologies. A deep mRNA profile was obtained from peel of healthy and HLB-affected fruit. It was followed by pathway and protein-protein network analysis and quantitative real time PCR analysis of highly regulated genes. We identified differentially regulated pathways and constructed networks that provide a deep insight into the metabolism of affected fruit. Data mining revealed that HLB enhanced transcription of genes involved in the light reactions of photosynthesis and in ATP synthesis. Activation of protein degradation and misfolding processes were observed at the transcriptomic level. Transcripts for heat shock proteins were down-regulated at all disease stages, resulting in further protein misfolding. HLB strongly affected pathways involved in source-sink communication, including sucrose and starch metabolism and hormone synthesis and signaling. Transcription of several genes involved in the synthesis and signal transduction of cytokinins and gibberellins was repressed while that of genes involved in ethylene pathways was induced. CaLas infection triggered a response via both the salicylic acid and jasmonic acid pathways and increased the transcript abundance of several members of the WRKY family of transcription factors. Findings focused on the fruit provide valuable insight to understanding the mechanisms of the HLB-induced fruit disorder and eventually developing methods based on small molecule applications to mitigate its devastating effects on fruit production