The Anatomy of Union Decline in Britain: 1990-1998

To what extent can the decline in British trade union density between 1990 and 1998 be attributed to declining opportunities to unionize compared to declining propensity to unionize among workers with the opportunity to do so and to compositional change? This question is answered using data to from both workplaces (from 1990 and 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Surveys) and individuals (fro m the British Household Panel Survey). Results show that both falling opportunities and falling propensities to unionize accounted for membership decline during this period. Membership fell because unions lacked the power to maintain bargaining relationships with management, to organize new workplaces, or to uphold the ¿social custom¿ of union membership among new workers who took union jobs. However, there was little evidence that declining union membership was the result of a change in employee attitudes towards unions.Labour Management Relations, Trade Unions, Collective Bargaining

Unions and the Sword of Justice: Unions and Pay Systems, Pay Inequality, Pay Discrimination and Low Pay

Dispersion in pay is lower among union members than among non-unionists. This reflects two factors. First, union members and jobs are more homogeneous than their non-union counterparts. Second, union wage policies within and across firms lower pay dispersion. Unions' minimum wage targets also truncate the lower tail of the union distribution. There are two major consequences of these egalitarian union wage policies. First, the return to human capital is lower in firms which recognise unions than in the unorganised sector. Second, unions compress the wage structure by gender, race and occupation.Unions, pay distribution, discrimination

Investigating the effect of dietary cholesterol on the intestine in zebrafish larvae

The incidence of chronic inflammatory diseases has risen over the past few decades, particularly in Western societies. This increased incidence of disease has coincided with a number of lifestyle changes such as a shift in dietary habits to high lipid, high sugar diets and widespread use of antibiotics. High lipid diets specifically have been associated with intestinal disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease. A zebrafish model of a high cholesterol diet (HCD) has been found to cause inflammasome-dependent intestinal immune cell accumulation and peristalsis impairment. This PhD project used juvenile zebrafish larvae as a model organism to further investigate the effects of a 9-day HCD and antibiotic treatment on intestinal motility and inflammation. A 9-day HCD only induced peristalsis impairment and increased intestinal transit time in the presence of the antibiotic penicillin-streptomycin (PS). HCD-fed PS-treated (HCD+PS) larvae had increased levels of intestinal immune cell accumulation compared with control-fed PS-treated larvae, but similar levels of accumulation compared with untreated larvae. In untreated larvae, HCD did not increase immune cell accumulation compared with control-fed larvae. To investigate the role of antibiotic treatment on HCD-induced intestinal dysfunction, the effect of PS treatment on the microbiota was assessed. PS treatment reduced the diversity of the microbiota and altered the microbiota composition. Analysis of microbial metabolism indicated that PS-treatment may increase the production of pro-atherosclerotic compound trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO). HCD+PS larvae showed greater gut microbiota compositional changes and showed indications of further TMAO production compared to PS-treated or HCD-fed larvae alone. These results demonstrate that antibiotic treatment can significantly affect the intestinal response to dietary cholesterol in a pathophysiologically relevant model of HCD-induced intestinal dysfunction. Overall, these findings highlight that antibiotic-induced alterations of the microbiota composition can lead to changes in nutrient handling and may contribute to the development of a pro-inflammatory state.Open Acces

May the force be with you: measuring mosquito fitness in the field

Fitness of natural mosquito populations is discussed with relevance for the introduction of genetically modified (transonic) mosquitoes for the introgression of desired genetic traits into wild populations. Here fitness is considered with respect to selection pressures and mortality rates that affect wild mosquito populations. Selection pressures on different life stages are discussed, and examples for the estimates of population age structure and survival rate are presented. It is argued that the release of transgenic mosquitoes should be confined to males, with a critical assessment of mating success. Recent models of population replacement show that very high levels of population replacement are required for a transgenic trait to be effective, and that such replacement may take hundreds of year

Models of memory : cognition and cultural memory in the poetry of Thomas Hardy and Robert Frost

This thesis brings together the poetry of Thomas Hardy and Robert Frost, revealing their respective work as peculiarly engaged with memory. Poetic memory is examined at different levels: not just what it means actively to remember, but also how a poem might be more or less characteristically memorable. Hardy and Frost are also revealed as poets who see the unique properties of poetry as a genre in which certain phenomena, people and places might be remembered, if not preserved. While having a strong basis in close analysis and literary history, the project breaks new ground in setting concepts familiar to poetry scholarship within a scientific framework. Interdisciplinary in nature, this thesis uses evidence from psychological experiments to emphasise the cognitive fundamentals which underpin those Hardy and Frost poems remembered as aesthetic or cultural artefacts. Four core chapters explore issues of expectation, recognition, voice and identity, showing the meeting points for Hardyean and Frostian memory and offering new readings which connect these canonical figures. Throughout, the thesis foregrounds Hardy’s and Frost’s concern for local memories. Beginning with how the formal properties of Hardy’s and Frost’s verse appeal to human cognitive pre-dispositions, the project ends by considering how identity is culturally conditioned, and how Hardy’s and Frost’s poetry restores to significance those individuating features otherwise forgotten by cognitive and cultural memory systems. Using archival material and the respective letters of Hardy and Frost alongside the poems allows this project to offer a thorough reading of a topic close to both poets’ hearts. Beyond a study of two specific poets, this thesis also reveals why and how poetry might be sought after as a valuable mnemonic device and sheds new light on the act of reading poetry

Influences on Trade Union Organising Effectiveness in Great Britain

This paper brings together data from the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey, National Survey of Unions and TUC focus on recognition survey to investigate influences on union organising effectiveness. Organising effectiveness is defined as the ability of trade unions to recruit and retain members. Results suggest that there are big differences in organising effectiveness between unions, and that national union recruitment policies are an important influence on a union's ability to get new recognition agreements. However local factors are a more important influence on organising effectiveness in workplaces where unions have a membership presence. There are also important differences in organising effectiveness among blue and white-collar employees. These differences suggest that unions will face a strategic dilemma about the best way to appeal to the growing number of white-collar employees.Trade union objectives and structures, organising effectiveness