An Inquiry-Infused Introductory Biology Laboratory That Integrates Mendel\u27s Pea Phenotypes With Molecular Mechanisms

We developed a multi-week laboratory in which college-level introductory biology students investigate Mendel\u27s stem length phenotype in peas. Students collect, analyze and interpret convergent evidence from molecular and physiological techniques. In weeks 1 and 2, students treat control and experimental plants with Gibberellic Acid (GA) to determine whether uncharacterized short mutant lines are GA responsive. These data allow students to place the mutation in the GA signal transduction pathway. During weeks 2 and 3, plants are genotyped for Mendel\u27s le mutation using a derived cleaved polymorphic sequences (dCAPS) PCR assay. This laboratory allows students to make a direct connection between modern molecular genetics and the easily scored phenotypes Mendel used as the basis of his fundamental discoveries. We administered surveys to assess student gains in accord with four learning goals: understanding the lab, basic science literacy, scientific practices, and working collaboratively. Student confidence increased significantly in the first three, but not in working collaboratively, although students reported greater confidence working in groups than alone

The RootScope: A Simple High-Throughput Screening System For Quantitating Gene Expression Dynamics In Plant Roots

Background: High temperature stress responses are vital for plant survival. The mechanisms that plants use to sense high temperatures are only partially understood and involve multiple sensing and signaling pathways. Here we describe the development of the RootScope, an automated microscopy system for quantitating heat shock responses in plant roots.Results: The promoter of Hsp17.6 was used to build a Hsp17.6(p):GFP transcriptional reporter that is induced by heat shock in Arabidopsis. An automated fluorescence microscopy system which enables multiple roots to be imaged in rapid succession was used to quantitate Hsp17.6p: GFP response dynamics. Hsp17.6(p):GFP signal increased with temperature increases from 28 degrees C to 37 degrees C. At 40 degrees C the kinetics and localization of the response are markedly different from those at 37 degrees C. This suggests that different mechanisms mediate heat shock responses above and below 37 degrees C. Finally, we demonstrate that Hsp17.6(p):GFP expression exhibits wave like dynamics in growing roots.Conclusions: The RootScope system is a simple and powerful platform for investigating the heat shock response in plants

State Power and Economic Inefficiency : Explaining Political Failture in Africa

SUMMARY The problem of agricultural crisis in Africa has forced a review of the highly centralised and bureaucratised structures used to provide services to farmers since independence, and has resulted in a return to favour of decentralised market mechanisms. This article traces the historical evolution of the present system in the colonial period, and sets out the theoretical and political assumptions which lay behind its retention in the post?colonial period. It then attempts to account for current failures by examining the theoretical inconsistencies and actual conflicts of interest involved in the attempt to use these structures in the political, economic and social conditions prevailing in post?colonial Africa. It concludes by recommending a more flexible approach based upon the use of decentralised private and cooperative structures directly accountable to the farmers who use them. SOMMAIRE Le problème de la crise agricole en Afrique a forcé une révision des structures bureaucratìques et hautement centralisées, utilisées pour procurer des services aux fermiers depuis l'indépendance, ceci a eu pour résultat de plaider en faveur des mécanismes de marché décentralisées. Cet article trace révolution historique du système actuel dans la période coloniale, et présente les assomptions qui sont derrière son maintien dans la période post?coloniale. On tente ensuite d'expliquer les échecs récents en analysant les contradictions théoriques et les conflits d'intérêt actuels impliqués dans les tentatives d'utiliser ces structures sous des conditions politiques, économiques et sociales prévalant dans l'Afrique post?coloniale. L'article conclut en recommandant une approche plus flexible, basée sur l'utilisation de structures privées décentralisées et des structures coopératives imputables aux fermiers utilisateurs. RESUMEN El problema de la crisis agrícola en Africa ha forzado a una revisión de las estructuras altamente centralizadas y burocráticas utilizadas para proporcionar servicios a los agricultores, resultando en un retorno en favor de los mecanismos descentralizados del mercado. Este artículo describe la evolución histórica del sistema actual en el periodo colonial y establece las hipótesis teóricas y políticas que yacen por detrás de su persistencia en el periodo post?colonial. A continuación intenta explicar los fracasos actuales mediante el examen de las incoherencias teóricas y los conflictos de intereses involucrados en el propósito de utilizar estas estructuras en las condiciones políticas, sociales y económicas prevalecientes en Africa post?colonial. Concluye recomendando un enfoque más flexible basado en el uso de estructuras descentralizadas, tanto privadas como cooperativas, directamente responsables ante los granjeros que las utilizan

Modelling of regulatory factor and managerial impact assessment in the regional economy sectors: a case-study of the Kaliningrad region (Russia)

This article discusses the methodology of developing tools for assessing regulatory factors and managerial impacts on the regional economy and individual sectors and businesses. The potential of projection models is investigated, including balance models, convergence of regional and sectoral projection and compiling reliable and representative data sets capable of describing the current economic situation. An attempt was made to develop a series of models for several regional economies; to that end, the modelling of managerial and regulatory impact assessment was used in combination with the well-known value chain approach. In the interests of effective public administration, one of the requirements is to create sectoral model formats compatible with the regional projection models. Results of pilot modelling managerial and regulatory impacts on Kaliningrad region’s economies are presented through examples of agribusiness, transport, industry, tourism and recreation. Implementation of regulatory impact modelling in the framework of the suggested approach is proved for other regions. The main advantage of the developed models for the regional management is their ability to reduce uncertainty in decision-making due to obtaining estimates of the impact of the decisions on the changing situation and the conditions for the development of sectors and industries

Local supplier firms in Madagascar’s apparel export industry : Upgrading paths, transnational social relations and regional production networks

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Why Social Enterprises Are Asking to Be Multi-stakeholder and Deliberative: An Explanation around the Costs of Exclusion.

The study of multi-stakeholdership (and multi-stakeholder social enterprises in particular) is only at the start. Entrepreneurial choices which have emerged spontaneously, as well as the first legal frameworks approved in this direction, lack an adequate theoretical support. The debate itself is underdeveloped, as the existing understanding of organisations and their aims resist an inclusive, public interest view of enterprise. Our contribution aims at enriching the thin theoretical reflections on multi-stakeholdership, in a context where they are already established, i.e. that of social and personal services. The aim is to provide an economic justification on why the governance structure and decision-making praxis of the firm needs to account for multiple stakeholders. In particular with our analysis we want: a) to consider production and the role of firms in the context of the “public interest” which may or may not coincide with the non-profit objective; b) to ground the explanation of firm governance and processes upon the nature of production and the interconnections between demand and supply side; c) to explain that the costs associated with multi-stakeholder governance and deliberation in decision-making can increase internal efficiency and be “productive” since they lower internal costs and utilise resources that otherwise would go astray. The key insight of this work is that, differently from major interpretations, property costs should be compared with a more comprehensive range of costs, such as the social costs that emerge when the supply of social and personal services is insufficient or when the identification of aims and means is not shared amongst stakeholders. Our model highlights that when social costs derived from exclusion are high, even an enterprise with costly decisional processes, such as the multistakeholder, can be the most efficient solution amongst other possible alternatives