GINI DP 6: Income Inequality and Participation: A Comparison of 24 European Countries

Previous research suggests that where inequality is high, participation is low. Two arguments are generally put forward to explain this finding: First, inequality depresses participation because people have diverging statuses and therefore fewer opportunities to share common goals. Second, people may participate more in social and civic life when they have more resources to do so. However, up till now, these explanations have been lumped together in empirical analyses. Using EU-SILC data for 24 European countries, we analyse how inequality in different parts of the income distribution is related to civic, cultural and social participation. Results indicate that a substantial part of the impact of inequality manifests itself through resources at the individual and societal level. However, independent of resources, it is still the case that higher inequality magnifies the relationship between income and participation. This is in line with a view that inter-individual processes explain why inequality diminishes participation.

The phase change from vegetative to reproductive growth in Agaricus bisporus

The phase change from vegetative to reproductive growth in Agaricus bisporus is a complex process involving changes in morphology at least in part regulated genetically and influenced by various environmental signals. This work was aimed at understanding how the morphology changes, and the specific environmental parameters are involved, and which genes show changes in transcription during the phase change process in A. bisporus. Different resources and methodologies were developed and applied to investigate this process including digital time-lapse photography, genome database assembly, design, validation and normalisation of a custom oligonucleotide gene expression microarray and analysis of microarray-generated gene expression profiles showing the response of this fungus under stimulatory and non-stimulatory environmental conditions. Key stages that occur during reproductive differentiation and development were identified and defined. It was found that temperature and the mushroom volatile, 1-octen-3-ol, act as an on/off switches as they block specific stages of the phase change while carbon dioxide acts as a quantitative regulator as high amounts of this molecule reduce the number of primordia and fruit bodies that develop. Gene expression profiles were constructed showing the changes in gene expression in peat-based A. bisporus samples, grown under commercial cultivation conditions which were designed to stimulate reproductive growth, and experimental cultivation conditions which were designed to separate out the effects of the three environmental parameters mentioned previously. It was found that 52 genes were differentially expressed in A. bisporus during the phase change from vegetative mycelium into fruit body primordia. A comparison with the gene expression profiles constructed for the experimental growth conditions, in correlation with morphological observations enabled the separation of these 52 genes into 3 clusters. One cluster contained 4 genes that are likely to be involved in the regulation of the “early” phase change, a second cluster contained 11 genes that are likely to be involved in the regulation of the “late” phase change and the third cluster contained 37 genes that are likely to be involved with physiological processes supporting the phase change

The Evolution of the Linux Build System

Software evolution entails more than just redesigning and reimplementing functionality of, fixing bugs in, or adding new features to source code. These evolutionary forces induce similar changes on the software's build system too, with far-reaching consequences on both overall developer productivity as well as software configurability. In this paper we take a look at this phenomenon in the Linux kernel from its inception up until present day. We do this by analysing the kernel's build traces with MAKAO, our re(verse)-engineering framework for build systems. This helps us in detecting interesting idioms and patterns in the dynamic build behaviour. Finding a good balance between obtaining a fast, correct build system and migrating in a stepwise fashion turns out to be the general theme throughout the evolution of the Linux build system

Correlation analysis of the transcriptome of growing leaves with mature leaf parameters in a maize RIL population

Background: To sustain the global requirements for food and renewable resources, unraveling the molecular networks underlying plant growth is becoming pivotal. Although several approaches to identify genes and networks involved in final organ size have been proven successful, our understanding remains fragmentary. Results: Here, we assessed variation in 103 lines of the Zea mays B73xH99 RIL population for a set of final leaf size and whole shoot traits at the seedling stage, complemented with measurements capturing growth dynamics, and cellular measurements. Most traits correlated well with the size of the division zone, implying that the molecular basis of final leaf size is already defined in dividing cells of growing leaves. Therefore, we searched for association between the transcriptional variation in dividing cells of the growing leaf and final leaf size and seedling biomass, allowing us to identify genes and processes correlated with the specific traits. A number of these genes have a known function in leaf development. Additionally, we illustrated that two independent mechanisms contribute to final leaf size, maximal growth rate and the duration of growth. Conclusions: Untangling complex traits such as leaf size by applying in-depth phenotyping allows us to define the relative contributions of the components and their mutual associations, facilitating dissection of the biological processes and regulatory networks underneath

Combined large-scale phenotyping and transcriptomics in maize reveals a robust growth regulatory network

Leaves are vital organs for biomass and seed production because of their role in the generation of metabolic energy and organic compounds. A better understanding of the molecular networks underlying leaf development is crucial to sustain global requirements for food and renewable energy. Here, we combined transcriptome profiling of proliferative leaf tissue with indepth phenotyping of the fourth leaf at later stages of development in 197 recombinant inbred lines of two different maize (Zea mays) populations. Previously, correlation analysis in a classical biparental mapping population identified 1,740 genes correlated with at least one of 14 traits. Here, we extended these results with data from a multiparent advanced generation intercross population. As expected, the phenotypic variability was found to be larger in the latter population than in the biparental population, although general conclusions on the correlations among the traits are comparable. Data integration from the two diverse populations allowed us to identify a set of 226 genes that are robustly associated with diverse leaf traits. This set of genes is enriched for transcriptional regulators and genes involved in protein synthesis and cell wall metabolism. In order to investigate the molecular network context of the candidate gene set, we integrated our data with publicly available functional genomics data and identified a growth regulatory network of 185 genes. Our results illustrate the power of combining in-depth phenotyping with transcriptomics in mapping populations to dissect the genetic control of complex traits and present a set of candidate genes for use in biomass improvement