Women in Blue-Collar Occupations: An Exploration of Constraints and Facilitators

This study reports on some of the variables which facilitate and impede work satisfaction among women in nontraditional occupations. A small sample of women working as machinists, pipe fitters, carpenters, electricians, technicians, and construction workers reported that sexual harassment on the job impeded their work satisfaction. Respondents\u27 perceptions of equality in pay and promotion on the job, and congruence between work and domestic roles, served to enhance work satisfaction. Age was related to a sense of competence, perception of equality on the job, and congruence between work and domestic roles. Social support significantly enhanced work satisfaction

Investigations of the Quorum Sensing Repressor LsrR from Escherichia coli and Salmonella Typhimurium and the Putative AI-2 Receptor LsrB from Clostridium antoethanogenum

Quorum sensing is a process by which bacteria coordinate community behaviors through the exchange of signal molecules. Both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria use quorum sensing to regulate cell density-dependent activities such as bioluminescence, biofilm formation, and the secretion of virulence factors. Interspecies quorum sensing is mediated by a signal molecule known as autoinducer-2 (AI-2) which is synthesized and recognized by a diverse range of bacterial phyla. The uptake and degradation of AI -2 is accomplished by proteins encoded by the lsr operon, which is regulated by AI-2. Previous research has suggested that dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP), a metabolic product of AI-2 degradation, interacts directly with LsrR to repress lsr. In this study, we report the purification protocol for LsrR from Escherichia coli and an N-terminal truncation of LsrR from Salmonella enterica ser. Typhimurium. We attempt thermodynamic and kinetic studies of DHAP binding using isothermal titration calorimetry and fluorometry. Our study also reports an initial attempt to assay the effect of DHAP on transcriptional repression by LsrR using an electrophoretic mobility shift assay. These approaches did not supply reliable data that support a conclusion regarding the role of DHAP in regulating lsr. Future studies will optimize the reported protocols and incorporate additional options to obtain conclusive results

ANÁLISE DE UMA RESENHA MIDIÁTICA SOB O PONTO DE VISTA DA ESQUEMATIZAÇÃO

Tomando por base o modelo de comunicação de Grize (1990) e o conceito de esquematização propostos a partir da lógica natural; apresenta-se a análise de uma resenha midiática para investigar os processos de construção e de coconstrução de objetos de discurso. Realiza-se a análise em duas etapas; na primeira, descreve-se a situação de comunicação com base nas categorias de Charaudeau (2006, 2009); na segunda, identifica-se o processo de construção de objetos de discurso através do exame de formas linguísticas que revelam quais pré-construídos culturais e representações são mobilizados para construir o ponto de vista da autora sobre a obra examinada – ou seja, a esquematização proposta. Os resultados mostram a produtividade que o modelo de comunicação de Grize pode conferir à análise.

Comparative evaluation of the performance of online databases in answering toxicology queries

An evaluation of toxicology information resources is reported, comparing commercial online databases and a specialised in-house database. A mixed qualitative/quantitative approach, using ten test queries and detailed failure analysis was used. The main conclusions are: the in-house database is superior to any ‘general’ database in recall and precision; commercial databases are a useful complement, usually providing unique material; a range of databases should be used for good recall; for the commercial databases, complex search strategies are necessary, using the specific access points of each database; retrieval failures are due primarily to coverage, secondly to poor indexing of specific toxic effect. Detailed discussion is given of indexing policies and search strategies

Parent Skills Training: Expanding School-Based Services for Adolescent Mothers

This article reports the results of a collaborative intervention effort between a teen-parent program and a school of social work Social work faculty and students participated in a program aimed at strengthening parental skills and the utilization of social support among adolescent mothers who were enrolled in a special high school program. The results of this evaluation study point to additional factors, such as empathy training and stress management, which need to be included in a comprehensive service-delivery program for school-age mothers.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68359/2/10.1177_104973159200200203.pd

Single parenting: Interventions in the transitional stage

Following divorce or separation, many mother-headed families need to mourn losses, including reduced economic resources. They need to reestablish family rituals, confront such issues as time management and structural changes that can result in scapegoating or over-reliance on a parental child. Normalizing difficulties associated with parenting is important because single parents tend to internalize societal attribution of family difficulties to inadequate family structure rather than developmental stages, limited economic resources, and negative expectations about the capacity of women to head families.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44289/1/10591_2004_Article_BF00891869.pd

Vegetation transitions drive the autotrophy-heterotrophy balance in Arctic lakes

“Arctic greening” will alter vegetation quantity and quality in northern watersheds, with possible consequences for lake metabolic balance. We used paleolimnology from six Arctic lakes in Greenland, Norway, and Alaska to develop a conceptual model describing how climate-driven shifts in terrestrial vegetation (spanning herb to boreal forest) influence lake autotrophic biomass (as chlorophyll and carotenoid pigments). Major autotrophic transitions occurred, including (1) optimal production of siliceous algae and cyanobacteria/chlorophytes at intermediate vegetation cover (dwarf shrub and Betula; dissolved organic carbon (DOC) range of 2–4 mg L21 ), below and above which UVR exposure (DOC; 4 mgL21 ), respectively limit algal biomass, (2) an increase in potentially mixotrophic cryptophytes with higher forest cover and allochthonous carbon supply. Vegetation cover appears to influence lake autotrophs by changing influx of (colored) dissolved organic matter which has multiple interacting roles—as a photoprotectant—in light attenuation and in macronutrient (carbon, nitrogen) supply