Too Few Indians and Too Many Chiefs. Is This One Reason for Declining Trade Union Membership in Denmark?

The decline in trade union membership in many countries since the 1970s and the consequent weakening of the trade unions is due to a number of reasons, including occupational changes, welfare state and social regulation, liberalism and individualization, and in Denmark (and Sweden and Finland) changes in unemployment insurance legislation and the institutional settings of the unemployment insurance system. All these factors are well known and have been analyzed in the literature. This article sums up all these facts and reasons for trade union decline in Denmark, but the main analysis focuses on a supplementary reason for membership decline among LO (the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions)-affiliated unions: many trade union members leave their unions to become members of unions that organize managers. When workers become managers, some prefer to join an organization expert in servicing managerial staff, while others leave their trade unions because they define themselves as managers without being formally appointed as such and without having formal managerial responsibilities. Reasons for this behavior will be discussed in the article

Repeatability and reproducibility of lipoprotein particle profile measurements in plasma samples by ultracentrifugation

Background: Characterization of lipoprotein particle profiles (LPPs) (including main classes and subclasses) by means of ultracentrifugation (UC) is highly requested given its clinical potential. However, rapid methods are required to replace the very labor-intensive UC method and one solution is to calibrate rapid nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based prediction models, but the reliability of the UC-response method required for the NMR calibration has been largely overlooked. Methods:  This study provides a comprehensive repeatability and reproducibility study of various UC-based lipid measurements (cholesterol, triglycerides [TGs], free cholesterol, phospholipids, apolipoprotein [apo]A1 and apoB) in different main classes and subclasses of 25 duplicated fresh plasma samples and of 42 quality control (QC) frozen pooled plasma samples of healthy individuals. Results: Cholesterol, apoA1 and apoB measurements were very repeatable in all classes (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC]: 92.93%-99.54%). Free cholesterol and phospholipid concentrations in main classes and subclasses and TG concentrations in high-density lipoproteins (HDL), HDL subclasses and low-density lipoproteins (LDL) subclasses, showed worse repeatability (ICC: 19.21%-99.08%) attributable to low concentrations, variability introduced during UC and assay limitations. On frozen QC samples, the reproducibility of cholesterol, apoA1 and apoB concentrations was found to be better than for the free cholesterol, phospholipids and TGs concentrations. Conclusions: This study shows that for LPPs measurements near or below the limit of detection (LOD) in some of the subclasses, as well as the use of frozen samples, results in worsened repeatability and reproducibility. Furthermore, we show that the analytical assay coupled to UC for free cholesterol and phospholipids have different repeatability and reproducibility. All of this needs to be taken into account when calibrating future NMR-based models

Introducing quinoa in Turkey:farmers perception in the region of Adana

In order to look for a more diverse and sustainable cropping system with high value crops in the Mediterranean region of Turkey, the drought and salt tolerant crop quinoa was analysed as an alternative to the current major crops, for instance wheat. This study investigates the conditions for growing quinoa in Adana, and how they are perceived among farmers in the region. A combination of qualitative and quantitative research was employed to group farmers into segments according to their willingness to adopt quinoa. Findings from this study indicate that farmers in Adana perceive quinoa as a crop likely to be adopted in their cropping system if they can gain market access with the new crop. Farmers’ previous knowledge regarding the crop, concerns about drought and salt risk and farm characteristics also appear to be determining the farmers’ attitude towards new crops