The Ethical Treatment of Research Assistants: Are We Forsaking Safety for Science?

Science inevitably involves ethical discussions about how research should be implemented. However such discussions often neglect the potential unethical treatment of a third party: the research assistant. Extensive anecdotal evidence suggests that research assistants can experience unique physical, psychological, and social risks when implementing their typical responsibilities. Moreover, these research assistants, who perhaps engage in research experience to bolster their curricula vitae, may feel coerced to continue to work in unsafe environments out of fear of losing rapport with the research supervisor or letters of recommendation for their future endeavors. In the present article, we address two important issues regarding the ethical treatment of research assistants. First, we present evidence suggesting that research assistants may experience substantive risk when implementing their assigned responsibilities. Second, we propose a document, the "Research Assistant's Bill of Rights," as a possible ethics code for people supervising research assistants. This document is independent from typical institutional review board processes, and it has the potential to maximize benefits to research supervisors and research assistants

Aktien

Der Deutsche Aktienindex klettert auf Bestmarken, stürzt wieder ab, erholt sich wieder. Ein Unternehmen macht Rekordgewinne, der Aktienkurs bricht trotzdem ein, weil Analysten noch mehr erwartet hatten. Für den Normalbürger ist das kaum nachvollziehbar. Wie sieht es mit Wirtschaftswissenschaftlern aus? Investieren die in Aktien, oder lassen sie die Finger davon? Ein Gespräch mit Peter Dürsch, Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Alfred-Weber-Institut für Wirtschaftswissenschaften der Universität Heidelberg. Der Beitrag erschien in der Sendereihe "Campus-Report" - einer Beitragsreihe, in der über aktuelle Themen aus Forschung und Wissenschaft der Universitäten Heidelberg, Mannheim, Karlsruhe und Freiburg berichtet wird. Zu hören ist "Campus-Report" montags bis freitags jeweils um ca. 19.10h im Programm von Radio Regenbogen. (Empfang in Nordbaden: UKW 102,8. In Mittelbaden: 100,4 und in Südbaden: 101,1

Extending results of Morgan and Parker about commuting graphs

http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0004972712000330

Medienangebote und Mediennutzung durch Kinder Orientierungsrahmen fuer Verkehrsaufklaerung

TIB: RN 6741 (84) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Sexual reproduction, sporophyte development and molecular variation in the model moss Physcomitrella patens: introducing the ecotype Reute

Rich ecotype collections are used for several plant models to unravel the molecular causes of phenotypic differences, and to investigate the effects of environmental adaption and acclimation. For the model moss Physcomitrella patens collections of accessions are available, and have been used for phylogenetic and taxonomic studies, for example, but few have been investigated further for phenotypic differences. Here, we focus on the Reute accession and provide expression profiling and comparative developmental data for several stages of sporophyte development, as well as information on genetic variation via genomic sequencing. We analysed cross-technology and cross-laboratory data to define a confident set of 15 mature sporophyte-specific genes. We find that the standard laboratory strain Gransden produces fewer sporophytes than Reute or Villersexel, although gametangia develop with the same time course and do not show evident morphological differences. Reute exhibits less genetic variation relative to Gransden than Villersexel, yet we found variation between Gransden and Reute in the expression profiles of several genes, as well as variation hot spots and genes that appear to evolve under positive Darwinian selection. We analyzed expression differences between the ecotypes for selected candidate genes in the GRAS transcription factor family, the chalcone synthase family and in genes involved in cell wall modification that are potentially related to phenotypic differences. We confirm that Reute is a P.patens ecotype, and suggest its use for reverse-genetics studies that involve progression through the life cycle and multiple generations