Michigan Compulsory Arbitration Act for Essential Services

When Public Act 312 became effective on October 1, 1969, Michigan joined Rhode Island and Pennsylvania in permitting compulsory arbitration of unresolved labor disputes involving municipal police and firemen. Wyoming similarly provides for compulsory arbitration in fire department disputes. Passage of the Act was prompted by a desire to avoid the dire consequences of strikes or work stoppages by firefighters and policemen, and to provide a method by which the bargaining power of public service unions could be maintained in the absence of the strike privilege. Since Michigan had barred strikes by public employees in 1947, the unions felt that they lacked a base of power from which to press their demands. The firemen and policemen realized that a strike, aside from its illegality, would, in all likelihood, alienate employer and legislators alike without advancing the cause for which they were striking. The unions representing these groups feared that the probable result would be more oppressive sanctions for strikes by policemen and firemen. As a result, compulsory arbitration was advanced as a compromise to compensate them for the loss of their right to strike. The recommendation for compulsory binding arbitration of disputes involving firemen and policemen originated in a committee appointed by former Governor George Romney to examine, among other things, means of protecting the general public against interruptions or impairment of essential government services. As a result of this study, compulsory arbitration was initiated on an experimental basis for a period commencing October 1, 1969, and expiring June 30, 1972

Determination of the permeability parameters of bagasse pulp from two different sugar extraction methods

The permeability, the specific surface area and the swelling factor have been determined for Australian bagasse pulp derived from bagasse from two different sugar extraction processes. The sugar extraction process was not found to affect the permeability of the pulp. The results for bagasse pulp are compared to those of eucalypt pulp, which is widely used in Australia for paper manufacture. The fibre length distribution showed a high fraction of small fibres in all of the bagasse pulp samples. Surprisingly, the permeability properties of the bagasse pulp samples were better than that that of eucalypt. It is presumed that this is due to the relatively large fraction of longer fibres in the bagasse pulp compared to the eucalypt pulp

Measurements of the Buffeting Loads on the Wing and Horizontal Tail of a 1/4-scale Model of the X-1E Airplane

The buffeting loads acting on the wing and horizontal tail of a 1/4-scale model of the X-1E airplane have been measured in the Langley 16-foot transonic tunnel in the Mach number range from 0.40 to 0.90. When the buffeting loads were reduced to a nondimensional aerodynamic coefficient of buffeting intensity, it was found that the maximum buffeting intensity of the horizontal tail was about twice as large as that of the wing. Comparison of power spectra of buffeting loads acting on the horizontal tail of the airplaneand of the model indicated that the model horizontal tail, which was of conventional force-test-model design, responded in an entirely different mode than did the airplane.This result implied that if quantitative extrapolation of model data to flight conditions were desired a dynamically scaled model of the rearward portion of the fuselage and empennage would be required. A study of the sources of horizontal-tail buffeting of the model indicated that the wing wake contributed a large part of the total buffeting load. At one condition it was found that removal of the wing wake would reduce the buffeting loads on the horizontal tail to about one-third of the original value

Impact of imputation methods on the amount of genetic variation captured by a single-nucleotide polymorphism panel in soybeans

Background Success in genome-wide association studies and marker-assisted selection depends on good phenotypic and genotypic data. The more complete this data is, the more powerful will be the results of analysis. Nevertheless, there are next-generation technologies that seek to provide genotypic information in spite of great proportions of missing data. The procedures these technologies use to impute genetic data, therefore, greatly affect downstream analyses. This study aims to (1) compare the genetic variance in a single-nucleotide polymorphism panel of soybean with missing data imputed using various methods, (2) evaluate the imputation accuracy and post-imputation quality associated with these methods, and (3) evaluate the impact of imputation method on heritability and the accuracy of genome-wide prediction of soybean traits. The imputation methods we evaluated were as follows: multivariate mixed model, hidden Markov model, logical algorithm, k-nearest neighbor, single value decomposition, and random forest. We used raw genotypes from the SoyNAM project and the following phenotypes: plant height, days to maturity, grain yield, and seed protein composition. Results We propose an imputation method based on multivariate mixed models using pedigree information. Our methods comparison indicate that heritability of traits can be affected by the imputation method. Genotypes with missing values imputed with methods that make use of genealogic information can favor genetic analysis of highly polygenic traits, but not genome-wide prediction accuracy. The genotypic matrix captured the highest amount of genetic variance when missing loci were imputed by the method proposed in this paper. Conclusions We concluded that hidden Markov models and random forest imputation are more suitable to studies that aim analyses of highly heritable traits while pedigree-based methods can be used to best analyze traits with low heritability. Despite the notable contribution to heritability, advantages in genomic prediction were not observed by changing the imputation method. We identified significant differences across imputation methods in a dataset missing 20 % of the genotypic values. It means that genotypic data from genotyping technologies that provide a high proportion of missing values, such as GBS, should be handled carefully because the imputation method will impact downstream analysis

ACTH- and Cytochalasin-Related Changes in Adrenal Cell Morphology and Cytoskeleton

Following 1 hr incubation with ACTH, cytochalasin D or ACTH/cytochalasin, detergent-solubilized mouse adrenal tumor cells cytoskeletal changes were examined using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Steroid production was also examined

A Study of Current Practices in Maintaining Industrial Arts Laboratories in Secondary Schools in the State of Texas

The problem of this study was to determine what are the maintenance practices and to what extent are they being used by industrial arts teachers in the subject areas of woodworking, metalworking, and drafting at the secondary level in the state of Texas

Designing digital qualitative research workflows : enabling stakeholder participation across all research stages

PhD ThesisParticipatory research approaches are increasingly being used by practitioners – academics, civil society organisations, and citizens – to inform decision-making processes where participants contribute to idea generation and data capture, but less often to data analysis and dissemination. This can leave participants feeling ineffectual and unrepresented in the research output as analytical decisions made on their contributions are opaque. Digital tools offer opportunities to enhance qualitative practices but are often designed for academics and primarily for data analysis, which can limit participation and adoption by other practitioners. In response, this thesis explores the design of digital tools to structure inclusive participation across all stages of qualitative research. Through synthesizing literature on the qualitative practices of practitioners, a cross-cutting qualitative workflow is defined that introduces design considerations to overcome existing barriers to participation. An action research approach was taken across three case studies that iteratively designed digital prototypes to explore how technology can augment this workflow. Design insights from this informed the development of Gabber, a digital platform that encompasses the end-to-end qualitative workflow that prioritises interactions with audio media to lower existing barriers of participation in each workflow stage. Following this, two distinct case studies configured and used Gabber across the workflow where observations of platform use, and semi-structured interviews surfaced opportunities and challenges around transparency of participation and stakeholder engagement across the workflow. This thesis’ primary contributions are a conceptualisation and real-world empirical exploration of a digital qualitative workflow across five case studies that augment and examine the qualitative practices of practitioners. Across this research, practitioners wanted to understand who and how their contributions were engaged with. This informed the secondary contribution, design implications for digital tools to leverage paradata to improve process transparency and demystify decision-making processes for stakeholders involved

\u3cem\u3eDehalogenimonas\u3c/em\u3e spp. can Reductively Dehalogenate High Concentrations of 1,2-Dichloroethane, 1,2-Dichloropropane, and 1,1,2-Trichloroethane

The contaminant concentrations over which type strains of the species Dehalogenimonas alkenigignens and Dehalogenimonas lykanthroporepellens were able to reductively dechlorinate 1,2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCA), 1,2-dichloropropane (1,2-DCP), and 1,1,2-trichloroethane (1,1,2-TCA) were evaluated. Although initially isolated from an environment with much lower halogenated solvent concentrations, D. alkenigignens IP3-3T was found to reductively dehalogenate chlorinated alkanes at concentrations comparable to D. lykanthroporepellens BL-DC-9T. Both species dechlorinated 1,2-DCA, 1,2-DCP, and 1,1,2-TCA present at initial concentrations at least as high as 8.7, 4.0, and 3.5 mM, respectively. The ability of Dehalogenimonas spp. to carry out anaerobic reductive dechlorination even in the presence of high concentrations of chlorinated aliphatic alkanes has important implications for remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater

G-protein-coupled receptors in aldosterone-producing adenomas: a potential cause of hyperaldosteronism

The source of aldosterone in 30–40% of patients with primary hyperaldosteronism (PA) is unilateral aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA). The mechanisms causing elevated aldosterone production in APA are unknown. Herein, we examined the expression of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) in APA and demonstrated that when compared with normal adrenals, there is a general elevation of certain GPCR in many APA and/or ectopic expression of GPCR in others. RNA samples from normal adrenals (n = 5), APAs (n = 10), and cortisol-producing adenomas (CPAs; n = 13) were used on 15 genomic expression arrays, each of which included 223 GPCR transcripts presented in at least 1 out of 15 of the independent microarrays. The array results were confirmed using real-time RT-PCR (qPCR). Four GPCR transcripts exhibited a statistically significant increase that was greater than threefold when compared with normal adrenals, suggesting a general increase in expression when compared with normal adrenal glands. Four GPCR transcripts exhibited a > 15-fold increase of expression in one or more of the APA samples when compared with normal adrenals. qPCR analysis confirmed array data and found the receptors with the highest fold increase in APA expression to be LH receptor, serotonin receptor 4, GnRH receptor, glutamate receptor metabotropic 3, endothelin receptor type B-like protein, and ACTH receptor. There are also sporadic increased expressions of these genes in the CPAs. Together, these findings suggest a potential role of altered GPCR expression in many cases of PA and provide candidate GPCR for further study