Mother, should I trust the government? The impact of personal characteristics, professional position and policy alienation on trust of public professionals in the government

Trust is seen as crucial for the legitimacy of governments: Without trust governments cannot act in name of its citizens. Although various studies have studied citizen trust in the government, much less is known about whether those citizens who have to execute policies and are at the forefront of delivering services – for instance teachers and nurses - trust the government, and which factors matter for their trust. Trust of these professionals is crucial as they form the linking pin between state and citizens. This study aims to fill the gap in knowledge about public professional trust by analyzing three potential influences on the trust of public professionals: personal characteristics (age, gender, education), professional position (tenure, managing responsibility), and policy alienation (client meaninglessness). To test this we use two survey samples from professionals working in two policy fields in the Netherlands: education (n=1,183) and healthcare (n=1,723). Results show firstly that personal characteristics and professional position were far less important than expected. Instead, trust of public professionals was mostly related to whether they perceived current government policies as meaningful and contributing to their work. These findings were robust as they were found in both samples. Our results show that taking into account experiences with public policies is essential for understanding trust, which can ultimately influence policy performance

Does public service motivation matter? A study of participation in various volunteering domains

This article examines the extent to which public service motivation (PSM), more specifically the PSM dimension commitment to the public interest (CPI), is related to volunteering. The claims for the relationship between PSM and volunteering have rarely been supported by evidence based on direct measurements of PSM. Using data from a large representative sample of public and semi-public sector employees in the Netherlands, we show that CPI is positively related to volunteering. This relationship is stronger for participation in some volunteering domains than in others. We suggest that public interest committed employees seek out volunteering opportunities that match their motivation and that the extent to which voluntary organizations espouse public service ideals may explain the differential strength of the relationship between employees’ CPI and their participation in different volunteering domains. This finding is relevant for voluntary and nonprofit organizations which need to attract volunteers to keep up welfare services

Role of Large Cabbage White butterfly male-derived compounds in elicitation of direct and indirect egg-killing defenses in the black mustard

To successfully exert defenses against herbivores and pathogens plants need to recognize reliable cues produced by their attackers. Up to now, few elicitors associated with herbivorous insects have been identified. We have previously shown that accessory reproductive gland secretions associated with eggs of Cabbage White butterflies (Pieris spp.) induce chemical changes in Brussels sprouts plants recruiting egg-killing parasitoids. Only secretions of mated female butterflies contain minute amounts of male-derived anti-aphrodisiac compounds that elicit this indirect plant defense. Here, we used the black mustard (Brassica nigra) to investigate how eggs of the Large Cabbage White butterfly (Pieris brassicae) induce, either an egg-killing direct [i.e., hypersensitive response (HR)-like necrosis] or indirect defense (i.e., oviposition-induced plant volatiles attracting Trichogramma egg parasitoids). Plants induced by P. brassicae egg-associated secretions expressed both traits and previous mating enhanced elicitation. Treatment with the anti-aphrodisiac compound of P. brassicae, benzyl cyanide (BC), induced stronger HR when compared to controls. Expression of the salicylic (SA) pathway- and HR-marker PATHOGENESIS-RELATED GENE1 was induced only in plants showing an HR-like necrosis. Trichogramma wasps were attracted to volatiles induced by secretion of mated P. brassicae females but application of BC did not elicit the parasitoid-attracting volatiles. We conclude that egg-associated secretions of Pieris butterflies contain specific elicitors of the different plant defense traits against eggs in Brassica plants. While in Brussels sprouts plants anti- aphrodisiac compounds in Pieris egg-associated secretions were clearly shown to elicit indirect defense, the wild relative B. nigra, recognizes different herbivore cues that mediate the defensive responses. These results add another level of specificity to the mechanisms by which plants recognize their attackers

Anti-aphrodisiac Compounds of Male Butterflies Increase the Risk of Egg Parasitoid Attack by Inducing Plant Synomone Production

During mating in many butterfly species, males transfer spermatophores that contain anti-aphrodisiacs to females that repel conspecific males. For example, males of the large cabbage white, Pieris brassicae (Lepidoptera: Pieridae), transfer the anti-aphrodisiac, benzyl cyanide (BC) to females. Accessory reproductive gland (ARG) secretion of a mated female P. brassicae that is deposited with an egg clutch contains traces of BC, inducing Brussels sprouts plants (Brassica oleracea var. gemmifera) to arrest certain Trichogramma egg parasitoids. Here, we assessed whether deposition of one egg at a time by the closely related small cabbage white, Pieris rapae, induced B. oleracea var. gemmifera to arrest Trichogramma wasps, and whether this plant synomone is triggered by substances originating from male P. rapae seminal fluid. We showed that plants induced by singly laid eggs of P. rapae arrest T. brassicae wasps three days after butterfly egg deposition. Elicitor activity was present in ARG secretion of mated female butterflies, whereas the secretion of virgin females was inactive. Pieris rapae used a mixture of methyl salicylate (MeSA) and indole as an anti-aphrodisiac. We detected traces of both anti-aphrodisiacal compounds in the ARG secretion of mated female P. rapae, whereas indole was lacking in the secretion of virgin female P. rapae. When applied onto the leaf, indole induced changes in the foliar chemistry that arrested T. brassicae wasps. This study shows that compounds of male seminal fluid incur possible fitness costs for Pieris butterflies by indirectly promoting egg parasitoid attack

Measuring agroecology:Introducing a methodological framework and a community of practice approach

Over the last few years, a small but increasing number of researchers and organizations has been involved in tracking funding flows to agroecology, analyzing development assistance, climate finance, and research funds for their contribution to an agroecological transformation of food systems, including as part of the efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. This has led to the emergence of a community of practice (CoP) meeting and exchanging in a number of different forums—Financing Agroecology Civil Society CoP, the Agroecology Donor Group, and the Working Group on Financing and Investments of the Coalition for Food Systems Transformation Through Agroecology (Agroecology Coalition). In this article, we report on a process of collaboratively developing a methodological framework, using the High Level Panel of Experts of the Committee on World Food Security 13 principles of agroecology as foundation. This framework overcomes some limitations of previous methodologies for evaluating degrees of agroecological integration (including those using Gliessman’s 5 levels of food system change) and facilitates a robust qualitative assessment of projects, programs, and project portfolios with respect to their “agroecologicalness.” The framework conceives of agroecology as paradigm-shifting rather than as incremental improvements to existing food systems. It enables global comparability as well as local contextualization of each principle. While the need for this framework arose from the desire to monitor—and increase—financial support for an urgently needed transformation toward agroecology, the framework can equally contribute to the design of projects and programs, which aim to radically transform food and farming systems. It also has value as an educational tool, in specifying through statements of value and concrete examples, what agroecological work aims at. This article introduces our framework and argues for an expanded CoP approach to use it widely and share the results through the digital platform that will be developed for that purpose

Well being of obstetric patients on minimal blood transfusions (WOMB trial)

Background: Primary postpartum haemorrhage is an obstetrical emergency often causing acute anaemia that may require immediate red blood cell (RBC) transfusion. This anaemia results in symptoms such as fatigue, whic