bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Lean Production and Labor Controls in the Chinese Automobile Industry in An Age of Globalization
Authors: Zhang Lu 
Published: May 2008

AbstractThis article explores the changing workplace and labor-management relations in the Chinese automobile industry under the influence of globalization and China's market reform. It depicts the everyday working lives of Chinese autoworkers and the shop-floor dynamics of labor relations based on the author's intensive fieldwork at the seven major automobile assembly enterprises in China during 2004–2007.The main findings of this paper are that, in spite of the generalized lean production and homogenization of workplace experiences of Chinese autoworkers, two different models of labor controls have emerged in the Chinese auto industry: “lean-and-dual” and “lean-and-mean.” On the one hand, under the lean-and-dual regime, management adopts labor force dualism by using both formal contract workers and agency workers on production lines side by side, which leads to a “hybrid” factory regime that combines both “hegemonic” and “despotic” elements. Hegemonic relations have been established between management and formal workers based on high wages, generous benefits, better working conditions, and relatively secure employment for formal workers, while “despotic” labor control characterizes the conditions for temporary agency workers with lower wages and insecure employment.On the other hand, the lean-and-mean type of auto firms adopt a high-wage, high-turnover strategy of lean production without the promise of job security to their entire workforce. The interventionist roles of the Chinese central and local states in regulating labor relations and the roles of managerial staff, factory unions, and factory party committees in building hegemonic consent among workers in the auto industry are also explored. The paper concludes by discussing the potentials and limits of Chinese autoworkers and the likely roles they are to play in the evolution of labor relations under China's current market transition and globalization.
Local Strategies of Labor Control: A Case Study of Three Electronics Factories in China
Authors: Xue Hong 
Published: May 2008

AbstractThis article explores production politics and labor conditions in electronics manufacturing in China. With case study analysis of three electronics factories in a production chain at an export processing zone, it examines external factors of labor regulation from local government or international challenges and labor market situations that help shape a sociopolitical environment for local strategies in global production. It also considers some key internal factors of firms—enterprise scale, market capabilities, and requirements of the labor process—that influence work organization on the shop floor. The central argument of this article is that manufacturing factories in the global production apply local conditions to work organization and take different strategies in recruitment and labor control within and beyond the workplace.
Calendar of Meetings and Courses
Authors: Reine Barbara , Zaluzec Nestor 
Published: May 2008

Abstract
Following is a list of microscopy-related meetings and courses. The editors would greatly appreciate input to this list via the electronic submission form found in the MSA World Wide Web page at http://www.msa.microscopy.com/. We will gladly add hypertext links to the notice on the Web and insert a listing of the meeting in the next issue of the Journal. Send comments and questions to Barbara Reine, reine@u.washington.edu or Nestor Zaluzec, zaluzec@aaem.amc.anl.gov.
Thirty Years of Energy-Dispersive Spectrometry in Microanalysis: Introduction
Authors: McCarthy Jon J 
Published: May 2008

Abstract
This issue of Microscopy and Microanalysis contains a selection of invited papers from the topical symposium, Thirty Years of Energy-Dispersive Spectrometry in Microanalysis, sponsored by the Microbeam Analysis Society (MAS) at the Microscopy & Microanalysis (M&M) '98 meeting, held July 12-16 in Atlanta, Georgia. This was the second MAS topical symposium held in conjunction with the annual M&M meetings, the first being at the meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1996. The MAS topical symposia are part of an initiative to provide venues for in-depth study of topics of special interest to the microbeam analysis community. The next MAS topical symposium is planned as part of M&M '99 and will celebrate Fifty Years of the Electron Microprobe.
Going Nondispersive
Authors: Heinrich Kurt FJ , Fitzgerald Ray , Keil Klaus 
Published: May 2008

Abstract
The energy-dispersive Si(Li) X-ray spectrometer, introduced 30 years ago into electron probe mi-croanalysis (EPMA) by R. Fitzgerald et al., has profoundly affected the development of microanalysis. It offers many advantages over the wavelength-dispersive crystal spectrometer. It has no moving parts and covers the full energy range of interest in EPMA. There is no defocusing over large distances on the specimen, the efficiency of the device is high, varies slowly and continuously with atomic number, and can be predicted fairly accurately, and, most importantly, all emission lines are detected and can be observed simultaneously. The one remaining disadvantage of the Si(Li) spectrometer is its poorer energy resolution. Solid-state detection devices now under development promise to achieve resolution comparable to that of the crystal spectrometer.
High-Resolution X-ray Spectroscopy Close to Room Temperature
Authors: Strüder L , Meidinger N , Stotter D , Kemmer J , Lechner P , Leutenegger P , Soltau H , Eggert F , Rohde M , Schulein T 
Published: May 2008

Abstract
Originally designed as position-sensitive detectors for particle tracking, silicon drift detectors (SDDs) are now used for high-count rate X-ray spectroscopy, operating close to room temperature. Their low-capacitance read-node concept places them among the fastest high-resolution detector systems. They have been used in a new spectrum of experiments in the wide field of X-ray spectroscopy: fluorescent analysis, diffrac-tometry, materials analysis, and synchrotron experiments such as X-ray holography and element imaging in scanning electron microscopes. The fact that the detector system can be used at room temperature with good spectroscopic performance and at −10°C with excellent energy resolution, avoiding liquid nitrogen for cooling and high-quality vacuum, guarantees a large variety of new applications, independent of the laboratory environment. A brief description of the device principles is followed by basics on low noise amplification. The performance results of a complete detector system are presented as well as some dedicated applications already realized, including use in a surface mapping instrument and use of a “mini-spectrometer” for the analysis of works of art. Fully depleted pn-charge-coupled devices (pn-CCDs) have been fabricated for the European X-ray Multi-Mirror mission (XMM) and the German X-ray satellite ABRIXAS, enabling high-speed, low-noise, position-resolving X-ray spectroscopy. The detector was designed and fabricated with a homogeneously sensitive area of 36 cm2. At −70°C it has a noise of 4 e- rms, with a readout time of the total focal plane array of 4 msec. The maximum count rate for single photon counting was 105 cps under flat field conditions. In the integration mode, more than 109 cps can be detected at 6 keV. Its position resolution is on the order of 100 μm. The quantum efficiency is higher than 90%, ranging from carbon K X-rays (277 eV) up to 10 keV.
The Effect of Training in Reduced Energy Density Eating and Food Self‐monitoring Accuracy on Weight Loss Maintenance
Authors: Lowe Michael R. , Tappe Karyn A. , Annunziato Rachel A. , Riddell Lynnette J. , Coletta Maria C. , Crerand Canice E. , Didie Elizabeth R. , Ochner Christopher N. , McKinney Shortie 
Published: May 2008

Background: Failure to maintain weight losses in lifestyle change programs continues to be a major problem and warrants investigation of innovative approaches to weight control.Objective: The goal of this study was to compare two novel group interventions, both aimed at improving weight loss maintenance, with a control group.Methods and Procedures: A total of 103 women lost weight on a meal replacement‐supplemented diet and were then randomized to one of three conditions for the 14‐week maintenance phase: cognitive‐behavioral treatment (CBT); CBT with an enhanced food monitoring accuracy (EFMA) program; or these two interventions plus a reduced energy density eating (REDE) program. Assessments were conducted periodically through an 18‐month postintervention. Outcome measures included weight and self‐reported dietary intake. Data were analyzed using completers only as well as baseline‐carried‐forward imputation.Results: Participants lost an average of 7.6 ± 2.6 kg during the weight loss phase and 1.8 ± 2.3 kg during the maintenance phase. Results do not suggest that the EFMA intervention was successful in improving food monitoring accuracy. The REDE group decreased the energy density (ED) of their diets more so than the other two groups. However, neither the REDE nor the EFMA condition showed any advantage in weight loss maintenance. All groups regained weight between 6‐ and 18‐month follow‐ups.Discussion: Although no incremental weight maintenance benefit was observed in the EFMA or EFMA + REDE groups, the improvement in the ED of the REDE group's diet, if shown to be sustainable in future studies, could have weight maintenance benefits.
Significance of α-crystallin heteropolymer with a 3:1 αA/αB ratio: chaperone-like activity, structure and hydrophobicity
Authors: Srinivas P. N. B. S. , Reddy P. Yadagiri , Reddy G. Bhanuprakash 
Published: May 2008

The small heat-shock protein α-crystallin isolated from the eye lens exists as a large (700 kDa) heteropolymer composed of two subunits, αA and αB, of 20 kDa each. Although trace amounts of αA-crystallin are found in other tissues, non-lenticular distribution of α-crystallin is dominated by the αB homopolymer. In most vertebrate lens, the molar ratio of αA to αB is generally 3:1. However, the importance of this ratio in the eye lens is not known. In the present study, we have investigated the physiological significance of the 3:1 ratio by determining the secondary/tertiary structure, hydrophobicity and chaperone-like activity of αA- and αB-homopolymers and heteropolymers with different ratios of αA to αB subunits. Although, under physiologically relevant conditions, the αB-homopolymer (37–40 °C) has shown relatively higher activity, the αA-homopolymer or the heteropolymer with a higher αA proportion (3:1 ratio) has shown greater chaperone-like activity at elevated temperatures (&gt;50 °C) and also upon structural perturbation. Furthermore, higher chaperone activity at elevated temperatures as well as upon structural perturbation is mainly mediated through increased hydrophobicity of αA. Although homopolymers and heteropolymers of α-crystallin did not differ in their secondary structure, changes in tertiary structure due to structural perturbations upon pre-heating are mediated predominantly by αA. Interestingly, the heteropolymer with higher αA proportion (3:1) or the αA-homopolymer seems to be better chaperones in protecting lens β- and γ-crystallins at both normal and elevated temperatures. Thus lens might have favoured a combination of these qualities to achieve optimal protection under both native and stress (perturbed) conditions for which the heteropolymer with αA to αB in the 3:1 ratio appears to be better suited.
Linkages between organic agriculture and agro-ecotourism
Authors: Kuo Nae-Wen , Chen Yin-Jen , Huang Chiou-Lien 
Published: May 2008

AbstractOrganic agriculture is regarded as one important approach to agriculture and food production that is environmentally sustainable and can generate several positive impacts to rural society. However, organic agriculture development is still limited in Taiwan and the major reason is lack of economic incentives to farmers. Hence, one approach to link organic agriculture with agro-ecotourism is proposed in this study to maximize the economic benefit of organic agriculture.Chrshang Township in Taiwan was selected as an example to develop such eco-organic tourism based on organic agriculture. First, five appropriate activities were designed according to the fundamental principles for guiding the development of eco-organic tourism. In addition, the maximum willingness to pay (WTP) method was employed to estimate potential revenues from eco-organic tourism and then the economic value could be compared with that of other economic activities. Under a conservative scenario, the total annual revenue from eco-organic tourism is about NT$421,293,559, which is about 20 times that of the rice production in the study area.In addition to the direct economic revenues, the following additional benefits can also be found: (1) the linkage can create additional value of organic agriculture; (2) organic agriculture can contribute to service economy and experience economy; (3) people can increase their confidence in organic products through better understanding; (4) a one-step relationship between organic producer and consumer can be established; and (5) local food supply will be connected with demands in the tourism industry. In summary, under a symbiotic relationship, organic agriculture is not only commodities and goods production, it can become one important service economy and even create experience economy within the tourism industry.
The influence of organic transition systems on beneficial ground-dwelling arthropods and predation of insects and weed seeds
Authors: Lundgren Jonathan G. , Shaw John T. , Zaborski Edmond R. , Eastman Catherine E. 
Published: May 2008

AbstractThe influence of farm management practices on ground-dwelling natural enemy communities and predation of insects and weed seeds was investigated over the first 2 years of the transition from conventional to organic production. Three transition strategies were selected that differed in their management and input intensities, and were characteristic of pasture/ley systems (low intensity), cash grain systems (intermediate intensity), and vegetable production (high intensity). Beneficial arthropods (insectivores and granivores) were monitored using pitfall (arthropod activity) and quadrat (arthropod density) samples. The frequency of predation on restrained larvae ofGalleria mellonellaand the species observed feeding were recorded. Weekly removal rates of weed seeds representative of abundant species at our site were monitored over a 3-week period during fall. Management intensity affected the activity and abundance of biological control agents. In year two of the transition, biological control agent densities were higher in the low-intensity treatment than in the other two treatments, but activity of insectivores and granivores was reduced in this treatment relative to the higher intensity systems. The patterns in the abundances of biological control agents may be explained by habitat stability within the different cropping systems. Quadrat samples were strongly correlated with the insectivory index, although pitfall samples were not. Insectivory rates were highest (>80% ofG. mellonellalarvae) in the low-intensity treatment. Predation patterns over a 17-h period differed substantially among the management treatments, indicating behaviorally distinct insectivore communities. Seed removal was also highest in the low-intensity treatment. We conclude that low-intensity cropping systems are most favorable to the abundance and function of beneficial ground-dwelling arthropod communities (insectivores and granivores) during the transition process.
Weed suppression with hydramulch, a biodegradable liquid paper mulch in development
Authors: Warnick J.P. , Chase C.A. , Rosskopf E.N. , Simonne E.H. , Scholberg J.M. , Koenig R.L. , Roe N.E. 
Published: May 2008

AbstractCost-effective, laborsaving, and environmentally sound weed management practices are needed for sustainable vegetable production. Organic production, in particular, precludes the use of synthetic herbicides and requires that organic farmers utilize practices that reduce harmful environmental impact. Although polyethylene film mulch is used extensively in vegetable production in Florida, its use has a number of drawbacks, among which is the susceptibility of opaque polyethylene mulch to penetration by yellow and purple nutsedge. Appreciable labor and disposal/environmental costs are associated with its removal. A durable mulch material that would effectively control nutsedge and other weeds but with no associated environmental and disposal costs is highly desirable. Hydramulch, a paper-like material applied as a slurry consisting of cotton waste, newsprint, gypsum and a proprietary adhesive, was tested as a biodegradable alternative to polyethylene mulch during the spring of 2003. Experiments were conducted in southeastern and north-central Florida to compare the effects of three hydramulch formulations, polyethylene mulch and a no mulch control on soil temperature, soil moisture and weed infestation. Soil temperature under hydramulch was 1–4°C lower than that under polyethylene. In the absence of rain, the use of hydramulch resulted in soil moisture levels that were 1–4% lower than with polyethylene mulch. Higher soil moisture with hydramulch than polyethylene was coincident with rainfall. Hydramulch remained intact on most beds and suppressed broadleaf weeds and grasses, particularly at the north-central site where the mulch was applied at a greater thickness. However, purple nutsedge readily penetrated hydramulch. Therefore, hydramulch may be applicable for use for the suppression of broadleaf weeds and grasses at sites with little or no nutsedge pressure in fall or in crops for which cooler soils are desirable or crops that are rainfed or overhead irrigated.
Computing chemical organizations in biological networks
Authors: Centler Florian , Kaleta Christoph , di Fenizio Pietro Speroni , Dittrich Peter 
Published: May 2008

Abstract
Motivation: Novel techniques are required to analyze computational models of intracellular processes as they increase steadily in size and complexity. The theory of chemical organizations has recently been introduced as such a technique that links the topology of biochemical reaction network models to their dynamical repertoire. The network is decomposed into algebraically closed and self-maintaining subnetworks called organizations. They form a hierarchy representing all feasible system states including all steady states.
Results: We present three algorithms to compute the hierarchy of organizations for network models provided in SBML format. Two of them compute the complete organization hierarchy, while the third one uses heuristics to obtain a subset of all organizations for large models. While the constructive approach computes the hierarchy starting from the smallest organization in a bottom-up fashion, the flux-based approach employs self-maintaining flux distributions to determine organizations. A runtime comparison on 16 different network models of natural systems showed that none of the two exhaustive algorithms is superior in all cases. Studying a ‘genome-scale’ network model with 762 species and 1193 reactions, we demonstrate how the organization hierarchy helps to uncover the model structure and allows to evaluate the model's quality, for example by detecting components and subsystems of the model whose maintenance is not explained by the model.
Availability: All data and a Java implementation that plugs into the Systems Biology Workbench is available from http://www.minet.uni-jena.de/csb/prj/ot/tools.
Contact: dittrich@minet.uni-jena.de
Supplementary Information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
The Potato-Specific Apyrase Is Apoplastically Localized and Has Influence on Gene Expression, Growth, and Development
Authors: Riewe David , Grosman Lukasz , Fernie Alisdair R. , Wucke Cornelia , Geigenberger Peter 
Published: May 2008

AbstractApyrases hydrolyze nucleoside triphosphates and diphosphates and are found in all eukaryotes and a few prokaryotes. Although their enzymatic properties have been well characterized, relatively little is known regarding their subcellular localization and physiological function in plants. In this study, we used reverse genetic and biochemical approaches to investigate the role of potato (Solanum tuberosum)-specific apyrase. Silencing of the apyrase gene family with RNA interference constructs under the control of the constitutive 35S promoter led to a strong decrease in apyrase activity to below 10% of the wild-type level. This decreased activity led to phenotypic changes in the transgenic lines, including a general retardation in growth, an increase in tuber number per plant, and differences in tuber morphology. Silencing of apyrase under the control of a tuber-specific promoter led to similar changes in tuber morphology; however, there were no direct effects of apyrase inhibition on tuber metabolism. DNA microarrays revealed that decreased expression of apyrase leads to increased levels of transcripts coding for cell wall proteins involved in growth and genes involved in energy transfer and starch synthesis. To place these results in context, we determined the subcellular localization of the potato-specific apyrase. Using a combination of approaches, we were able to demonstrate that this enzyme is localized to the apoplast. We describe the evidence that underlies both this fact and that potato-specific apyrase has a crucial role in regulating growth and development.
Circadian Timekeeping during Early Arabidopsis Development
Authors: Salomé Patrice A. , Xie Qiguang , McClung C. Robertson 
Published: May 2008

Abstract
The circadian coordination of organismal biology with the local temporal environment has consequences for fitness that may become manifest early in development. We directly explored the development of the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) clock in germinating seedlings by monitoring expression of clock genes. Clock function is detected within 2 d of imbibition (hydration of the dried seed). Imbibition is sufficient to synchronize individuals in a population in the absence of entraining cycles of light-dark or temperature, although light-dark and temperature cycles accelerate the appearance of rhythmicity and improve synchrony among individuals. Oscillations seen during the first 2 d following imbibition are dependent on the clock genes LATE ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL, TIMING OF CAB EXPRESSION1, ZEITLUPE, GIGANTEA, PSEUDO-RESPONSE REGULATOR7 (PRR7), and PRR9, although later circadian oscillations develop in mutants defective in each of these genes. In contrast to circadian rhythmicity, which developed under all conditions, amplitude was the only circadian parameter that demonstrated a clear response to the light environment; clock amplitude is low in the dark and high in the light. A circadian clock entrainable by temperature cycles in germinating etiolated seedlings may synchronize the buried seedling with the local daily cycles before emergence from the soil and exposure to light.