1,721,567 research outputs found
Trade unions twitter analytics: to what extent trade unions interact with youth?
Full text linkYoung people experience the highest level of unemployment and, even when in employment, they register the highest level of labour market outsiderness, compared to adults. Institutions could play a pivotal role in increasing the level of social justice for youth, promoting their condition in the labour market. Traditionally, the institution aimed at representing and promoting workers' interests is the trade union, but evidence shows, paradoxically, difficulties of trade unions in getting in contact with the most vulnerable workers - youth - mostly due to youth labour market structural characteristics. Since workers decision of joining a union comes later in the (working) life (as evident by the age distribution of trade unions' members) it remains unclear if youth membership has to be included (or not) among trade unions’ strategic priorities. In the wave of increasing digital interaction between citizens and social institutions and the increasing use of social media as research tool in social sciences, the aim of this research is to stress, by using Twitter as a unique source of data, first, the extent to which trade unions are at the centre of debate, compared to theoretically similar institutions and, second, the extent to which trade unions interact with or speak about youth in six countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK. Results show that social media discussions referring to "trade unions" is lower than for other similar socio-political institutions, this being true in all six languages analysed in a random month. Moreover, notwithstanding the fact that trade unions in the analysed countries are all formally present on Twitter, interaction with different institutions, and in particular with the youth sphere is limited and mostly done by trade unions’ youth groups, while most communication flows of national trade unions are rather “auto-referential”, i.e. mostly referring to the trade union itself. Analysing (up to) 3.200 tweets written by each of the national trade unions, only a small part (3% on average) is directed to (or concerns) youth. When looking at the Twitter accounts of trade unions youth groups (when existent), youth are of course more at the centre of communications (32% on average). These results may suggest the fact that youth are, in practice, considered as a topic that is out of national trade unions' ordinary agenda and daily business, falling instead mostly in trade unions' youth specific group business, and thus supporting the hypothesis that youth membership is not specifically addressed by trade unions at the national level, especially in those countries where no specific youth department of unions exists
Assessment of total antioxidant capacity in serum of heathy and stressed hens
Full text linkTotal antioxidant capacity (TAC) in healthy and dexamethasone-stressed hens was measured by applying four different spectrophotometric methods—the ferric reducing ability (FRAP) assay, the 2,2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzotiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) radical cation decolorization assay, the free radical scavenging activity (FRSA), and the total thiol levels (TTL). TAC assessed by all four methods did not change throughout the experimental period in the control group, whereas significant changes were shown by all adopted assays in the stressed group with some remarkable differences. TAC increased in the stressed group when FRAP and ABTS assays were applied, while it was reduced when sera were assessed by FRSA and TTL assays. Furthermore, FRAP assay was the only test able to show a significant change in TAC immediately after the end of the induced stress. At the end of the experimental period, TAC assessed by ABTS and FRSA assays showed a complete recovery in the stressed group, whereas TAC assessed by FRAP and TTL assays still showed significant persistent differences when compared to the control group. The observed differences in TAC are discussed in the light of the different contribution in each assay of the various antioxidant substances present in the samples
Education and Transition to Work: Promoting Practical Intelligence
No full textThis paper considers a number of questions in the current discussion on the transition to work, most notably the definition of the pedagogical approach by which the issues at hand are investigated, the review of the relationship between education and development in reference to employability, and the interpretation of the right to education in light of the precarious nature of the productive processes. This contribution also points to the relevance of the notion of “human development” as explored by Martha Nussbaum, Professor of Politics and Philosophy at the University of Chicago, and Amartya Sen, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics. It ends with a reflection on a welfare model supported by people empowerment that enhances individual capability. The argument put forward is that major shortcomings can be found in welfare systems in terms of employability. Against this background, the author welcomes a system which enables the full development of one’s capability.
In this sense, social scientists should engage in pursuing new avenues for creativity in order to build a new approach to social responsibility. In other words, this means moving away from resignation and catastrophism which are peculiar to Nihilism, and being open to the full development of both the individual and social fabric to generate a common ethos.
* Essays n° 6, Chapter Three: School-to-work Transition and Investment in Human Capital, pp. 385-408
Assessment of total (anti)oxidant status in goat kids
Full text linkThe redox potential of goat serum was assessed by different spectrophotometric assays. Among them, three methods are commonly applied for the evaluation of the oxidative (reactive oxygen metabolites, ROMs, and total oxidant status, TOS) and nitrosative (NO q metabolites, NOx ) stress, and four methods for the evaluation of the antioxidant status: the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) based on the ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP), the total antioxidant activity (TAA) based on the reduction of the coloured ABTS•+radical cation, the free radical scavenging activity (FRSA) based on the reduction of the purple DPPH•, and the total thiol levels (TTLs) based on their interaction with DTNB to form a highly coloured anion. Besides, myeloperoxidase (MPO) and ceruloplasmin oxidase (CP) activities were also assessed. Except for TAA, analytical data showed a great inter-individual variation for both oxidant and antioxidant assays. ROMs were strongly correlated with CP, while TOS with MPO and TAC. Furthermore, a tendency between TOS and FRSA was shown. NOx was correlated with TAC and TAA, and a tendency with TOS was shown. No correlations appeared among the antioxidant assays, even if a tendency between TAC and TAA was evidenced, but TAC was correlated with MPO activity. The observed correlation between ROMs and CP is discussed as a possible analytical interference. The absence of correlation among the antioxidant biomarkers suggests the simultaneous use of a panel of tests to verify any changes in the redox balance, mainly in livestock in which reference values for each biomarker are lacking
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Daily rhythms of serum lipids in dogs: influence of lighting and fasting cycles
No full textCircadian clock organize a wide array of metabolic functions in a coherent daily schedule and ensure synchrony of this schedule with environmental rhythms. Daily rhythmicity of lipid metabolism has been described in rodents and ruminants. We examined daily level variations of serum lipids (NEFA, triglycerides, phospholipids, total cholesterol and total lipids) in healthy dogs, particularly focusing on their temporal relationship to lighting and fasting cycles. While serum NEFA levels did not change across the day, we showed daily variations in levels of total lipids, total cholesterol, phospholipids, and triglycerides in dogs maintained under 12L:12D cycles and fed a single meal in the day. Interestingly, only the rhythmic pattern of triglycerides respond to a shift of the 12L:12D cycle suggesting a cardinal role of a light-entrained circadian oscillator in its generation. To investigate whether temporal variations in serum lipids depend to physiological post-prandial changes, we measured lipid levels in fasted dogs. Rhythms of total lipids, total cholesterol, phospholipids, and triglycerides vanished when dogs were food deprived indicating that these rhythms are driven by the digestive process. The serum NEFA pattern in fasted dogs had a different trend: levels were significantly high during fasting than after food intake. The increase of NEFA concentrations during fasting may reflect the adipose tissue NEFA mobilization mediated by the decrease in insulin with its lypolitic effects. To know the existence of daily lipid rhythmicity is a fundamental necessity to understand the metabolism of the dog, an animal model frequently used for research in metabolic pathophysiology
Let young people join the legislative process. A Twitter based experiment on internships
No full textThis paper examines the possible effects of labour market institutional characteristics on young people's perceptions of their internship experiences as expressed on Twitter. By looking at these opinions (satisfaction versus dissatisfaction) in relation to certain features of internships as well as to the more general labour market regulatory framework, this project aims to give a voice to young people, enabling them (indirectly) to provide policy suggestions to law-makers. Furthermore, we propose a preview of a possible empirical model for data collection based on the manual coding of Tweets. By employing a Probit regression and Blinder-Oaxaca and Fairlie decompositions, we have tried to establish a link between the perceived evaluation of internships and the country where the internship is based, the latter being used as a proxy for the legal system. In all our tests we found that the country in which the internship is placed is the main factor in the positive or negative perception. We also find that the more difficult is to hire a young worker on a temporary basis the lower will be his valuation of the internship experience. Ultimately we propose the use of Twitter not only as a relevant research tool, but also as an instrument for bringing young people's needs to the attention of law-makers
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