Focus on Research
Penn State Intercom......May 24, 2001

Unions require new strategies

By Paul Blaum
Public Information

Unions, now at a critical point in their history, have the chance to transform the American labor movement by including a variety of groups that have not been previously organized under the union umbrella, a University researcher said.

"These groups consist, on one hand, of professional workers in the fields of health care, high technology and e-commerce and on the other hand, low-paid service workers, many of whom are recent immigrants, people of color and women," noted Paul F. Clark, associate professor of labor studies and industrial relations.

In his recent book, Building More Effective Unions, he details strategies by which unions can make inroads among these and other workers in the years ahead.

In addition to their traditional strategies, unions should draw on behavioral science to learn more about human behavior and the relationship between individuals and their organizations. Clark suggests that unions can use these lessons in their efforts to organize new members, bargain contracts and resolve disputes with employers.

"In the past, unions have tended to act as if commitment, in the context of a union-management relationship, was an 'either or' proposition. Workers either were committed to the union or to the employer, but not to both. However, behavioral research has demonstrated that employees are capable of simultaneously being committed to both their union and their employer, a phenomenon called dual commitment. This is a particularly important finding in regard to professional and white collar employees," the researcher said. "Sometimes unions need to convince the employees in an organizing campaign that commitment to the union is not incompatible with commitment to the employer."

Clark argues that professional workers also are much concerned about maintaining the high standards of their profession. In a previous study of a large group of registered nurses, Clark and fellow researchers discovered that the major concern among these workers was the decline in patient care resulting, in their view, from the introduction of managed care into the American health-care system.

"My research indicated that nurses were most likely to vote for a union if that union could provide them with a greater say in how patients were cared for," he said. "If the union could convince them that it could help improve care, the nurses were much more likely to vote for a union. This finding is an example of the kind of insights behavioral science has to offer to union."

Clark has been an educational and research consultant for various unions, including the United Mine Workers, United Steelworkers, National Association of Letter Carriers and the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO.

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Drug mechanism alters
genetic makeup of viruses

Researchers have discovered a new mechanism for an existing antiviral drug that could permit the design and production of a new class of antiviral agents to treat RNA viruses.

Such viruses, a family that includes poliovirus and hepatitis C, use RNA as both their core genetic material and also to direct protein synthesis.

A team led by Craig Cameron, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, reports that ribavirin, a synthetic compound that inhibits RNA viruses by working at the cellular level, also possesses an ability to alter the structure of the viruses at the genetic level. Researchers used poliovirus as the experimental model for their work.

"Our results indicate the antiviral effects of ribavirin come from its direct incorporation into the viral RNA," Cameron said. "When that happens, it changes the behavior of the base pairs of the RNA and the virus no longer produces faithful copies of itself. In that manner, ribavirin effectively shifts the internal balance of the virus and the virus suffers from a genetic meltdown."

While most organisms use DNA as their genetic material and RNA to direct protein synthesis, RNA viruses use RNA for both functions. When an RNA virus infects a cell, it directs the synthesis of proteins used to make copies of the original RNA and then uses those copies to build the chromosomes of the virus. Many RNA viruses can be stopped by intervention from the immune system or with the help of vaccinations. Others adapt, developing so rapidly that neither the immune system nor vaccinations provide relief.

RNA's instability -- when compared to DNA -- means it works well as a virus because it changes form, or mutates, often enough to prevent the immune system from providing effective antiviral activity. With ribavirin acting at the genetic level, researchers have discovered a way to use the mutations against the virus. Ribavirin capitalizes on the mutations and stops the virus by altering its genome, upsetting its delicate balance, and forcing it to collapse upon itself. For the complete story, go to: http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/Cameron12-2000.htm

Research model analyzes reasons
some plants bloom earlier in spring

By Steve Sampsell
Eberly College of Science

A first-ever study by a University researcher creates a model incorporating biological factors to quantify processes behind ecological responses to climate change, moving the field of study beyond its previous observational limits and providing a way to analyze what contributes to the earlier timing of spring events.

A team led by Eric Post, assistant professor of biology, reveals flowering plants in Norway bloom earlier after warmer winters and provide a model for why that occurs.

Using data for three species of flowering plants collected during a 50-year period, Post and his collaborators applied a mathematical and statistical approach developed originally for statistical studies of population dynamics to their data about plants.

In each of the species -- wood anemone, hepatica and colt's foot -- the model shows plants bloomed earlier after warmer winters because of interactions between competition, climate and resources. Researchers studied 26 different populations using data collected from 1928 to 1977 at sites in Norway.

Based on observations of other species and a growing acceptance of climate change, the researchers were pleased because their model provided additional insight.

Along with observations of the changes, the researchers produced an answer to why the earlier blooming occurred.

"It was not just a direct effect of climate change," Post said. "There are other factors involved, such as resources and competition, that tell you a little bit more about what happens when it gets warm. It's not that cold temperatures simply constrain things. Temperature affects things the individual organism has to deal with in its own life history."

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