scholarly journals Toward understanding microbiota homeostasis in the plant kingdom

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. e1009472
Author(s):  
Bradley C. Paasch ◽  
Sheng Yang He

A diverse community of microorganisms inhabits various parts of a plant. Recent findings indicate that perturbations to the normal microbiota can be associated with positive and negative effects on plant health. In this review, we discuss these findings in the context of understanding how microbiota homeostasis is regulated in plants for promoting health and/or for preventing dysbiosis.

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald F. Levant ◽  
Zachary T. Gerdes ◽  
Stefan Jadaszewski ◽  
Kathleen M. Alto

The present study examined men’s perceptions of their father’s general expectations of them when they were growing up and what the effects have been on their lives. Previous research suggests fathers influence sons’ development, but few studies have examined sons’ perceptions qualitatively. Participants were 252 demographically diverse community-dwelling and college men (ages 18-78; 36.5% men of color). Descriptive coding and content analysis were used to analyze written open-ended responses from an online questionnaire. Results suggest that fathers’ expectations for their sons are quite influential. Common topics of expectations reported by participants included Academics, Work Ethic, Athletics, Family, Career, Independence and Self-Reliance, Authenticity, and Happiness. Sons who perceived their fathers as supporting their authentic selves without having unattainable expectations reported positive impacts. Rigid and ill-fitting expectations may have negative effects. These findings suggest fathers are an important influence on their sons with positive or negative impacts on their well-being, depending on how well the expectations fit their sons.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon E. Zytynska ◽  
Moritz Eicher ◽  
Michael Rothballer ◽  
Wolfgang W. Weisser

Increasing levels of CO2 and tropospheric ozone (O3) due to climate change are contributing to reduced plant health and unstable crop yield production1. The inoculation of plant roots with beneficial fungi or bacteria can increase plant health2. However, this is often studied under very controlled conditions and it is unknown how climate change or interactions with other species can alter the resulting benefits. Here we show that the rhizosphere bacterium Acidovorax radicis N35 can increase plant growth and reduce insect growth – with increased impact in a high-stress elevated O3 environment, but reduced impact under elevated CO2. In a fully-factorial climate chamber experiment we disentangled the impacts of climate factors (elevated CO2 and elevated O3) and biotic interactions (plant cultivar, sap-feeding insects and earthworms) on cereal growth and insect suppression mediated by A. radicis N35. Earthworms promoted plant aboveground growth, whereas A. radicis N35 promoted root growth, and overall plant growth was higher when both species were present. However, earthworms also promoted insect growth and therefore increased plant damage through herbivory. While A. radicis N35 inoculation was able to mitigate these negative effects to some extent under an ambient environment this was lost under climate change conditions. Our results show that knowledge-based solutions for sustainable agriculture should include biotic interactions and must be tested across variable climate change scenarios in order to build resilient cropping systems.


2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Keith

Abstract. The positive effects of goal setting on motivation and performance are among the most established findings of industrial–organizational psychology. Accordingly, goal setting is a common management technique. Lately, however, potential negative effects of goal-setting, for example, on unethical behavior, are increasingly being discussed. This research replicates and extends a laboratory experiment conducted in the United States. In one of three goal conditions (do-your-best goals, consistently high goals, increasingly high goals), 101 participants worked on a search task in five rounds. Half of them (transparency yes/no) were informed at the outset about goal development. We did not find the expected effects on unethical behavior but medium-to-large effects on subjective variables: Perceived fairness of goals and goal commitment were least favorable in the increasing-goal condition, particularly in later goal rounds. Results indicate that when designing goal-setting interventions, organizations may consider potential undesirable long-term effects.


Crisis ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 348-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hajime Sueki

Background: Previous studies have shown that suicide-related Internet use can have both negative and positive psychological effects. Aims: This study examined the effect of suicide-related Internet use on users’ suicidal ideation, depression/anxiety tendency, and loneliness. Method: A two-wave panel study of 850 Internet users was conducted via the Internet. Results: Suicide-related Internet use (e.g., browsing websites about suicide methods) had negative effects on suicidal ideation and depression/anxiety tendency. No forms of suicide-related Internet use, even those that would generally be considered positive, were found to decrease users’ suicidal ideation. In addition, our results suggest that the greater the suicidal ideation and feelings of depression and loneliness of Internet users, the more they used the Internet. Conclusion: Since suicide-related Internet use can adversely influence the mental health of young adults, it is necessary to take measures to reduce their exposure to such information.


Crisis ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Christian Ulrich Eriksen ◽  
Flemming Konradsen ◽  
Thilde Vildekilde

Abstract. Background: Information on methods of suicide is available online, and access to information on methods of suicide appears to contribute to a small but significant proportion of suicides. There is limited documentation of how methods of suicide are being profiled, as well as what content exists in other languages than English. Aim: We aimed to analyze and compare how methods of suicide are profiled on Danish and English-language websites. Method: We applied a categorization and content analysis of websites describing methods of suicide. Sites were retrieved by applying widely used Danish and English-language search terms. Results: A total of 136 English-language websites and 106 Danish-language websites were included for analysis. Websites were more often categorized as prevention or support sites, academic or policy sites, and against suicide sites than dedicated suicide sites (i.e., pro-suicide sites), or information sites. However, information on methods of suicide was available, and 20.1% and 8.9% of the English and Danish-language sites, respectively, suggested that a particular method of suicide was quick, easy, painless, or certain to result in death. Limitations: Only one author coded and analyzed all websites. A further operationalization of the content analysis checklist is warranted to increase reliability. Conclusion: The websites primarily had a prevention or anti-suicide focus, but information on methods of suicide was available, requiring an increased focus on how to diminish the negative effects of harmful online content.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amaia Del Campo ◽  
Marisalva Fávero

Abstract. During the last decades, several studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of sexual abuse prevention programs implemented in different countries. In this article, we present a review of 70 studies (1981–2017) evaluating prevention programs, conducted mostly in the United States and Canada, although with a considerable presence also in other countries, such as New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The results of these studies, in general, are very promising and encourage us to continue this type of intervention, almost unanimously confirming its effectiveness. Prevention programs encourage children and adolescents to report the abuse experienced and they may help to reduce the trauma of sexual abuse if there are victims among the participants. We also found that some evaluations have not considered the possible negative effects of this type of programs in the event that they are applied inappropriately. Finally, we present some methodological considerations as critical analysis to this type of evaluations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-96
Author(s):  
Isaac A. Lindquist ◽  
Emily E. Adams ◽  
Joseph A. Allen

Abstract. Most employees participate in workplace meetings, and their experiences in meetings can vary greatly, which can lead to positive or negative effects on both job attitudes and behavior. In this study, we examined the effect that a meeting attendee’s competence in the meeting topic had on their participation in the meeting and their perception of meeting effectiveness. Results indicated those with higher levels of competence in the meeting topic were more likely to participate and through participation found their meeting more effective; this relationship was stronger when employee dissent in the meetings was high. Leaders should ensure that those who are present in a meeting are competent in the topic of the meeting and encourage them to participate.


Author(s):  
Jeeyun Oh ◽  
Mun-Young Chung ◽  
Sangyong Han

Despite of the popularity of interactive movie trailers, rigorous research on one of the most apparent features of these interfaces – the level of user control – has been scarce. This study explored the effects of user control on users’ immersion and enjoyment of the movie trailers, moderated by the content type. We conducted a 2 (high user control versus low user control) × 2 (drama film trailer versus documentary film trailer) mixed-design factorial experiment. The results showed that the level of user control over movie trailer interfaces decreased users’ immersion when the trailer had an element of traditional story structure, such as a drama film trailer. Participants in the high user control condition answered that they were less fascinated with, absorbed in, focused on, mentally involved with, and emotionally affected by the movie trailer than participants in the low user control condition only with the drama movie trailer. The negative effects of user control on the level of immersion for the drama trailer translated into users’ enjoyment. The impact of user control over interfaces on immersion and enjoyment varies depending on the nature of the media content, which suggests a possible trade-off between the level of user control and entertainment outcomes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 219-238
Author(s):  
James H. Wirth ◽  
Ashley Batts Allen ◽  
Emily M. Zitek

Abstract. We examined the negative outcomes, particularly social costs that result when a person harms their group by performing poorly, and whether self-compassion could buffer against these negative outcomes. In Studies 1 and 2, participants performed poorly and harmed their group or performed equal to their group. Harmful poor-performing participants felt more burdensome, experienced more negative affect, felt more ostracized, anticipated more exclusion, and felt lowered self-esteem than equal-performing participants. Studies 3 and 4 disentangled poor performance from harming a group. Poor-performing participants either harmed the group or caused no harm. Harmful poor-performing participants felt more burdensome and anticipated more exclusion, indicating the additional social consequences of a harmful poor performance over a non-harmful performance. Across studies, trait self-compassion was associated with reduced negative effects.


2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 123-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raffael Heiss ◽  
Jörg Matthes

Abstract. This study investigated the effects of politicians’ nonparticipatory and participatory Facebook posts on young people’s political efficacy – a key determinant of political participation. We employed an experimental design, using a sample of N = 125 high school students (15–20 years). Participants either saw a Facebook profile with no posts (control condition), nonparticipatory posts, or participatory posts. While nonparticipatory posts did not affect participants’ political efficacy, participatory posts exerted distinct effects. For those high in trait evaluations of the politician presented in the stimulus material or low in political cynicism, we found significant positive effects on external and collective efficacy. By contrast, for those low in trait evaluations or high in cynicism, we found significant negative effects on external and collective efficacy. We did not find any effects on internal efficacy. The importance of content-specific factors and individual predispositions in assessing the influence of social media use on participation is discussed.


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