The Hedonic Price Structure of Faculty Compensation at U.S. Colleges and Universities

Economic theory suggests that the variation in academic salaries across institutions in part reflects compensating differences associated with variation in the levels of local quality of life factors such as environmental quality and the provision of local public services. This paper presents an econometric analysis of the hedonic, or implicit price structure, of faculty compensation at U.S. colleges and universities using data from AAUP merged with data on a host of location-specific characteristics. Quality of life factors are found to be important, accounting for between 7 percent and 12.8 percent of total compensation

Financial Stress, Family Conflict, and Youths' Successful Transition to Adult Roles

We analyze the effect of mothers' and youths' reports of family financial stress and conflict on youths' transitions into adult roles. We find that mothers’ reports of financial stresses and borrowing constraints are associated with earlier transitions to inactivity and public assistance, while youth reports of financial stresses are associated with earlier nest-leaving. Youths reporting conflict with parents leave school and move out earlier than their peers, while conflict between parents is associated with youth making later transitions. Overall, financial stress and conflict have independent effects on youths' transitions and youths' perspectives have different consequences to those of their mothers.youths, financial stress, family conflict

A framing analysis of breast cancer and heart health coverage in women's magazines from 2001-2004

Magazines are a popular source that women use to receive womens’ health issues. Breast cancer and heart disease are common health issues that are covered in womens’ magazines. But, do magazines cover breast cancer and heart disease accurately compared to the health risks associated to women? A qualitative framing analysis is used in this study to examine health coverage in popular womens’ magazines. This research examined the relationships between coverage of two key health issues, offering researchers and media professionals a better understanding of the overall message. The research revealed breast cancer and heart disease receive similar coverage, despite the fact that a woman is far more likely to die of heart disease than breast cancer. There is a disparity between the health impact of heart disease and breast cancer and the coverage each receives.Department of JournalismThesis (M.A.

Repair of Aberrant Splicing in Growth Hormone Receptor by Antisense Oligonucleotides Targeting the Splice Sites of a Pseudoexon

Context: The GH receptor (GHR) pseudoexon 6 Psi defect is a frequent cause of GH insensitivity (GHI) resulting from a non-functioning GH receptor (GHR). It results in a broad range of phenotypes and may also be present in patients diagnosed as idiopathic short stature.Objective: Our objective was to correct aberrant GHR splicing and inclusion of 6 Psi using exon-skipping antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs).Design and Setting: Three ASOs binding the 5' (ASO-5), 3' (ASO-3), and branch site (ASO-Br) of 6 Psi were tested in an in vitro splicing assay and a cell transfection system. The wild-type (wt) and mutant (mt) DNA minigenes (wt- and mtL1-GHR6 Psi-L2, respectively) were created by inserting the GHR 6 Psi in a well-characterized splice reporter (Adml-par). For the in vitro splicing assay, the wt- and mtL1-GHR6 Psi-L2 were transcribed into pre-mRNA in the presence of [alpha P-32]GTP and incubated with ASOs in HeLa nuclear extracts. For the cell transfection studies, wt-and mtL1-GHR6 Psi-L2 cloned into pcDNA 3.1 were transfected with ASOs into HEK293 cells. After 48 h, RNA was extracted and radiolabeled RT-PCR products quantified.Results: ASO-3 induced an almost complete pseudoexon skipping in vitro and in HEK293 cells. This effect was dose dependent and maximal at 125-250 nM. ASO-5 produced modest pseudoexon skipping, whereas ASO-Br had no effect. Targeting of two splice elements simultaneously was less effective than targeting one. ASO-Br was tested on the wtL1-GHR6 Psi-L2 and did not act as an enhancer of 6 Psi inclusion.Conclusions: The exon-skipping ASO approach was effective in correcting aberrant GHR splicing and may be a promising therapeutic tool. (J Clin Endocrinol Metab 95: 3542-3546, 2010

On orbital allotments for geostationary satellites

The following satellite synthesis problem is addressed: communication satellites are to be allotted positions on the geostationary arc so that interference does not exceed a given acceptable level by enforcing conservative pairwise satellite separation. A desired location is specified for each satellite, and the objective is to minimize the sum of the deviations between the satellites' prescribed and desired locations. Two mixed integer programming models for the satellite synthesis problem are presented. Four solution strategies, branch-and-bound, Benders' decomposition, linear programming with restricted basis entry, and a switching heuristic, are used to find solutions to example synthesis problems. Computational results indicate the switching algorithm yields solutions of good quality in reasonable execution times when compared to the other solution methods. It is demonstrated that the switching algorithm can be applied to synthesis problems with the objective of minimizing the largest deviation between a prescribed location and the corresponding desired location. Furthermore, it is shown that the switching heuristic can use no conservative, location-dependent satellite separations in order to satisfy interference criteria

Testing dogs in ape-like conditions: the effect of a barrier on dogs’ performance on the object-choice task

Recent reviews have found marked procedural and methodological differences in the testing of different taxonomic groups on the object-choice task. One such difference is the imposition of a barrier in the testing environment of nonhuman primates in the form of a cage, necessitated to ensure the experimenter’s safety. Here, we conducted two studies with domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) in which we compared the performance of dogs tested from within a child’s playpen and dogs tested without this barrier present. In Study 1, in a within-subjects design, we found no effect of the barrier on dogs’ ability to use a pointing cue, but there was an increase in instances in which dogs failed to choose a cup. In Study 2, in a between-subjects design, dogs tested with a barrier failed to perform above chance, and were also more likely to fail to make a choice. When dogs tested without a barrier made an incorrect response, these were more likely to be incorrect choices than no choice errors. We discuss the implications of these differences in behavioural responses in function of the presence of a barrier and the necessity of ensuring matched conditions when comparing across species

Natives, the Foreign-Born and High School Equivalents: New Evidence on the Returns to the GED

In this paper we explore the labor market returns to the General Education Development exam, or GED. Using new data from the Current Population Survey, we examine how the return to the GED varies between U.S. natives and the foreign-born. We find that foreignborn men who hold a GED but received all of their formal schooling outside of the U.S. earn significantly more than either foreign-schooled dropouts or individuals with a foreign high school diploma. For foreign-born men with some U.S. schooling, earning a GED brings higher wages than a traditional U.S. high school diploma, although this difference is not statistically significantly different from zero. These patterns stand in contrast to those for U.S. natives, among whom GED recipients earn less than high school graduates but significantly more than dropouts. The effects for natives appear to become larger over the life cycle and do not seem to be due to cohort effects. While it is difficult to attach a purely causal interpretation to our findings, they do indicate that the GED may be more valuable in the labor market than some previous research suggests

On High Explosive Launching of Projectiles for Shock Physics Experiments

The hydrodynamic operation of the `Forest Flyer' type of explosive launching system for shock physics projectiles was investigated in detail using one- and two-dimensional continuum dynamics simulations. The simulations were insensitive to uncertainties in the material properties, and reproduced measurements of the projectile. The most commonly-used variant, with an Al alloy case, was predicted to produce a slightly curved projectile, subjected to some shock heating, and likely exhibiting some porosity from tensile damage. The flatness can be improved by using a case of lower shock impedance, such as polymethyl methacrylate. High-impedance cases, including Al alloys but with denser materials improving the launching efficiency, can be used if designed according to the physics of oblique shock reflection. The tensile stress induced in the projectile depends on the relative thickness of the explosive, expansion gap, and projectile. The thinner the projectile with respect to the explosive, the smaller the tensile stress. If the explosive is initiated with a plane wave lens, the tensile stress is lower than for initiation with multiple detonators over a plane. The previous plane wave lens designs did however induce a tensile stress close to the spall strength of the projectile. The tensile stress can be reduced by changes in the component thicknesses. Experiments to verify the operation of explosively-launched projectiles should attempt to measure porosity induced in the projectile: arrival time measurements may be insensitive to porous regions caused by damaged or recollected material

Financial Stress, Family Conflict, and Youths’ Successful Transition to Adult Roles

We analyze the effect of mothers’ and youths’ reports of family financial stress and conflict on youths’ transitions into adult roles. We find that mothers’ reports of financial stresses and borrowing constraints are associated with earlier transitions to inactivity and public assistance, while youth reports of financial stresses are associated with earlier nest-leaving. Youths reporting conflict with parents leave school and move out earlier than their peers, while conflict between parents is associated with youth making later transitions. Overall, financial stress and conflict have independent effects on youths’ transitions and youths’ perspectives have different consequences to those of their mothers.youths, financial stress, family conflict