Outreach:Impact on Skills and Future Careers of Postgraduate Practitioners Working with the Bristol ChemLabS Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Postgraduate engagement in delivering outreach activities is more commonplace than it once was. However, the impact on postgraduate students (typically studying for a Ph.D. degree) of participating in the delivery of these outreach activities has rarely, if ever, been recorded. The Bristol ChemLabS Outreach program has been running for ca. 17 years, and in that time, many postgraduate students have been involved (approximately 500), with around 250 typically for up to 3 years. We sought to investigate the impact of outreach engagement on postgraduate alumni who were involved in the program for over 3 years (32) and how the experiences and training of the outreach program had impacted on their careers postgraduation. Thirty of the 32 postgraduates engaged and ∼70% reported that their outreach experience had influenced their decision making on future careers. Many respondents reported that the skills and experiences gained through outreach participation had contributed to success in applying for and interviewing at their future employers. All respondents reported that outreach had helped them to develop key skills that were valued in the workplace, specifically, communication, teamwork, organizational skills, time planning, event planning, and event management. Rather than a pleasant distraction or an opportunity to supplement income, all participants noted that they felt there were many additional benefits and that this was time well spent. Outreach should not be viewed as a distraction to science research but rather an important enhancement to it provided that the program is well constructed and seeks to develop those delivering the outreach activities

Evolutionary History of the Clostridium difficile Pathogenicity Locus

The symptoms of Clostridium difficile infection are caused by toxins expressed from its 19kb pathogenicity locus (PaLoc). Stable integration of the PaLoc is suggested by its single chromosomal location and the clade-specificity of its different genetic variants. However, the PaLoc is variably present, even among closely related strains, and thus resembles a mobile genetic element. Our aim was to explain these apparently conflicting observations by reconstructing the evolutionary history of the PaLoc. Phylogenetic analyses and annotation of the regions spanning the PaLoc were performed using C. difficile population-representative genomes chosen from a collection of 1,693 toxigenic (PaLoc present) and non-toxigenic (PaLoc absent) isolates. Comparison of the core genome and PaLoc phylogenies demonstrated an eventful evolutionary history, with distinct PaLoc variants acquired clade-specifically after divergence. In particular, our data suggest a relatively recent PaLoc acquisition in clade 4. Exchanges and losses of the PaLoc DNA have also occurred, via long homologous recombination events involving flanking chromosomal sequences. The most recent loss event occurred ~30 years ago within a clade 1 genotype. The genetic organisation of the clade 3 PaLoc was unique in containing a stably integrated novel transposon (designated Tn6218), variants of which were found at multiple chromosomal locations. Tn6218 elements were Tn916-related, but non-conjugative, and occasionally contained genes conferring resistance to clinically relevant antibiotics. The evolutionary histories of two contrasting, but clinically important genetic elements were thus characterised: the PaLoc, mobilised rarely via homologous recombination, and Tn6218, mobilised frequently through transposition

Employment effects of the minimum wage on youths and changes in the wage gap by gender and race: 1976-1985.

This dissertation contains two separate essays that deal with prominent issues in labor economies during the 1980's--the effect of the minimum wage on youth employment and the rise in female relative to male wages. The large decline in the relative value of the minimum wage during the 1980's makes that period a valuable one for identifying the impact of variation in the minimum wage on youth employment. This study produces the robust finding that, when the experience of the 1980's is included, a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage is estimated to reduce teen employment by less than one percent--the lower end of the range of previous estimates. Because this small employment effect is offset by a labor force withdrawal effect, the study finds no discernible effect on measured unemployment. The study also finds no apparent effect of the minimum wage on the employment of 20-24 year olds. The second essay uses detailed information on work experience, tenure and on-the-job training collected in the 1976 and 1985 questionnaires of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to account for changes in wage differences between the races and sexes over these nine years. This period covers a time of questionable progress for blacks (particularly black men) and reportedly swift gains for women. A decomposition of the change in the wage gap was used to illustrate the contribution of individual factors to the change in the wage gap between white men and black men, white women and black women. A comparison of the means of the explanatory variables indicated that the differences in the means between white men and the other groups were narrowing. The greatest gains for blacks occurred in years of education. However, changes in the parameters of the wage equations had mixed results. Overall, there was found to be a slight reduction in the wage gap between white men and the other groups over this period.Ph.D.EconomicsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/104371/1/9034542.pdfDescription of 9034542.pdf : Restricted to UM users only

Effects of the Minimum Wage on the Employment Status of Youths: An Update

The large decline in the relative value of the minimum wage during the 1980s makes that period a valuable one for identifying the impact of variation in the minimum wage on youth employment. This study produces the robust finding that, when the experience of the 1980s is included, a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage is estimated to reduce teen employment by less than 1 percent-the lower end of the range of previous estimates. Because this small employment effect is offset by a labor force withdrawal effect, the study finds no discernible effect on measured unemployment. The study also finds no apparent effect of the minimum wage on the employment of young adults aged 20-24.

Changes in the Male/Female Wage Gap, 1976-85

This study uses detailed information on work experience, tenure, and on-the-job training collected in the 1976 and 1985 questionnaires of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to account for changes in wage differentials between white men and white women over these nine years. Decompositions of changes in the wage gap are used to illustrate the contribution of individual factors. Between 1976 and 1985 the wage gap between white men and women narrowed by approximately 4 percent. This study finds that nearly 50 percent of this reduction was due to average changes in job tenure and other work history variables over this period.

HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

This article estimates the importance of health insurance coverage on the probability of self-employment. Using data from the 1993 Current Population Survey (CPS), the author focuses on the impact of having health insurance through one's spouse on the likelihood of self-employment. The best estimates suggest that a guaranteed alternative source of health insurance would increase the probability of self-employment between 2.3 and 4.4 percentage points for husbands and 1.2 and 4.6 percentage points for wives. The author's more conservative estimates suggest that universal coverage could increase the percentage of self-employed in the workforce by 2 to 3.5 percentage points. Copyright 2001 Western Economic Association International.