Preparing the Workforce for a "Green Jobs" Economy

Identifies the types of jobs and skills that will be in demand in clean energy economy and the factors that are driving the new energy economy and the growth of its workforce. Also considers strategies for building competitive, flexible workforce systems that can respond to emerging employer needs and highlights best practices occurring around the nation

Effective Employee Incentive Plans: Features and Implementation Processes

[Excerpt] This paper will evaluate the effectiveness of broad-based employee incentives, identifying the features of effective plans. For our purposes, “broad-based” is used to signal that more than 50 percent of employees are eligible for this variable pay plan. In addition, the terms “variable pay plan” and “pay for performance” are used interchangeably as they appeared in the original sources

Social Welfare Reform: An Analysis of Germany\u27s Agenda 2010 Labor Market Reforms and the United States\u27 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996

This comment presents a historical view of the social welfare systems in the United States and Germany. It then explains and analyzes recent large-scale reforms made to each country\u27s social welfare system - the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 in the United States, which profoundly impacted the availability of welfare benefits to poor Americans, and Germany\u27s Agenda 2013 campaign, which reformed Germany\u27s system of providing benefits to the long-term unemployed

Prospects for Reducing Uninsured Rates Among Children: How Much Can Premium Assistance Programs Help?

Examines the efficacy of premium assistance under Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Programs in extending coverage for children through a parent's employer-sponsored insurance. Considers policy implications for expanding public insurance

Oxygen Saturation among Newborn Infants and the Decrease Occurring During Feeding in Various Populations

Pharyngeal and laryngeal structural movements coordinate respiration and swallowing functions, hence eliminating simultaneous execution. This research aims to document levels of oxygen saturation during rest and feeding among various newborn populations. Hypothesized is that an increase in oxygen alterations during feeding will be exhibited by infants of younger gestational age and, further, by those with the presence of respiratory anomalies. Thirty newborns in the nurseries at Medical University of South Carolina, free of cardiac and genetic maladies, were divided into three groups. Subjects of group 1 are healthy, full-term newborns; within groups 2 and 3, preterm infants (\u3c37 weeks gestation). Subjects of groups 1 and 2 have no diagnosed respiratory disorders; those within group 3 have diagnoses of respiratory illness. Nellcor pulse-oximeters monitor infants during sleep and feeding sessions. ANOVA data analysis revealed no statistical difference within this sample. A pattern of increased changes suggests clinical significance. Future studies may find it beneficial to use a larger sample size powered to detect a smaller effect size

Discovering academics' key learning connections: An ego-centric network approach to analysing learning about teaching

The aim of this exploratory study is to investigate the role of personal networks in supporting academics’ professional learning about teaching. As part of a wider project, the paper focuses on the composition of academics’ networks and possible implications of network tendencies for academics’ learning about teaching. The study adopts a mixed-method approach. Firstly, the composition of academics’ networks is examined using Social Network Analysis. Secondly, the role of these networks in academics’ learning about teaching is analysed through semi-structured interviews. Findings reveal the prevalence of localised and strong-tie connections, which could inhibit opportunities for effective learning and spread of innovations in teaching. The study highlights the need to promote connectivity within and across institutions, creating favourable conditions for effective professional development

Calculating the Campus Nitrogen Footprint

Many universities interested in sustainability have calculated their carbon footprint. The carbon footprint is well-established and understood: it tells us how much carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are emitted to the atmosphere as a result of university activities. While important, this calculation addresses just one part of a university’s environmental impact. Universities that want to expand their approach to sustainability can now also calculate their nitrogen footprint.Nitrogen footprints connect entities, such as individuals or universities, with the reactive nitrogen (all species of nitrogen except N2) lost to the environment as a result of their activities. While necessary to life, excess reactive nitrogen can be detrimental to ecosystem and human health, causing impacts such as smog, eutrophication, biodiversity loss, climate change, and more. The nitrogen footprint differs importantly from the carbon footprint in that its impact is not only global but also local, impacting local watersheds and ecosystems. Addressing nitrogen allows us to protect and enhance the communities and landscapes of which we are directly a part.Tools are now available to help individuals, universities, and other institutions calculate and reduce their nitrogen footprint. A nitrogen footprint analysis generally considers energy usage, food production and consumption, fertilizer usage, and—especially for a land grant institution—agricultural activities related to its educational and research missions. Universities are particularly well-situated to reduce their carbon emissions and nitrogen pollution because they can both educate a community and make management decisions to reduce their impacts on the environment. Carbon and nitrogen footprints also have significant overlap, especially in the energy sector. Because of this, almost any plan to reduce a university’s carbon footprint will also reduce their nitrogen footprint. Combining the existing university carbon and nitrogen footprint tools could help universities better understand and address a broader range of their environmental impacts.In this talk, we will first present the nitrogen challenge and how nitrogen footprints can be part of the solution. We will demonstrate the university-level nitrogen footprint tool and will share nitrogen footprint results for universities that are already calculating their footprint, including the University of Virginia—where this approach was piloted—and the University of New Hampshire. Finally, we will explain how the carbon and nitrogen footprint overlap and we will make a case for combining the UNHSI Campus Carbon Calculator and the University Nitrogen Footprint Tool into a single tool for universities

Improving parental involvement and student achievement with a classroom website

The purpose of this study was to develop an instructional tool, which would enable students and their parents to access the student\u27s progress electronically at anytime and to determine if students whose parents utilized the teacher-created website and used email to communicate showed significant improvement in student\u27s academics, behavior and attendance

Stage-Specific Timing of the microRNA Regulation of \u3cem\u3elin-28\u3c/em\u3e by the Heterochronic Gene \u3cem\u3elin-14\u3c/em\u3e in \u3cem\u3eCaenorhabditis elegans\u3c/em\u3e

In normal development, the order and synchrony of diverse developmental events must be explicitly controlled. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the timing of larval events is regulated by hierarchy of proteins and microRNAs (miRNAs) known as the heterochronic pathway. These regulators are organized in feedforward and feedback interactions to form a robust mechanism for specifying the timing and execution of cell fates at successive stages. One member of this pathway is the RNA binding protein LIN-28, which promotes pluripotency and cell fate decisions in successive stages. Two genetic circuits control LIN-28 abundance: it is negatively regulated by the miRNA lin-4, and positively regulated by the transcription factor LIN-14 through a mechanism that was previously unknown. In this report, we used animals that lack lin-4 to elucidate LIN-14’s activity in this circuit. We demonstrate that three let-7 family miRNAs—miR-48, miR-84, and miR-241—inhibit lin-28 expression. Furthermore, we show genetically that these miRNAs act between lin-14 and lin-28, and that they comprise the pathway by which lin-14 positively regulates lin-28. We also show that the lin-4 family member mir-237, also regulates early cell fates. Finally, we show that the expression of these miRNAs is directly inhibited by lin-14 activity, making them the first known targets of lin-14 that act in the heterochronic pathway