Gender pay gap: A cross-sectional study of the effect of workplace entitlement on pay difference

Aim Past empirical studies investigating the possible causes of the gender pay gap have focused on cognitive trait differences between males and females. While several researchers have concluded that personality (or non-cognitive) traits play a role in the pay gap, no definitive lists of personality variables have been discovered to explain the gender pay differentials. We explored whether self-entitlement may result in sex differences in expected salaries. Methods We surveyed 413 undergraduate students from an introductory university course studying management to investigate the possible relationship between employee entitlement and expected pay. The survey included two parts of questions asking about participants’ employee entitlement and expected pay for different occupations, which reflected potential careers from the management program. Results While the results showed some sex differences, there were only a few significant relationships between employee entitlement and expected pay. Conclusion Although entitlement correlated positively with some of the expected starting salaries, the results do not definitely explain the sex differences in pay as men and women scored higher on certain facets of entitlement

Structural Polymorphism in Tau Filaments: An Implication for Neurodegenerative Diseases

Tau filaments are the pathological hallmark of \u3e20 neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer\u27s disease, Pick\u27s disease, and progressive supranuclear palsy. In the adult human brain, six isoforms of tau are expressed that differ by presence or absence of the second of the four semiconserved repeats. As a consequence, half of the tau isoforms have three repeats (3R tau), whereas the other half has four repeats (4R tau). Site-directed spin labeling of recombinant tau in conjunction with electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to obtain structural insights into tau filaments. The studies showed that the filaments of 4R tau and 3R tau share a highly ordered core structure in the third repeat with parallel, in-register arrangement of beta-strands. This structure in 3R and 4R is conserved regardless of whether full-length isoforms (htau40 and htau23) or truncated constructs (K18 and K19) are used. When mixed, 3R tau and 4R tau coassembled into heterogeneous filaments. Hence, these findings indicate that there are at least three compositionally distinct types of filaments: homogeneous 3R tau, homogeneous 4R tau, and heterogeneous 3R/4R tau. In vitro experiments show that the seeded filament growth, a prerequisite for tau spreading in tissue culture and brain, is crucially dependent on the isoform composition of individual seeds. Seeds of 3R tau and 3R/4R tau recruit both types of isoforms whereas seeds of 4R tau can recruit 4R tau, but not 3R tau, establishing an asymmetric barrier. Conformational templating of 4R tau onto 3R tau seeds eliminates this barrier, giving rise to a new type of tau filament. Conformational studies at the molecular level of tau filaments were done using Double electron-electron resonance spectroscopy, which allows the determination of distances between pairs of spin labels. These studies revealed structural differences between filaments of 3R tau and 4R tau. Furthermore, they indicated that 4R tau assumed the conformation of 3R tau when templated on 3R tau seeds. Our measurements have also provided insights into the heterogeneity of tau filament structure. Conformational differences due to variation in filament composition and seeding properties of tau filaments have shown that they are structurally polymorphic in nature. This structural polymorphism of tau filaments has widespread implications in understanding and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases

Study of the neuroprotection mechanisms in a model of spinal cord injury in vitro

Excitotoxicity is the major contributor to the pathophysiological damage after acute spinal cord injury which is often incomplete, yet it produces paralysis with uncertain outcome for gait recovery despite early intensive care support. Neuroprotecting the spinal cord during the early phase of injury is an important goal to determine a favourable outcome to suppress delayed pathological events that extend the primary damage and amplify the loss of motor function often with irreversible consequences. While intensive care and neurosurgical intervention remain mainstay treatments, effective neuroprotection requires further focused experimental studies under controlled conditions. To better understand the pathophysiological mechanism of spinal lesion an in vitro model of rat spinal cord has been developed by our laboratory whereby injury is mimicked by a moderate excitotoxic insult. Such an injury suppresses the locomotor networks together with partial loss of motoneuronal population. The present thesis explores if the volatile general anesthetic methoxyflurane can protect spinal locomotor networks from kainate induced excitotoxicity and whether motoneuronal survival after excitotoxicity relies on cell expression of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), a cytosolic neuroprotective protein binding and sequestering metabolic distress-generated proteins. The protocols involved 1 h excitotoxic stimulation on day 1 followed by electrophysiological and immunohistochemical testing after 24 h. A time-limited (1 h), single administration of methoxyfluorane together with kainate (or with 30 min or 60 min delay), prevented any depression of spinal reflexes, loss of motoneuron excitability, and histological damage. Methoxyfluorane per se temporarily decreased synaptic transmission and motoneuron excitability. These effects were readily reversible on washout. When methoxyfluorane was applied with or after kainate, spinal locomotor activity recorded as alternating electrical discharges from lumbar motor pools was fully preserved after 24 h. Furthermore to test the second hypothesis, the motoneurons were investigated for their expression of apoptosis inducing factor (AIF; a known biomarker of cell death) which became preferentially localized to the nucleus in pyknotic cells after excitotoxicity. The surviving motoneurons showed strong expression of HSP70 with no nuclear AIF. The sham preparations did not show any AIF nuclear translocation whereas the preparations treated with kainate (100 \ub5M) were the most affected. VER155008, a pharmacological inhibitor of HSP70, per se induced neurotoxicity comparable to that of kainate. Electrophysiological recording indicated depression of motoneuron field potential with strong decrease in excitability and impaired synaptic transmission following kainate or VER155008. Their combined application elicited more intense neurotoxicity. Interestingly, motoneurons in the spinal cord (24 h in vitro) showed large expression of HSP70 compared to freshly dissected tissue, suggesting that HSP70 up-regulation was critical for spinal cord preparation survival in vitro. These data suggest that a volatile general anesthetic could provide strong electrophysiological and histological neuroprotection that enabled retention of locomotor network activity even one day after the excitotoxic challenge. Our study also showed that HSP70 is important for motoneuronal survival. It is hypothesized that the benefits of early neurosurgery for acute SCI might be enhanced if, in addition to injury decompression and stabilization, the protective role of general anesthesia is maximized. Another potential future strategy to neuroprotect motoneurons could be the upregulation of HSP70 activity by either using its pharmacological enhancers or by inducing its over-expression

Nuclear Pore Protein Nup211 Is Essential for Cell Cycle Progression and Cell Shape Maintenance in Fission Yeast

The nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) are large multi-protein channels that traverse the nuclear envelope and mediate nucleo-cytoplasmic transport. Proteomic studies have revealed that NPCs are composed of about thirty different proteins called nucleoporins. I explored a particular nucleoporin, Nup211, in fission yeast. nup211 is an essential gene; its deletion is lethal and causes morphological defects. In this study, I characterized the cell morphological defects caused by the down-regulation of Nup211 and found that restoring the N-terminal domain of Nup211 was sufficient to rescue the lethal phenotype and partially suppress the morphological defects. Additionally, I investigated the role Nup211 plays in cytokinesis. RNA-Sequencing analysis revealed that Nup211 down-regulation and overexpression elicited a global change in gene expression. Specifically in Nup211-down-regulated cells, there was a decrease in ace2 gene expression and its downstream targets- adg1, adg2, adg3, mid2, cfh4, eng1, agn1 and rgf3. ace2 and its target genes play a dominant role in normal septum formation, dissolution, and cell separation (cytokinesis). I show that directly restoring ace2 expression significantly suppressed the morphological defects caused by Nup211 down-regulation. These results suggest that Nup211 partially controls cytokinesis through control the expression of ace2. Furthermore, we identified proteins important for cytokinesis, such as actin, were affected by Nup211 down-regulation. Taken together, our data indicate that Nup211 is fundamental for fission yeast cell shape maintenance, cytokinesis and global gene expression

What is Black Dance

This dissertation explores and analyzes What is Black dance and the role that Black dance plays in the professional development of teaching artists in Black arts’ educational organizations preparing Black dancers for careers on the concert stage. What is Black Dance has evoked controversy among dancers, scholars and critics since the 1960s. Defining Black dance is complicated by the racial origins of Black dance and the racialization that Black dance has encountered and continues to encounter. In this study teaching artists working in urban arts academies demonstrate their knowledge in pedagogy, choreographic works, rehearsals, and performances. Teaching Black dance history, culture and choreographic processes creates and utilizes Black cultural aesthetics, informed by Black people’s culture, identity, history, and experiences to debunk racialized myths about Black dance as an art form. I use qualitative Focused Ethnography and data collection methods of focus groups, Apajo, an African cultural gathering, and individual interviews to engage participants in the examination of research questions. This dissertation through a focused ethnography approach reveals the ways in which professional teaching artists understand Black dance as an art form that uses the aesthetics of Africa, the Diaspora and Black America when developing pedagogy and choreography to prepare Black dancers for careers on the concert stage

The Central Dogma: Gene Expression

In this lesson plan, students will learn the basic structure and function of DNA and RNA. They will also learn the process of gene expression. Finally, students will learn about the scientific contributor, Ernest Everest Just, and his contributions to the field of Biology

An exploratory study towards disclosure of status and reduction of stigma for people living with HIV/AIDS in a low income community : the development of a community-based framework.

Theses (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.Introduction: Stigma associated with HIV/AIDS creates a barrier to prevention, care and treatment of HIV/AIDS. It further restricts PLWHA from learning about their status, disclosing their status, adopting safe behaviour and accessing services such as antiretroviral treatment. Disclosure of HIV status and a reduction in stigma may contribute to the decrease in new HIV cases. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to develop a community-based framework that would encourage people living with HIV/AIDS to disclose their HIV status and reduce the stigma associated with the disease. Method: This study used the action research method to explore the experiences of stigma and disclosure of HIV status and to develop a community based framework with PLWHA who encouraged disclosure and promoted the reduction of stigma in a community-based setting. The research setting was Bhambayi, an informal settlement in the district of Inanda. Non-probability purposive sampling was used. In-depth interviews with PLWHA that had disclosed their HIV status and focus group discussions with family members, adult children and community members were conducted. Findings: The data was analyzed manually and the following categories and subcategories emerged. The categories were experience of disclosure, stigmatizing reactions, lifestyle changes after disclosure and supports to reduce stigma. Some of the sub-categories were ‘opens out the illness’, gossiping and pointing fingers, discrimination against PLWHA by family and community, changes in relationships, community awareness and formation of support groups. The findings revealed that PLWHA that had disclosed their HIV status had changed their lifestyles. Recommendations were made on the need for nurses to develop community engagement projects and establish partnerships in order to reach out to communities regarding HIV/AIDS. Incorporate HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination into the current nurses’ curriculum. The need for research is expressed on the evaluation of the framework and conducting similar research in larger communities. Conclusion: PLWHA who had disclosed their HIV-status shared their experience of being HIV-positive and encouraged other people to get tested. The community-based framework to facilitate disclosure and reduce stigma among PLWHA can be operationalised in other informal community-settings

Laser machining steel for moulds: a case study

Laser beam machining is a non-traditional subtractive manufacturing process, a form of machining, in which a laser is directed towards the work piece for machining. This process uses thermal energy to remove material from metallic or non-metallic surfaces. The laser is focused onto the surface to be worked and the thermal energy of the laser is transferred to the surface, heating and melting or vaporizing the material. Laser beam machining is best suited for brittle materials with low conductivity, but can be used on most materials. The role of the technical equipment in laser milling is to perform a controllable action of the laser radiation on the material to be treated. The laser is the main unit of the equipment and it is characteristics determine to great extent the qualitative and quantitative parameters of the technological treatments. In this work, I had to study the laser milling process parameter selection for process planning operations from start to finish. It was important to have an understanding about laser milling and laser processing parameters for different materials. As a result from the laser milling, the surface finish will have different surface properties such as, surface hardness, surface roughness, friction and tribology etc.. During the process, I gained knowledge about the historical and conceptual framework of laser milling, the different parameters of a laser milling and how the laser milling parameters influence the surface properties of the machined parts