Three Essays on Vulnerable Workers

Vulnerable workers, workers who have recently experienced a shock that could adversely affect their labor market prospects, experience large, long-lasting earnings losses – on average. This dissertation investigates the mechanisms behind the losses of three groups of vulnerable workers and the role of public policy in mitigating these losses. In the first essay, I identify which displaced workers, workers who lose their job as a result of a firm or plant closing, are the most vulnerable. I find that a worker’s duration of joblessness depends much more on conditions within that worker’s occupation than conditions within that worker’s industry. This suggests a worker’s vulnerability is a function of their skills and less related to the goods and services they were previously producing. In the second essay, my collaborators and I estimate the causal impacts of benefits in California’s Paid Family Leave program on a second group of vulnerable workers: new mothers. We find no evidence that a higher weekly benefit amount increases leave duration or leads to adverse future labor market outcomes for mothers with earnings near the maximum benefit threshold. In the third essay, my collaborators and I find strong evidence that Disability Insurance and Paid Family Leave program take-up is substantially higher in firms with high earnings premiums. Our results suggest that changes in firm behavior have the potential to impact social insurance use and thus reduce an important dimension of inequality in America

Trends and Disparities in Leave Use Under California\u27s Paid Family Leave Program: New Evidence from Administrative Data

We use novel administrative data to study trends and disparities in usage of California\u27s first-in-the-nation paid family leave (PFL) program. We show that take-up for both bonding with a new child and caring for an ill family member increased over 2005–2014. Most women combine PFL with maternity leave from the State Disability Insurance system, resulting in leaves longer than 6 weeks. Most men take less than the full 6 weeks of PFL. Individuals in the lowest earnings quartile and in small firms are the least likely to take leave. There are important differences in take-up across industries, especially for men

Three Essays on Vulnerable Workers

Vulnerable workers, workers who have recently experienced a shock that could adversely affect their labor market prospects, experience large, long-lasting earnings losses -- on average. This dissertation investigates the mechanisms behind the losses of three groups of vulnerable workers and the role of public policy in mitigating these losses. In the first essay, I identify which displaced workers, workers who lose their job as a result of a firm or plant closing, are the most vulnerable. I find that a worker's duration of joblessness depends much more on conditions within that worker's occupation than conditions within that worker's industry. This suggests a worker's vulnerability is a function of their skills and less related to the goods and services they were previously producing. In the second essay, my collaborators and I estimate the causal impacts of benefits in California's Paid Family Leave program on a second group of vulnerable workers: new mothers. We find no evidence that a higher weekly benefit amount increases leave duration or leads to adverse future labor market outcomes for mothers with earnings near the maximum benefit threshold. In the third essay, my collaborators and I find strong evidence that Disability Insurance and Paid Family Leave program take-up is substantially higher in firms with high earnings premiums. Our results suggest that changes in firm behavior have the potential to impact social insurance use and thus reduce an important dimension of inequality in America

The impact of providing rapid diagnostic malaria tests on fever management in the private retail sector in Ghana: a cluster randomized trial

Objective: To examine the impact of providing rapid diagnostic tests for malaria on fever management in private drug retail shops where most poor rural people with fever present, with the aim of reducing current massive overdiagnosis and overtreatment of malaria. Design: Cluster randomized trial of 24 clusters of shops. Setting: Dangme West, a poor rural district of Ghana. Participants: Shops and their clients, both adults and children. Interventions: Providing rapid diagnostic tests with realistic training. Main outcome measures: The primary outcome was the proportion of clients testing negative for malaria by a double-read research blood slide who received an artemisinin combination therapy or other antimalarial. Secondary outcomes were use of antibiotics and antipyretics, and safety. Results: Of 4603 clients, 3424 (74.4%) tested negative by double-read research slides. The proportion of slide-negative clients who received any antimalarial was 590/1854 (32%) in the intervention arm and 1378/1570 (88%) in the control arm (adjusted risk ratio 0.41 (95% CI 0.29 to 0.58), P<0.0001). Treatment was in high agreement with rapid diagnostic test result. Of those who were slide-positive, 690/787 (87.8%) in the intervention arm and 347/392 (88.5%) in the control arm received an artemisinin combination therapy (adjusted risk ratio 0.96 (0.84 to 1.09)). There was no evidence of antibiotics being substituted for antimalarials. Overall, 1954/2641 (74%) clients in the intervention arm and 539/1962 (27%) in the control arm received appropriate treatment (adjusted risk ratio 2.39 (1.69 to 3.39), P<0.0001). No safety concerns were identified. Conclusions: Most patients with fever in Africa present to the private sector. In this trial, providing rapid diagnostic tests for malaria in the private drug retail sector significantly reduced dispensing of antimalarials to patients without malaria, did not reduce prescribing of antimalarials to true malaria cases, and appeared safe. Rapid diagnostic tests should be considered for the informal private drug retail sector

KAJIAN METODE GRAVIMETRI DALAM ANALISIS KADAR KARAGINAN RUMPUT LAUT Eucheuma cottonii

ABSTRAK Telah dilakukan penelitian tentang kajian metode gravimetri dalam analisis kadar karaginan rumput laut Eucheuma cottonii. Peneltian ini bertujuan untuk mendapatkan tingkat pemekatan dan rasio etanol/ekstrak pekat yang paling baik digunakan dalam penetapan kadar karaginan rumput laut Eucheuma cottonii. Penelitian dua faktor masing-masing faktor tingkat pemekatan dan faktor rasio etanol/ekstrak pekat, yaitu 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70% dan 1,5 : 1; 2,0 : 1; 2,5 : 1; 3,0 : 1; dan 3,5 : 1. Kadar karaginan ditentukan menggunakan metode gravimetri, hasil yang diperoleh menunjukkan  tingkat pemekatan yang memberikan kadar karaginan tertinggi yaitu 50% dan rasio etanol/ekstrak pekat yaitu 3,5 : 1 yang menghasilkan kadar karaginan tinggi (51,752). Kata kunci: Eucheuma cottonii,Ekstraksi karaginan, Rasio etano

UPAYA MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN PENALARAN DAN KOMUNIKASI MATEMATIS SISWA MELALUI MODEL PEMBELAJARAN KOOPERATIF TIPE THINK PAIR SHARE (TPS) DAN DAMPAKNYA TERHADAP MOTIVASI BELAJAR SISWA

Penelitan ini bertujuan menganalisis upaya meningkatkan kemampuan penalaran dan komunikasi matematis siswa melalui model pembelajaran kooperatif tipe think pair share (tps) dan dampaknya terhadap motivasi belajar siswa. Menggunakan Mixed Method tipe Embedded Desain dengan jenis Embedded experimental model. Populasi dalam penelitian ini seluruh siswa kelas IX SMP Muhammadiyah 2 Cirebon, dan diperoleh sampel kelas IX A (eksperimen), dan kelas IX B (kontrol). Instrumen penelitian ini dengan tes penalaran dan komunikasi matematis serta observasi aktivitas siswa, skala dan wawancara motivasi belajar siswa. Analisis statistik yang dilakukan dengan Uji Normalitas, Independent Sample t-test, Uji Mann Whitney, Uji N-Gain, Uji Korelasi. Hasil penelitian yang diperoleh adalah: Kemampuan matematis siswa pada kelas think pair share tidak lebih baik dari kelas konvensional sedangkan kemampuan penalaran pada kelas think pair share lebih baik dari kelas konvensional, tetapi motivasi belajar siswa pada kelas think pair share tidak lebih baik dari kelas konvensional. Dari hasil uji korelasi, terdapat hubungan antara kemampuan komunikasi dengan kemampuan penalaran. Tidak terdapat hubungan antara kemampuan komunikasi matematis dengan motivasi belajar siswadan juga tidak terdapat hubungan antara kemampuan penalaran dengan motivasi belajar siswa. Saran dari penelitian ini ialah harus menggunakan KAM dan mencoba menggunakan materi ajar yang lain. Kata Kunci: Think Pair Share, kemampuan penalaran matematis siswa, kemampuan penalaran. Motivasi belaja

Empowering Students’ Learning Achievement Through Project-Based Learning As Perceived By Electrical Instructors And Students

Purposes of this research were to find out factors empowering electrical students‘ learning achievement through Project-Based Learning (PBL) as perceived by instructors‘ and students‘ opinions. The sample chosen for this study were 247 electrical power instructors at vocational education institutes and 161 electrical students in the 3 rd and 4th year who were studying in the 1st semester of academic year 2006 at Electrical Education Department, Faculty of Industrial Education and Technology, King Mongkut‘s University of Technology Thonburi by using simple random sampling. The instrument used for data collection was 7 rating scales questionnaire. The reliability of the instrument calculated by Cronbach Alpha Coefficient was 0.8185 and 0.9839, respectively. The data were analysed by using mean ( ), Standard Deviation (S.D.) and Analysis of Factors by Principal Component Analysis technique: PCA, orthogonal rotation axis by Varimax Method. The results of the study on factors empowering electrical students‘ learning achievement through Project-Based Learning (PBL) were as follows: both instructors and students agreed on Interesting/Attention(0.799 and 0.885, respectively) while other factors such as Planning(0.722), Sharing Ideas(0.582), Thinking(0.576), Facilitating (0.547), Constructionism (0.540), Scientific Process (0.525), Multiple Intelligence (0.479), and Goal Setting(0.453) were perceived by instructors, and students‘ opinions were on Advising/Guiding(0.863), Thinking(0.661), Goal Setting (0.634), Multiple Intelligence(0.553), Scientific Process(0.528), Assisting(0.524), and Sharing Ideas (0.492), if not more so

Formation of ER-lumenal intermediates during export of Plasmodium proteins containing transmembrane-like hydrophobic sequences

During the blood stage of a malaria infection, malaria parasites export both soluble and membrane proteins into the erythrocytes in which they reside. Exported proteins are trafficked via the parasite endoplasmic reticulum and secretory pathway, before being exported across the parasitophorous vacuole membrane into the erythrocyte. Transport across the parasitophorous vacuole membrane requires protein unfolding, and in the case of membrane proteins, extraction from the parasite plasma membrane. We show that trafficking of the exported Plasmodium protein, Pf332, differs from that of canonical eukaryotic soluble-secreted and transmembrane proteins. Pf332 is initially ER-targeted by an internal hydrophobic sequence that unlike a signal peptide, is not proteolytically removed, and unlike a transmembrane segment, does not span the ER membrane. Rather, both termini of the hydrophobic sequence enter the ER-lumen and the ER-lumenal species is a productive intermediate for protein export. Furthermore, we show in intact cells, that two other exported membrane proteins, SBP1 and MAHRP2, assume a lumenal topology within the parasite secretory pathway. Although the addition of a C-terminal ER-retention sequence, recognised by the lumenal domain of the KDEL receptor, does not completely block export of SBP1 and MAHRP2, it does enhance their retention in the parasite ER. This indicates that a sub-population of each protein adopts an ER-lumenal state that is an intermediate in the export process. Overall, this suggests that although many exported proteins traverse the parasite secretory pathway as typical soluble or membrane proteins, some exported proteins that are ER-targeted by a transmembrane segment-like, internal, non-cleaved hydrophobic segment, do not integrate into the ER membrane, and form an ER-lumenal species that is a productive export intermediate. This represents a novel means, not seen in typical membrane proteins found in model systems, by which exported transmembrane-like proteins can be targeted and trafficked within the lumen of the secretory pathway