Examining the Employment Profile of Institutions Under the Mission-Driven Classification System and the Impact of Collective Bargaining

The focus of this study is an analysis of institutions, salary expenditures, employment categories (full-time professors by academic rank), and number and average pay of full-time faculty. Our new mission-driven classification system provides the framework for the analysis and specifically presents the data by both the presence or lack of a collective bargaining agreement. The goal of this paper is to illustrate differences in monetary compensation of full time faculty using the mission-driven classification system (as opposed to the Carnegie Classification) and to see the impact of the presence or lack of collective bargaining agreements. We argue that the Carnegie Classification is not how state officials--governors, legislators, and the general public view higher education in America. We argue that a public frame is needed to understand, support, and advance public higher education. We present data that shows difference by geographic type (rural, suburban, urban) for a much more precise understanding of how collective bargaining impacts faculty salaries

Monetary Compensation of Full-Time Faculty at American Public Regional Universities: The Impact of Geography and the Existence of Collective Bargaining

This paper examines monetary compensation of 127,222 full-time faculty employed by the 390 regional universities in the United States who are members of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. Compensation data published by the U.S. Department of Education and organizations concerned with faculty, including the American Association of University Professors and others, typically lump all four-year public university faculty together, ignoring well-known differences in teaching workloads at different types of public four-year universities (four instead of two courses taught each term, etc.). Further, many compensation studies do not examine fringe benefits, which are 30 percent of total monetary compensation. Regional universities serve nearly 4 million students nationwide, and are highly committed to be good stewards of place. They are worthy of study as a separate institutional type on their own. As large numbers of “baby boom” era faculty at regional universities approach retirement, an accurate base-line assessment of total monetary compensation (salaries and fringe benefits) is important. This study examines (1) salaries and fringe benefits, (2) includes the entire universe of U.S. regional universities, (3) examines differences by geographic peer institutional types, and (4) examines if the presence or lack of collective bargaining matters. The 2011 Human Resources Survey from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System is the most recent year for which both salary and fringe benefits data are available. The 390 regional universities were divided into seven sub-types: Rural-Small, Rural-Medium, Rural-Large, Suburban Smaller, Suburban Larger, Urban Smaller, and Urban Larger. Katsinas’ geographically-based classification scheme of regional universities (2016, forthcoming), similar to the geographically-based 2005 and 2010 Carnegie Basic Classification of Associate’s Colleges on which he was lead author, was used. The average total monetary compensation for the 127,222 full-time faculty employed by the 390 regional universities was $97,174, of which$71,348 came in the form of salaries and $25,828 in fringe benefits. The 15,872 full-time faculty employed by the 90 Rural-Medium regional universities received on average$84,720 in salaries and fringe benefits, while the 18,884 faculty employed by the 42 Suburban-Larger regional universities received $101,366. In general, full-time faculty at the 55 Suburban regional faculty were highest paid, closely followed by faculty at the 74 urban regional universities, with faculty at the 261 rural regional universities well behind. The range of monetary compensation across the seven sub-categories of regional universities was large--and this one-year difference of nearly$17,000 is magnified further when considered over an entire 30-plus year teaching career, adjusted for inflation. The differences are even wider when the presence or lack of collective bargaining is considered. Among the 127, 222 full-time faculty at regional universities, 74,468 or 63% worked at the 219 institutions in the 30 states that in 2011 had collective bargaining (as reported in the 2012 Directory of Collective Bargaining published by the National Center for Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions), while 52,754 or 37% were employed at the 171 regional universities in the 20 states that did not. Full-time faculty at rural, suburban, and urban regional universities with collective bargaining received on average $92,407,$116,353, and $108,399 in total monetary compensation in FY2011; this compared to averages of$82,722, $84,813, and$86,594 at rural, suburban, and urban regional universities without. This study revealed that regional universities, currently spread across many subcategories of doctoral, master’s, and baccalaureate universities within the Carnegie Basic Classification universe, deserve analysis in their own right

The Impact of Collective Bargaining and Local Appropriations on Faculty Salaries and Benefits at U.S. Community Colleges

This study examines the impact of collective bargaining and local appropriations on salaries and fringe benefits of full-time faculty at U.S. community colleges. A more nuanced view is offered, by drawing appropriate institutional peer-group comparisons of rural, suburban, and urban community colleges to more accurately and precisely show just how much of a difference the presence or lack of collective bargaining, local appropriations, and the combined impact of both, actually make. Further, given the technical nature of the few comprehensive studies of fringe benefits for community college faculty, we integrate the findings of King and Maldanado

Sequence and gene expression of chloroquine resistance transporter (pfcrt) in the association of in vitro drugs resistance of Plasmodium falciparum

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>chloroquine resistance (CQR) transporter protein (PfCRT) is known to be the important key of CQR. Recent studies have definitively demonstrated a link between mutations in the gene <it>pfcrt </it>and resistance to chloroquine in <it>P. falciparum</it>. Although these mutations are predictive of chloroquine resistance, they are not quantitatively predictive of the degree of resistance.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, a total of 95 recently adapted <it>P. falciparum </it>isolates from Thailand were included in the analysis. Parasites were characterized for their drug susceptibility phenotypes and genotypes with respect to <it>pfcrt</it>. From the original 95 isolates, 20 were selected for complete <it>pfcrt </it>sequence analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Almost all of the parasites characterized carried the previously reported mutations K76T, A220S, Q271E, N326S, I356T and R371I. On complete sequencing, isolates were identified with novel mutations at K76A and E198K. There was a suggestion that parasites carrying E198K were less resistant than those that did not. In addition, <it>pfcrt </it>and <it>pfmdr1 </it>gene expression were investigated by real-time PCR. No relationship between the expression level of either of these genes and response to drug was observed.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Data from the present study suggest that other genes must contribute to the degree of resistance once the resistance phenotype is established through mutations in <it>pfcrt</it>.</p

Nontrivial Exponent for Simple Diffusion

The diffusion equation \partial_t\phi = \nabla^2\phi is considered, with initial condition \phi( _x_ ,0) a gaussian random variable with zero mean. Using a simple approximate theory we show that the probability p_n(t_1,t_2) that \phi( _x_ ,t) [for a given space point _x_ ] changes sign n times between t_1 and t_2 has the asymptotic form p_n(t_1,t_2) \sim [\ln(t_2/t_1)]^n(t_1/t_2)^{-\theta}. The exponent \theta has predicted values 0.1203, 0.1862, 0.2358 in dimensions d=1,2,3, in remarkably good agreement with simulation results.Comment: Minor typos corrected, affecting table of exponents. 4 pages, REVTEX, 1 eps figure. Uses epsf.sty and multicol.st

Glycerol: An unexpected major metabolite of energy metabolism by the human malaria parasite

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Malaria is a global health emergency, and yet our understanding of the energy metabolism of the principle causative agent of this devastating disease, <it>Plasmodium falciparum</it>, remains rather basic. Glucose was shown to be an essential nutritional requirement nearly 100 years ago and since this original observation, much of the current knowledge of <it>Plasmodium </it>energy metabolism is based on early biochemical work, performed using basic analytical techniques (e.g. paper chromatography), carried out almost exclusively on avian and rodent malaria. Data derived from malaria parasite genome and transcriptome studies suggest that the energy metabolism of the parasite may be more complex than hitherto anticipated. This study was undertaken in order to further characterize the fate of glucose catabolism in the human malaria parasite, <it>P. falciparum</it>.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Products of glucose catabolism were determined by incubating erythrocyte-freed parasites with D-[1-¹³C] glucose under controlled conditions and metabolites were identified using ¹³C-NMR spectroscopy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Following a 2 h incubation of freed-<it>P. falciparum </it>parasites with 25 mM D-[1-¹³C] glucose (<it>n </it>= 4), the major metabolites identified included; [3-¹³C] lactate, [1,3-¹³C] glycerol, [3-¹³C] pyruvate, [3-¹³C] alanine and [3-¹³C] glycerol-3-phosphate. Control experiments performed with uninfected erythrocytes incubated under identical conditions did not show any metabolism of D-[1-¹³C] glucose to glycerol or glycerol-3-phosphate.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The identification of glycerol as a major glucose metabolite confirms the view that energy metabolism in this parasite is more complex than previously proposed. It is hypothesized here that glycerol production by the malaria parasite is the result of a metabolic adaptation to growth in O₂-limited (and CO₂elevated) conditions by the operation of a glycerol-3-phosphate shuttle for the re-oxidation of assimilatory NADH. Similar metabolic adaptations have been reported previously for other microaerobic/anaerobic organisms, such as yeast, rumen protozoa and human parasitic protozoa.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These data highlight the need to re-evaluate the carbon and redox balance of this important human pathogen, ultimately leading to a better understanding of how the parasite is able to adapt to the variable environments encountered during parasite development and disease progression.</p

The relative importance of phytoplankton aggregates and zooplankton fecal pellets to carbon export: insights from free-drifting sediment trap deployments in naturally iron-fertilised waters near the Kerguelen Plateau

The first KErguelen Ocean and Plateau compared Study (KEOPS1), conducted in the naturally iron-fertilised Kerguelen bloom, demonstrated that fecal material was the main pathway for exporting carbon to the deep ocean during summer (January–February 2005), suggesting a limited role of direct export via phytodetrital aggregates. The KEOPS2 project reinvestigated this issue during the spring bloom initiation (October–November 2011), when zooplankton communities may exert limited grazing pressure, and further explored the link between carbon flux, export efficiency and dominant sinking particles depending upon surface plankton community structure. Sinking particles were collected in polyacrylamide gel-filled and standard free-drifting sediment traps (PPS3/3), deployed at six stations between 100 and 400 m, to examine flux composition, particle origin and their size distributions. Results revealed an important contribution of phytodetrital aggregates (49+/-10 and 45+/-22% of the total number and volume of particles respectively, all stations and depths averaged). This high contribution dropped when converted to carbon content (30+/-16% of total carbon, all stations and depths averaged), with cylindrical fecal pellets then representing the dominant fraction (56+/-19 %). At 100 and 200m depth, iron- and biomass-enriched sites exhibited the highest carbon fluxes (maxima of 180 and 84+/- 27 mgCm-2 d-1, based on gel and PPS3/3 trap collection respectively), especially where large fecal pellets dominated over phytodetrital aggregates. Below these depths, carbon fluxes decreased (48+/-21%decrease on average between 200 and 400 m), and mixed aggregates composed of phytodetritus and fecal matter dominated, suggesting an important role played by physical aggregation in deep carbon export. Export efficiencies determined from gels, PPS3/3 traps and 234Th disequilibria (200m carbon flux/net primary productivity) were negatively correlated to net primary productivity with observed decreases from ~0.2 at low-iron sites to ~0.02 at high-iron sites. Varying phytoplankton communities and grazing pressure appear to explain this negative relationship. Our work emphasises the need to consider detailed plankton communities to accurately identify the controls on carbon export efficiency, which appear to include small spatio-temporal variations in ecosystem structure

Scaling in Late Stage Spinodal Decomposition with Quenched Disorder

We study the late stages of spinodal decomposition in a Ginzburg-Landau mean field model with quenched disorder. Random spatial dependence in the coupling constants is introduced to model the quenched disorder. The effect of the disorder on the scaling of the structure factor and on the domain growth is investigated in both the zero temperature limit and at finite temperature. In particular, we find that at zero temperature the domain size, $R(t)$, scales with the amplitude, $A$, of the quenched disorder as $R(t) = A^{-\beta} f(t/A^{-\gamma})$ with $\beta \simeq 1.0$ and $\gamma \simeq 3.0$ in two dimensions. We show that $\beta/\gamma = \alpha$, where $\alpha$ is the Lifshitz-Slyosov exponent. At finite temperature, this simple scaling is not observed and we suggest that the scaling also depends on temperature and $A$. We discuss these results in the context of Monte Carlo and cell dynamical models for phase separation in systems with quenched disorder, and propose that in a Monte Carlo simulation the concentration of impurities, $c$, is related to $A$ by $A \sim c^{1/d}$.Comment: RevTex manuscript 5 pages and 5 figures (obtained upon request via email [email protected]

Putatively novel serotypes and the potential for reduced vaccine effectiveness: capsular locus diversity revealed among 5405 pneumococcal genomes.

The pneumococcus is a leading global pathogen and a key virulence factor possessed by the majority of pneumococci is an antigenic polysaccharide capsule ('serotype'), which is encoded by the capsular (cps) locus. Approximately 100 different serotypes are known, but the extent of sequence diversity within the cps loci of individual serotypes is not well understood. Investigating serotype-specific sequence variation is crucial to the design of sequence-based serotyping methodology, understanding pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) effectiveness and the design of future PCVs. The availability of large genome datasets makes it possible to assess population-level variation among pneumococcal serotypes and in this study 5405 pneumococcal genomes were used to investigate cps locus diversity among 49 different serotypes. Pneumococci had been recovered between 1916 and 2014 from people of all ages living in 51 countries. Serotypes were deduced bioinformatically, cps locus sequences were extracted and variation was assessed within the cps locus, in the context of pneumococcal genetic lineages. Overall, cps locus sequence diversity varied markedly: low to moderate diversity was revealed among serogroups/types 1, 3, 7, 9, 11 and 22; whereas serogroups/types 6, 19, 23, 14, 15, 18, 33 and 35 displayed high diversity. Putative novel and/or hybrid cps loci were identified among all serogroups/types apart from 1, 3 and 9. This study demonstrated that cps locus sequence diversity varied widely between serogroups/types. Investigation of the biochemical structure of the polysaccharide capsule of major variants, particularly PCV-related serotypes and those that appear to be novel or hybrids, is warranted.This work was supported by a Wellcome Trust Biomedical Research Fund award (04992/Z/14/Z) to M. J. C. M., K. A. J., and A. B. B.; a Wellcome Trust career development fellowship (083511/Z/07/Z) to A. B. B; and a University of Oxford John Fell Fund award (123/734) to A. B. B. Core funding for the Sanger Institute was provided by the Wellcome Trust (098051). Funding for the Icelandic vaccine impact study was provided by GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA and the Landspítali University Hospital Research Fund to K. G. K., A. H., H. E., S. D. B., and A. B. B

Critical Dynamics of Gelation

Shear relaxation and dynamic density fluctuations are studied within a Rouse model, generalized to include the effects of permanent random crosslinks. We derive an exact correspondence between the static shear viscosity and the resistance of a random resistor network. This relation allows us to compute the static shear viscosity exactly for uncorrelated crosslinks. For more general percolation models, which are amenable to a scaling description, it yields the scaling relation $k=\phi-\beta$ for the critical exponent of the shear viscosity. Here $\beta$ is the thermal exponent for the gel fraction and $\phi$ is the crossover exponent of the resistor network. The results on the shear viscosity are also used in deriving upper and lower bounds on the incoherent scattering function in the long-time limit, thereby corroborating previous results.Comment: 34 pages, 2 figures (revtex, amssymb); revised version (minor changes