Graduating to a Pay Gap: The Earnings of Women and Men One Year After College Graduation

Nearly 50 years after the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, women continue to earnless than men do in nearly every occupation.Because pay is a fundamental part of everyday life, enabling individuals to support themselves and their families, the pay gap evokes passionate debate. Although the data confirming the persistence of the pay gap are incontrovertible,the reasons behind the gap remain the subject ofcontroversy. Do women earn less because they make different choices than men do? Does discrimination play a role? What other issues might be involved?This report explores the pay gap between male and female college graduates working full time one year after graduation.You might expect the pay gap between men and women in this group of workers of similar age,education, and family responsibilities to be small or nonexistent. But in 2009 -- the most recent year for which data are available -- women one year out of college who were working full time earned, on average, just 82 percent of what their male peers earned. After we control for hours, occupation, college major, employment sector,and other factors associated with pay, the pay gap shrinks but does not disappear. About one third of the gap cannot be explained by any of the factors commonly understood to affect earnings, indicating that other factors that are more difficult to identify -- and likely more difficult to measure -- contribute to the pay gap

Drug Resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae (DRSP) in the Maltese Islands

The DRSP prevalence rate for the Maltese Islands was investigated. Consecutive samples were obtained, both from adults and children, from September 2000 through April 2002. Penicillin-intermediately-resistant isolates amounted to 27%, erythromycin-resistant isolates 31%, and clindamycin-resistant isolates 19%. The oxacillin disk was found to be an effective screening method for the detection of penicillin resistance. An association was found in patients who had DRSP, as well as diabetes and/ or cardiovascular disease. Finally, an investigation of the local antibiotic consumptions over the period 1997-2000, for the National Health Service was conducted. The highest consumption rates were obtained with co-amoxiclav, amoxicillin, erythromycin, cephalexin and ciprofloxacin. The results obtained here call for more judicious use of antibiotics. In addition, the setting up of a local DRSP surveillance unit is mandatory. Moreover, the use of molecular techniques to investigate specific genes, such as ermAM and mefE associated with macrolide-resistance, should be introduced as part of investigational laboratory work.peer-reviewe

Evaluation of kisspeptin in the mare

2010 Summer.Includes bibliographic references (pages 131-161).Identified in 2003 for their role in reproductive physiology, kisspeptins have become major players in the field of reproductive neuroendocrinology. With the ability to act as a central regulator for the onset of reproductive function in prepubertal and seasonal animals, the possibility that kisspeptin signaling could be used to modify seasonal reproductive function in the horse held great promise. My hypothesis was that kisspeptin, acting via a hypothalamic signaling mechanism to stimulate the GnRH neuron, could initiate reproductive function in the horse. The initial objectives of these studies were to (1) establish biological and physiological evidence for kisspeptin signaling in the hypothalamus of the mare, (2) demonstrate peripheral administration of kisspeptin could elicit a rise in serum luteinizing hormone (LH) concentrations in the diestrous mare, and (3) demonstrate that kisspeptin, acting via LH, could induce ovulation in the estrous mare. The diestrous mare has kisspeptin immunoreactive neurons in the hypothalamus that are in close proximity to Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone (GnRH) neurons. At the time of these initial studies, the equine sequence for the kisspeptin decapeptide (Kp-10) was not yet available; therefore, I utilized the rodent Kp-10 (rKp-10, YNWNSFGLRY-NH2). Even though I was using a heterologous ligand, the diestrous mare was responsive to administration of rKp-10 (0.5 and 1.0 mg) such that there was a short (< 1 hour), but significant (2-fold) rise in circulating levels of LH and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) after kisspeptin administration. I was also able to establish a threshold dose for kisspeptin responsiveness in the diestrous mare as there was no change in serum gonadotropin levels following a 1.0 μg dose of rKp-10. In the estrous mare, a single injection of 1.0 mg rKp-10 IV was unable to induce ovulation (173), presumably due to the short duration of the kisspeptin induced LH surge as compared to the 3-5 day endogenous peri-ovulatory LH surge (306). To understand the dynamic of kisspeptin signaling to the hypothalamus and the anterior pituitary gland, I sought to determine the effect of treating mares with repeated injection of kisspeptide in diestrus and estrus. If the future of kisspeptin in the horse involves the use of modified agonists or antagonists, it will be necessary to understand how the mare responds to repeated stimulation with kisspeptin. Before beginning these studies, the equine sequence for Kp-I0 (eKp-10, YRWNSFGLRY-NH2) had become available. Therefore, I used the homologous peptide for these studies. By treating mares with eKp-10 (0.5 mg IV every 4 hours), the hypothalamus and pituitary gland were repeatedly stimulated to elicit a GnRH and gonadotropin response. Repeated administration of kisspeptin in the diestrous mare is not able to sustain a 2-fold increase in LH concentration for 48 hours following the initial injection. Interestingly, kisspeptin caused a decrease in basal LH, but not FSH levels, indicating a decrease in LH synthesis or secretion via a pituitary effect. Although the mare does not exhibit a change in peripheral LH levels following eKp-10 if a GnRH antagonist (e.g. Antide) has been administered, I sought some evidence for kisspeptin signaling directly to the anterior pituitary. To support the idea of a direct pituitary effect of kisspeptin, I challenged primary pituitary cells in culture with 100 nM GnRH and 100 nM of eKp-10. Surprisingly, I identified three populations of cells that respond with a change in intracellular calcium concentration and grouped them as follows: cells that responded to (1) both GnRH and eKp-l0, (2) only GnRH, or (3) only eKp-10. The identification of gonadotrope and non-gonadotrope kisspeptin responsive pituitary cells is the first evidence for a direct mechanism for kisspeptin signaling at the level of the equine pituitary gland. In the estrous mare, repeated administration of eKp-10 is not able to shorten the interval to ovulation whether it is administered before or after the development of a dominant follicle. Another surprising finding was a significant decrease in sexual receptivity in mares within 48 hours of beginning treatment with kisspeptin, which is likely due to a decrease in estradiol synthesis by the maturing follicle. Given the lack of ovulation induction in the estrous mare and the changes in behavioral receptivity, I do not recommend the use of kisspeptin as an ovulation inducing agent at this time. However, there was no decrease in basal LH levels in the estrous mares. Thus, kisspeptin may be signaling via different mechanisms in the estrous vs. diestrous mare. In summary, these studies do provide evidence for kisspeptin signaling in the mare, but they reveal that the signaling mechanism in the horse may be more complex than my original hypothesis of a simple, linear process that is working only through the GnRH neuron

Conformity and Persuasion: The Moderating Roles of Interpersonal Closeness and Interaction Partner Sex

Research suggests that males are more persuasive than females (Carli, 1989; Cross, Brown, Morgan, & Laland, 2016). Additionally, research supports that interpersonal closeness facilitates persuasiveness (Thomas & Weigert, 1971). This experiment examines the effect of both persuader’s sex and feelings of closeness on persuasiveness. Participants interacted with a confederate through an online chatroom and completed a modified version of the Relationship Closeness Induction Task (Aron, Melinat, Aron, Vallone, & Bator, 1997). After rating perceptions of closeness with the confederate, participants entered a group chat with two more confederates in addition to the interaction partner in which they discussed a mandatory fee increase. The first two discussion group members were against the fee increase, whereas the participant’s interaction partner was in support of the increase. Similar to what was done in the experiment by Asch (1951), participants publicly expressed their level of support last. Participants then privately rated their level of support for the proposal on a post-interaction questionnaire on which they also answered other questions about their experience. The manipulation check main effect was significant, F(1, 45) = 21.00, p \u3c .001, η2 = .32, with participants in the closeness condition reporting that they felt closer to participants than in they did in the casual condition. There was no significant main effect of closeness [F(1, 43) = .004, p = .95, η2 = .00] or sex of the interaction partner [F(1, 43) = .14, p = .71, η2 = .00] on support for the fee increase for closeness. The interaction between sex of the interaction partner and closeness approached significance F(1, 43) = 3.83, p = .057, η2 = .08. ANCOVAs were also conducted controlling for three variables. Experimental issues and future directions are discussed

Design and Implementation of a Groundwater Monitoring System for Faskin Ranch, Hudspeth County, Texas

I designed and installed two databases that will be used for the monitoring data from the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Facility. The databases were designed to meet two criteria: 1) easy access to data and the references from which they had been collected and 2) easy input of monitoring data from wells on and off the facility site for comparison of background levels. I also designed a protocol data sheet to be coupled with the hydrologic monitoring database. Data from these sheets can be easily recorded and subsequently inputted into the database for comparison of data, such as water levels, in order to show trends in the data as a result of operation of the waste site. Additionally, I constructed maps of the low-level facility area and the areas surrounding the site. These maps included: an area base map, and maps of the potentiometric surface, ground-water flow paths, chemical facies, and total dissolved solids concentrations. These maps can be used as background references for water levels, dominant chemical facies, and total dissolved solids concentrations, and later refined to portray any changes in these values. Finally, I was also involved with assessing how the Panhandle Groundwater District #3 assigns water level depletions to properties and developing a more rigorous method for doing this. This involved examining hydrographs from several counties in the Panhandle to determine large fluctuations in water levels from wells and the relationship between the assigned depletions and the actual measured and average levels that have been measured and assigned by the PGWD #3.Geological Science