Three essays in labor and health economics

This Dissertation is primarily focused on the study of U.S. workforce trends. Research over the past fifty years, with respect to the choices that individuals make in terms of maximizing their own well-being, has covered several areas. Additionally, the legal climate has changed dramatically over this time period and research in this area has covered the possible effects on economic outcomes, including an individual\u27s well-being. The first essay focuses on the trend in trade union membership in the U.S. over the last few decades. We revisit what is known as the government substitution hypothesis which basically addresses the question of why trade union membership has fallen on average for more than 50 years. After testing for and finding support to use the fixed effects model, we find evidence that supports the government substitution hypothesis. The second essay observes the choices that registered nurses in Louisiana are making. Specifically, we model the educational and occupational choices of registered nurses in this state and attempt to gain an inference on how their choice toward occupations might change when their choice on education has changed. We find supporting evidence that the likelihood that a registered nurse will be in a staff nurse position decreases when the registered nurse invests in additional units of human capital after controlling for potential experience. We also find that salary positively affects the choices of these registered nurses who have invested in additional units of human capital relative to those registered nurses who have not invested in additional units of human capital. The third essay analyzes state level data over time to model the supply and demand factors that affect the likelihood that a state will move away from the common law interpretation of the employment-at-will doctrine and recognize any of the three main exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine. Using the fixed effects probit model, we are able to confirm a number of our hypotheses on the supply and demand factors that affect the likelihood of a state recognizing any of the three main exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine

Fabric anisotropy & DEM informed two-surface hyperplasticity : constitutive formulation, asymptotic states & experimental validation.

In geotechnical analysis continuum idealisations of the bulk material still provide the most appropriate approach for engineers designing large-scale structures. In this area, the most successful framework for describing the behaviour of soils is Critical State (CS) soil mechanics. However, the findings from discrete element method (DEM) analysis, such as the uniqueness of the CS, can provide invaluable information in the development such models. This paper details the key concepts behind a two-surface hyperplasticity model (?) whose development was informed by recent DEM findings on the uniqueness of the CS. Asymptotic states of the model will be confirmed and the DEM-continuum-experimental loop will be closed through comparison of the developed model with experimental data on coarse-grained particulate media. This will demonstrate, that providing the previous stress history is accounted for, the proposed model is suitable for a variety of particulate media

Magnetization of 2-G Coils and Artificial Bulks

The use of (Re)BCO is limited by the problems of magnetization/demagnetization. (Re)BCO is available in many forms, but two of the most interesting for high magnetic field applications are 2-G tape and bulks (either or as grown or manufactured artificially using 2-G tapes). The minimum joint resistance that can be achieved between YBCO tapes is on the order of 100 nΩ, but this is still too large to operate coils in persistent mode. Bulks have potential to act as very high field magnets, but in order to do this, they need to be magnetized. This paper describes flux pumping methods, which can be used to charge either coils or bulks.This is the accepted manuscript. The final published version is available from IEEE at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=6845330. © 2014 IEEE

Exploiting benefits from IS/IT investments: an IT culture perspective

Despite huge global spend on IS/IT, empirical evidence shows many of these investments do not deliver expected benefits. Benefits are realized when organizations attend to contextual factors surrounding the implementation of IT and not just its technical implementation. Culture, as a contextual factor, has been shown to have a strong influence on the way IS/IT is adopted, used and exploited. We draw from IS organizational culture studies to show how individual/group IT cultures (IT culture archetypes) offer a user-centric perspective on benefits exploitation from IS/IT investments. The majority of benefits are achieved later into the lifecycle of an IS/IT investment, after implementing the IS/IT resource. Thus, this study investigates post adoption experience of an organization's IS/IT investment, an important systems lifecycle stage that has received less attention in the IS literature. We adopt a single in-depth case study approach incorporating a three stage mixed data collection strategy. From a theoretical perspective, IT culture offers an intuitive approach to address IS/IT benefits management challenges during the post-adoption stage. From a practitioner perspective, we believe findings from this study, will offer several managerial implications for business and IT managers on specific actions to realize greater benefits from their IS/IT investments

The provision of family-centred intensive care bereavement support in Australia and New Zealand: Results of a cross sectional explorative descriptive survey.

BACKGROUND: Caring for the bereaved is an intrinsic part of intensive care practice with family bereavement support an important aspect of the nursing role at end of life. However, reporting on provision of intensive care family bereavement support at a national level has not been well reported since an Australian paper published ten years ago. OBJECTIVES: The objective was to investigate provision of family bereavement support in intensive care units (ICU) across New Zealand (NZ) and Australia. METHOD: A cross-sectional exploratory descriptive web-based survey was used. All ICUs [public/private, neonatal/pediatrics/adults] were included. The survey was distributed to one nursing leader from each identified ICU (n=229; 188 in Australia, 41 in NZ). Internal validity of the survey was established through piloting. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. Ethical approval was received by the ethics committees of two universities. RESULTS: One-hundred and fifty-three (67%) responses were received from across New Zealand and Australia with 69.3% of respondents from the public sector. Whilst respondents reported common bereavement practices to include debriefing for staff after a traumatic death (87.9%), there was greater variation in sending a sympathy card to families (NZ 54.2%, Australia 20.8%). Fifty percent of responding New Zealand units had a bereavement follow-up service compared to 28.3% of Australian unit respondents. Of those with follow-up services, 92.3% of New Zealand units undertook follow-up calls to families compared to 76.5% of Australian units. Bereavement follow-up services were mainly managed by social workers in Australia and nursing staff in New Zealand. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first Australia and New Zealand-wide survey on ICU bereavement support services. Whilst key components of family bereavement support remain consistent over the past decade, there were fewer bereavement follow-up services in responding Australian ICUs in 2015. As a quality improvement initiative, support for this area of family care remains important with rigorous evaluation essential

Redefining the patient-carer model at end of life.

CONTEXT: While the patient-carer dyad has been broadly described, there is little exploration of patient-carer models in use. AIM: To explore types of patient-carer models in use for those with advanced and progressive disease. METHODS: Qualitative interviews were undertaken with patients at risk of dying in the next year and their carers across three sites (residential care home, medical assessment unit, general medical unit). Thematic analysis was undertaken. RESULTS: Four patient-carer models were identified. In these, the provision of care and of coordination of care services were important areas and organised differently across the patient, the carer, and alternative sources of support. CONCLUSION: A 'one size fits all' patient-carer model is outdated and a new understanding of different types of patient-carer models are required to fully inform care delivered at end of life

The challenges in caring for morbidly obese patients in Intensive Care: A focused ethnographic study

publisher: Elsevier articletitle: The challenges in caring for morbidly obese patients in Intensive Care: A focused ethnographic study journaltitle: Australian Critical Care articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aucc.2017.02.070 content_type: article copyright: © 2017 Australian College of Critical Care Nurses Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Family centred care before and during life-sustaining treatment withdrawal in intensive care: A survey of information provided to families by Australasian critical care nurses

publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Family centred care before and during life-sustaining treatment withdrawal in intensive care: A survey of information provided to families by Australasian critical care nurses journaltitle: Australian Critical Care articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aucc.2016.08.006 content_type: article copyright: © 2016 Australian College of Critical Care Nurses Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The effects of myopic orthokeratology on intraocular pressure

Twelve orthokeratology patients were studied to determine whether myopic orthokeratology treatments had an effect on intraocular pressure. It was our hypothesis that myopic orthokeratology would have no significant effect on intraocular pressure. The patients were fit in the OK-3 design lens and re-evaluated each week for changes in intraocular pressure using a Goldmann applanation tonometer. The results of this study indicated that the null hypothesis was accepted. Although it was indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between pre- and post-treatment lOP measurements, we feel that this variation is well within the normal range for Goldmann applanation. The literature suggests that the following factors can cause variation in Goldmann lOP measurements: measurement technique, physiological and anatomical status of the eye and diurnal variation

Selective binding of the scavenger receptor C-type lectin to Lewisx trisaccharide and related glycan ligands

The scavenger receptor C-type lectin (SRCL) is an endothelial receptor that is similar in organization to type A scavenger receptors for modified low density lipoproteins but contains a C-type carbohydrate-recognition domain (CRD). Fragments of the receptor consisting of the entire extracellular domain and the CRD have been expressed and characterized. The extracellular domain is a trimer held together by collagen-like and coiled-coil domains adjacent to the CRD. The amino acid sequence of the CRD is very similar to the CRD of the asialoglycoprotein receptor and other galactose-specific receptors, but SRCL binds selectively to asialo-orosomucoid rather than generally to asialoglycoproteins. Screening of a glycan array and further quantitative binding studies indicate that this selectivity results from high affinity binding to glycans bearing the Lewis(x) trisaccharide. Thus, SRCL shares with the dendritic cell receptor DC-SIGN the ability to bind the Lewis(x) epitope. However, it does so in a fundamentally different way, making a primary binding interaction with the galactose moiety of the glycan rather than the fucose residue. SRCL shares with the asialoglycoprotein receptor the ability to mediate endocytosis and degradation of glycoprotein ligands. These studies suggest that SRCL might be involved in selective clearance of specific desialylated glycoproteins from circulation and/or interaction of cells bearing Lewis(x)-type structures with the vascular endothelium