Regional wage convergence and divergence: adjusting wages for cost-of- living differences

An examination of the divergence of U.S. regional fortunes in the early 1980s, showing that once regional prices are factored in, relative wage rates continue to converge across regions. The trend in regional wage variation is also shown to be attributable to declining differences in labor market valuations of worker attributes, rather than to shifts in the regional composition of the workforce.Wages ; Regional economics

Identifying amenity and productivity cities using wage and rent differentials

An explanation of how regional wage and rent differentials can be used to classify metropolitan areas according to their amenity and productivity characteristics.Wages ; Cities and towns

Identifying productivity and amenity effects in interurban wage differentials

This study focuses on the relative importance of amenity and productivity differences in determining wage differentials across urban areas. The approach developed takes advantage of the connection between land and labor market clearing conditions required for locational equilibrium of households and firms. Data on recent movers are used to estimate equilibrium wages and rents for a sample of metropolitan areas. This information is then used to identify amenity and productivity components of wages for each city in the sample. Using national estimates of the relative share of land in consumption and production, differences in productivity and amenities are found to be roughly equal sources of wage variation across the sample.Wages ; Labor supply

Is Rolapitant Effective in Reducing the Incidence of Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting (CINV) in Patients Receiving Emetogenic Chemotherapy?

Objective: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not rolapitant is safe and effective in reducing the incidence of chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) in patients receiving emetogenic chemotherapy. Study Design: This review is based on three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) all published in 2015. The studies compared the safety and efficacy of rolapitant in decreasing the incidence of CINV. Data Sources: All articles used were published in English, in peer-reviewed journals, and found using PubMed and the Cochrane Review database. Outcomes Measured: All included studies measured the safety and efficacy of rolapitant on CINV. Specifically, studies evaluated incidence of emesis, use of rescue medications, and clinically significant nausea based on patient reporting in a study diary and answers to a studyspecific questionnaire. Results: Rapoport et al.1 found statistical significance (p = 0.032) in the effectiveness of rolapitant in reducing CINV in the overall phase. Rapoport et al.2 also found statistical significance of this (p = 0.0013) as well as Schwartzberg et al.3 (p = 0.0012). In the two studies conducted by Rapoport et al. it was found that rolapitant achieved statistical significance in achieving a CR in the acute, delayed, and overall phases. In Schwartzberg et al.3 rolapitant did not achieve a significant response in the acute phase but it did in the delayed phase. Overall rolapitant was well tolerated and any mild side effects were presumed to be a result of the underlying malignancy or the chemotherapy. Conclusions: Results of all 3 studies included indicate that prophylactic 180mg rolapitant is effective in reducing the incidence of CINV in patients receiving either moderately or highly emetogenic chemotherapy. Since all three studies used concomitant 5-HT3 receptor antagonists, further studies are warranted to prove the benefit of rolapitant as monotherapy. The question of the effectiveness of rolapitant as compared to others in its same class (NK-1 receptor antagonists) remains as well

School Mental Health Professionals\u27 Experiences of Hurricane Katrina Evacuees: A Phenomenological Approach

Abstract The need for increased training in the area of trauma and crisis intervention has been the subject of discussion in the literature (Mathai, 2002) and in the creation of new training standards (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs [CACREP], 2009). With an increasing number of challenges facing children today, school mental health professionals are positioned to be among the first to intervene on their behalf (Campbell & Dahir, 1997; Paisley & McMahon, 2002). In order for interventions to be successful, school mental health professionals must be able to recognize the signs of trauma (Canada, Heath, Money, Annadale, Fischer & Young, 2007), educate the important adults in children’s lives (Capuzzi & Gross, 2004) , and act in a holistic manner to accommodate the mental health needs of their students (Pederson & Carey, 2003). When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States, approximately 200,000 students were forced to enroll in schools in other states (Department of Homeland Security, 2008). This study examined 12 school mental health professionals’ experiences with these evacuated students. Using Creswell’s (2007) phenomenological framework for understanding the school mental health professionals’ lived experiences, this study sought to illuminate issues related to training and supporting school mental health professionals so that they are equipped to support students in crisis. The results of this study fall under six themes: Systemic Factors in Perception of Job Efficacy, Culture and Community, Retelling of Story and Sequence, Role of the School Mental Health Professional in their work with Evacuated Students, Training and Preparation, and Lessons Learned. Implications for these themes are discussed

Photosynthetic Characterization of Invasive Plant Diversity in Los Angeles County from 1830-2010

The increase in atmospheric CO2 levels due to climate change may greatly impact invasive plant species, which are non-native organisms that spread unchecked in space and negatively impact native organisms. The success of these invasives may be related to specific traits, such as their photosynthetic pathway. We acquired the specimen information for invasive species registered in the Consortium for California Herbaria of the University of California Berkeley to evaluate the community dynamics of 1,000 invasive species in Los Angeles County. We found that both diversity and richness of invasive plant species has increased over a period of 180 years. We hypothesize that the pattern of occurrence of a given photosynthetic pathway may correspond with historical increases in atmospheric CO2 concentrations, therein favoring invasives with a C3 photosynthetic strategy. We utilized the primary literature to identify the photosynthetic pathway for all of the invasive plant species in our database, then used curve-fitting techniques to evaluate the change in richness for C3, C4, and CAM. We found evidence to support that C3 invasives were indeed favored over C4 and CAM. We are currently examining stomatal densities of historical specimens in order to link this finding to CO2 levels. If stomatal densities of these C3 invasives has decreased, they have been responding to increased CO2, supporting our hypothesis

The heats of combustion of some rare-earth metals

A bomb calorimeter for measuring the heats of combustion of neodymium, samarium, gadolinium and erbium is described. The heats of combustion of these metals and the heats of formation of their oxides are reported

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority: Compressed Natural Gas Transit Bus Evaluation

Evaluates compressed natural gas (CNG) powered transit buses at Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), providing a comparison between them and standard diesel transit buses

New York City Transit Hybrid and CNG Transit Buses: Interim Evaluation Results

This report focuses on the evaluation of compressed natural gas (CNG) and diesel hybrid electric bus propulsion systems in New York City Transit's transit buses