Occupations and Inequality: Theoretical Perspectives and Mechanisms

People’s occupations are strongly related to multiple dimensions of inequality, such as inequalities in wages, health, autonomy, or risk of temporary employment. The theories and mechanisms linking occupations to these inequalities are subject to debate. We review the recent evidence on the relationship between occupations and inequality and discuss the following four overarching theoretical perspectives: occupations and skills, occupations and tasks, occupations and institutions, and occupations and culture. We show that each perspective has strong implications for how scholars conceptualize occupations and which occupational characteristics are seen as relevant when explaining inequalities. Building on this, we review and critically examine the relevant theories related to and the mechanisms of the relationship between occupation and wage inequality, as an example. We conclude that there is sound empirical knowledge available on the relationships between occupations and inequality; however, some of the mechanisms are still unclear

Semantic Segmentation of Pathological Lung Tissue with Dilated Fully Convolutional Networks

Early and accurate diagnosis of interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) is crucial for making treatment decisions, but can be challenging even for experienced radiologists. The diagnostic procedure is based on the detection and recognition of the different ILD pathologies in thoracic CT scans, yet their manifestation often appears similar. In this study, we propose the use of a deep purely convolutional neural network for the semantic segmentation of ILD patterns, as the basic component of a computer aided diagnosis (CAD) system for ILDs. The proposed CNN, which consists of convolutional layers with dilated filters, takes as input a lung CT image of arbitrary size and outputs the corresponding label map. We trained and tested the network on a dataset of 172 sparsely annotated CT scans, within a cross-validation scheme. The training was performed in an end-to-end and semi-supervised fashion, utilizing both labeled and non-labeled image regions. The experimental results show significant performance improvement with respect to the state of the art

Studying dietary intake in daily life through multilevel two-part modelling: a novel analytical approach and its practical application

Background Understanding which factors influence dietary intake, particularly in daily life, is crucial given the impact diet has on physical as well as mental health. However, a factor might influence whether but not how much an individual eats and vice versa or a factor’s importance may differ across these two facets. Distinguishing between these two facets, hence, studying dietary intake as a dual process is conceptually promising and not only allows further insights, but also solves a statistical issue. When assessing the association between a predictor (e.g. momentary affect) and subsequent dietary intake in daily life through ecological momentary assessment (EMA), the outcome variable (e.g. energy intake within a predefined time-interval) is semicontinuous. That is, one part is equal to zero (i.e. no dietary intake occurred) and the other contains right-skewed positive values (i.e. dietary intake occurred, but often only small amounts are consumed). However, linear multilevel modelling which is commonly used for EMA data to account for repeated measures within individuals cannot be applied to semicontinuous outcomes. A highly informative statistical approach for semicontinuous outcomes is multilevel two-part modelling which treats the outcome as generated by a dual process, combining a multilevel logistic/probit regression for zeros and a multilevel (generalized) linear regression for nonzero values. Methods A multilevel two-part model combining a multilevel logistic regression to predict whether an individual eats and a multilevel gamma regression to predict how much is eaten, if an individual eats, is proposed. Its general implementation in R, a widely used and freely available statistical software, using the R-package brms is described. To illustrate its practical application, the analytical approach is applied exemplary to data from the Eat2beNICE-APPetite-study. Results Results highlight that the proposed multilevel two-part model reveals process-specific associations which cannot be detected through traditional multilevel modelling. Conclusions This paper is the first to introduce multilevel two-part modelling as a novel analytical approach to study dietary intake in daily life. Studying dietary intake through multilevel two-part modelling is conceptually as well as methodologically promising. Findings can be translated to tailored nutritional interventions targeting either the occurrence or the amount of dietary intake

Determining the Enantioselectivity of Chiral Catalysts by Mass Spectrometric Screening of Their Racemic Forms

The enantioselectivity of a chiral catalyst can be determined from its racemic form by mass spectrometric screening of a nonequal mixture of two mass-labeled quasienantiomeric substrates. The presented method opens up new possibilities for evaluating catalyst structures that are not readily available in enantiomerically pure form

Eigenstate Thermalization in 2+1 dimensional SU(2) Lattice Gauge Theory

We present preliminary numerical evidence for the hypothesis that the Hamiltonian SU(2) gauge theory discretized on a lattice obeys the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis (ETH). To do so we study three approximations: (a) a linear plaquette chain in a reduced Hilbert space limiting the electric field basis to $j=0,\frac{1}{2}$ , (b) a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice with periodic or closed boundary condition and the same Hilbert space constraint, and (c) a chain of only three plaquettes but such a sufficiently large electric field Hilbert space ($j \leq \frac{7}{2})$ that convergence of all energy eigenvalues in the analyzed energy window is observed. While an unconstrained Hilbert space is required to reach the continuum limit of SU(2) gauge theory, numerical resource constraints do not permit us to realize this requirement for all values of the coupling constant and large lattices. In each of the three studied cases we check first for random matrix theory (RMT) behavior in the eigenenergy spectrum and then analyze the diagonal as well as the off-diagonal matrix elements between energy eigenstates for a few operators. Within current uncertainties all results for (a), (b) and (c) agree with ETH predictions. Furthermore, we find the off-diagonal matrix elements of the electric energy operator exhibit RMT behavior in frequency windows that are small enough in (b) and (c). To unambiguously establish ETH behavior and determine for which class of operators it applies, an extension of our investigations is necessary.Comment: 18 pages, 27 figures, v2: minor changes, published versio

Microtemporal Dynamics of Dietary Intake, Physical Activity, and Impulsivity in Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Ecological Momentary Assessment Study Within Nutritional Psychiatry

Background: Increasing attention is being paid to lifestyle factors, such as nutrition and physical activity (PA), as potential complementary treatment options in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Previous research indicates that sugar and saturated fat intake may be linked to increased impulsivity, a core symptom of ADHD, whereas protein intake and PA may be related to reduced impulsivity. However, most studies rely on cross-sectional data that lack microtemporal resolution and ecological validity, wherefore questions of microtemporal dynamics (eg, is the consumption of foods high in sugar associated with increased impulsivity within minutes or hours?) remain largely unanswered. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) has the potential to bridge this gap. Objective: This study is the first to apply EMA to assess microtemporal associations among macronutrient intake, PA, and state impulsivity in the daily life of adults with and without ADHD. Methods: Over a 3-day period, participants reported state impulsivity 8 times per day (signal-contingent), recorded food and drink intake (event-contingent), and wore an accelerometer. Multilevel 2-part models were used to study the association among macronutrient intake, PA, and the probability to be impulsive as well as the intensity of impulsivity (ADHD: n=36; control: n=137). Results: No association between macronutrient intake and state impulsivity was found. PA was not related to the intensity of impulsivity but to a higher probability to be impulsive (ADHD: β=−.09, 95% CI −0.14 to −0.04; control: β=−.03, 95% CI −0.05 to −0.01). No evidence was found that the combined intake of saturated fat and sugar amplified the increase in state impulsivity and that PA alleviated the positive association between sugar or fat intake and state impulsivity. Conclusions: Important methodological considerations are discussed that can contribute to the optimization of future EMA protocols. EMA research in the emerging field of nutritional psychiatry is still in its infancy; however, EMA is a highly promising and innovative approach as it offers insights into the microtemporal dynamics of psychiatric symptomology, dietary intake, and PA in daily life

Individual differences in the dietary response to stress in ecological momentary assessment: Does the individual‐difference model need expansion?

According to the individual-difference model, individuals differ in the way stress changes their eating behaviour. Research shows that some increase, some decrease, and others show no change in food intake. Despite numerous efforts to identify moderating variables that explain these individual (i.e., between-person) differences, evidence remains inconclusive. The present study aims at deepening the understanding of the stress and eating relationship by applying ecological momentary assessment to study (1) the influence of stress on whether and how much individuals eat and (2) the moderating role of gender, age, BMI, trait stress-eating, and eating styles. The APPetite-mobile-app was used for 3 days to capture actual food intake (event-contingent) and perceived stress (signal-contingent). Data of 154 healthy adults suggest that stress is not associated with whether but how much individuals eat. Only gender moderated the relationship between stress and the amount of food intake. Individual differences were small indicating that an individual\u27s dietary response to stress might not be as stable as yet assumed. Moreover, a study suggests that time-varying factors (e.g., food availability) moderate the stress and eating relationship. Hence, intraindividual (i.e., within-person) variability may be relevant. Therefore, we propose an expansion of the individual-difference model, which accounts for time-varying factors

Functional, morphologic, and molecular characterization of cold storage injury

ObjectiveCold storage is used to preserve tissue for later transplantation. There is particular interest in prolonging cold storage time for transplantation purposes. To date, the mechanisms that contribute to vascular dysfunction in response to cold storage are poorly understood. The present study aims to characterize cold storage injury of blood vessels on functional and molecular levels.MethodsTo assess vessel function of mouse aorta, isometric force measurements were performed in a Mulvany myograph after cold storage at 4°C for various intervals. Morphologic changes were judged by histologic analysis of aortic cross-sections. To characterize cold storage-induced alterations on RNA levels, microarray analysis with subsequent polymerase chain reaction analysis was performed.ResultsCold storage for 2 days revealed significant impairment of vessel function with respect to potassium-induced vessel tone development and acetylcholine-induced vessel relaxation. Detailed analysis of acetylcholine-mediated vascular response using specific pharmacologic blockers revealed that calcium-activated potassium channels seem to be impaired after 2 days of cold storage. At this point, no severe histologic changes (eg, elastic fiber disruption) were visible. RNA expression of 24 genes was significantly changed due to cold storage even after 2 hours. These include genes associated with vessel tone development (prostaglandin E3 receptor), cardiovascular function (adiponectin), electron transport chain (uncoupling protein 1), or calcium signaling (protein kinase A regulatory subunit 2b).ConclusionsLong-term cold storage impairs vascular function, especially with respect to potassium signaling by calcium-dependent potassium channels. Microarray analysis confirmed impairment of pathways that are involved in calcium signaling and vascular function. Furthermore, various genes were significantly altered even after 2 hours, significantly before functional impairment was observed.Clinical RelevanceIn bypass surgery, vessels are stored ex situ for <2 hours and for vessel banking for up to 48 hours during decontamination before cryopreservation. We investigated the onset of storage-induced alterations. The experiments reveal various genes were altered significantly, even within the first 2 hours of cold storage. This is of major importance, because of the time delay between regulation of messenger RNA and protein level and functional consequences. The alterations described here on the molecular level occur before any alterations on morphologic or functional levels are obvious. These molecular alterations, however, may affect later graft function

Nintendo Wii Remote Controller in Higher Education: Development and Evaluation of a Demonstrator Kit for e-Teaching

The increasing availability of game based technologies together with advances in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and usability engineering provides new challenges and opportunities to virtual environments in the context of e-Teaching. Consequently, an evident trend is to offer learners with the equivalent of practical learning experiences, whilst supporting creativity for both teachers and learners. Current market surveys showed surprisingly that the Wii remote controller (Wiimote) is more widely spread than standard PCs and is the most used computer input device worldwide, which given its collection of sensors, accelerometers and bluetooth technology, makes it of great interest for HCI experiments in e-Learning/e-Teaching. In this paper we discuss the importance of gestures for teaching and describe the design and development of a low-cost demonstrator kit based on Wiimote enhancing the quality of the lecturing with gestures