A Cross-National Analysis of the Gender Pay Gap: National Perceptions and Contradictory Effects on Women's Status

This project analyzed and predicted the economic inequality problem of women with respect to sociological context among four different OECD countries by comparing men's wage and women's wages in terms of their education level, cultural background, and social relation. The index data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) was used to analyze the gender pay gap among four typical OECD countries. I used the Ordinary Least Square method to examine what factors have contributed to their wage gaps. First, quantitative approaches to the gender wage gap on the general population and in higher education, showed that higher education mostly lessens the gender pay gap. However, those closing gaps differ by countries, and this research analyzed four states with its perception of success factors, marriage, and professional occupations. It gives an intuitive understanding of the general trend in the gender pay gap among OECD countries and how it relates to their perceptions.Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Scholarship (URS)No embargoAcademic Major: EconomicsAcademic Major: Sociolog

Wynn Resorts, Ltd.

Wynn Resorts, Ltd. ( Wynn Resorts ), established in 2002, is an international corporat ion, providing the luxurious casino resorts destinations in two areas: Las Vegas and Macau. A total of four properties offers casino and non-casino services including rooms, F&B, entertainment, meetings, retail outlets and otbers. The company generates approximately 70% of revenues from casino and Macau properties. The company sets up several subsidiaries to operate business more effectively and retains the most influential person, Steve Wynn, in the casino resorts business. The maturity of the casino resorts varies based on the region: the US market is in the mature stage and the Asian market is in the growth stage (IBIS World. 2011; Samadi. 2011: Wynn ResOl1s, Ltd 20 11 a), Most of the general external environmental issues - global, environmental, economic, socia-cultural, political and legal issues - strongly affect the casino resorts, while demographic and technological issues do not strongly affect this business. Based on the business maturity and the nature of the casino resorts, the threat ofrivalry shows a moderately strong position and the threat of new entrants shows a moderate position. Also, the power of supplier and buyer does not strongly affect the casino resorts business, while the threat of substitutes shows a moderate position in this business. The company shows a strong position in product and price. However, a limited geographical distribution and generous promotion lead the company\u27s overall marketing position to moderately strong. Also, an unfavorable solvency condition gives rise to the company\u27s finance position as moderately strong. However, due to the renovation of the rooms, its short history, many awards, and various partnerships, Wynn Resorts shows strong in the physical and partnership position. A recent change of the president in Las Vegas properties, the lack of the successor of Mr. Wynn, and the reduction of the number of employees tum the company\u27s organization and human resources position into moderate, but the company\u27s innovative movement and a good reputation result in the company\u27s current market position (Benston, 20 I I: Finnegan, 20 11; Wynn Resorts. Ltd., 201 Oe, 2011 a). Compared with two closest competitors, Las Vegas Sands Corp. and MOM Resorts International, Wynn Resorts shows a stronger position in product, price, the assets utilization and reputation, which are called distinctive competencies. Considering the sustainabi lity of the di stinctive competencies, only good reputation is said to be a sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) of the company. However, I believe that the reputation is very sensitive to be damaged, so that the company should be very careful to keep it sustainable in the long-term. In addition, from the above analysis, I conclude that Wynn Resorts is in a favorable position in the market (Las Vegas Sands Corp .. 201 1; MGM Resorts International, 20 11 ; Wynn Resort, Ltd., 20 11 a). From the beginning of the business, the company sticks to the global broad differentiation strategy and mainly implements the organic growth, along with forming several strategic alliances and ajoint-venture. The profitable financial performance, a good reputation. and the customers\u27 perception to Wynn Resorts may prove that these strategies, which the company adopted, work effectively for the business success (.l inks, 20 11 ; Wynn Resorts, Ltd 2003, 2004, 201Ia,201Ib). For the future success, I suggest that the company keep basic strategies, the global and the broad differentiation, aggressively expand its business through the organic growth and other partnerships. Also, the company needs to maintain the SCA. the reputation, more sustainable through executing the green movement and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Making organization more stable and strong is necessary for the business prosperity

Becoming Gentrifier/d: Aesthetics, Subjectivities, and Rhythms of Gentrification in Seoul, South Korea

Gentrification has been extensively studied beyond Euro-American societies. In particular, previous research of Seoul’s residential gentrification has broadened our understanding of the role of the developmental state and property speculation in urban clearance and renewal. However, little attention has been paid to the contemporary retail gentrification in Seoul that has different aesthetics, subjectivities, and rhythms compared to residential gentrification. In retail gentrification, old urban neighborhoods are no longer demolished but cherished with their nostalgic landscapes and atmospheres. In this context, this dissertation project explores Seochon, a gentrifying neighborhood in Seoul, that was designated as a cultural heritage site in 2010. Since then, this previously underdeveloped neighborhood has become a famous tourist destination for urban adventurers who desire authentic objects, places, and experiences. Combining ethnographic and archival research, this project examines how the cultural politics around authenticity entwine with historic preservation and retail gentrification. Specifically, I address three questions: 1) how the hyperreal simulacra of the past aesthetically assemble Seochon as an authentic urban village, 2) how the fantasy of authenticity endlessly renews the desire for something more authentic while sustaining the paradoxical subjectivities of gentrification, and 3) how the in-betweens on the topological edge of the gentrifier/gentrified embody and enact gentrification in and through the heterogeneous space-times of Seochon. Consequently, the project opens new political possibilities to challenge gentrification-induced displacements by demystifying their physical and psychological processes. In doing so, this project contributes to more nuanced perspectives on Seoul’s gentrification, which has been predominantly identified with state-led, residential urban renewal. At the same time, the project engages with epistemological and ontological limitations in previous gentrification studies through the poststructural lenses of Baudrillard, Lacan, and Deleuze. Specifically, I dismantle the dualistic ideas of good/bad, authentic/inauthentic, and gentrifier/gentrified by analyzing the ever-changing rhythms of gentrification and displacement. Indeed, the paradoxical subjects of gentrification continue to decenter their subjectivities and distort the dynamics of displacement. Thus, they are virtually/actually in-betweens as they become gentrifier and simultaneously gentrified (gentrifier/d). This reconceptualization of ambivalent and mobile subjectivities highlights differences within and beyond the monstrously imagined gentrification while disclosing the potential for the fight against it from its sponge-like inside. Furthermore, this project empirically demonstrates this theoretical reframing based on 13 months of qualitative fieldwork and 47 interviews with 50 participants. I illustrate how the subjects of gentrification place themselves in Seochon by reinventing authenticity and displacing their imagined (in)authentic selves/others. Throughout various cultural politics around what authentic Seochon is, the subjects were ‘becoming gentrifier/d.’ I was one of them as I occupied everyday spaces of the neighborhood, interviewed old-timers and newcomers, participated in a local foodie community, and worked at a hipster-oriented restaurant as a server. Drawing on this autoethnography, the project uncovers the fantasy of authenticity as well as the heterogeneous space-times of gentrification, which are built upon people’s desires, imaginations, embodiments, and performances, including my own. Ultimately, this theoretical and empirical revisit enables us to mirror ourselves onto gentrification and to bear our responsibility in challenging the gentrification-induced displacements that we create

Analysis of the effect of initial conditions on the initial development of a turbulent jet

The effect of the initial condition at the jet exit on the downstream evolution, particularly within the potential core length, were numerically investigated as well as with available experimental data. In order to select the most dependable computational model for the present numerical experiment, a comparative study has been performed with different turbulence models at k-epsilon level, and it was found that the k-epsilon-gammma model yields superior prediction accuracy over other conventional models. The calculated results show that the potential core length and the spreading rate the initial mixing layer are dependent on the initial length scale as well as the turbulent kinetic energy at the jet exit. Such effect of the initial length scale increases with higher initial turbulence level. An empirical parameter has been devised to collapse the calculated data of the potential core length and the spreading rate with various initial conditions onto a single curve

Infrared-Mediated Drug Elution Activity of Gold Nanorod-Grafted TiO 2

The purpose of this research was to prepare gold nanorod- (GNR-) grafted TiO2 nanotubes by thiolactic acid treatment and evaluate remote-controlled drug elution and antibacterial activity by infrared (IR) light irradiation. Tetracycline used as an antibiotic was loaded into GNR-grafted TiO2 nanotubes by using 2 w/v% polylactic acid solutions. A near-IR laser (830 nm) was used for remote-controlled IR light irradiation. Results of SEM, TEM, XRD, and EDX revealed that GNR chemically bonded to the whole surface of the TiO2 nanotubes. An antibiotic release test revealed that on-off drug elution was triggered effectively by the photothermal effect of GNR grafted on TiO2 nanotubes. Furthermore, an antibacterial agar zone test indicated that the annihilated zone of Streptococcus mutans in the experimental group with IR light irradiation was significantly larger than that of the corresponding group without IR light irradiation (P<0.05). Therefore, GNR-grafted TiO2 nanotubes would be expected to extend the limited usage of TiO2, which show photocatalytic activity only within the ultraviolet (UV) to IR region, thereby allowing the development of novel fusion technologies in the field of implant materials

Ultralow noise optical pulse generation in an actively mode-locked quantum-dot semiconductor laser

We report excellent noise performance of an external-cavity actively mode-locked laser based on quantum-dot gain medium. Optical pulse trains with less than 7.5 fs residual timing jitter (1 Hz to 10 MHz) for a 12.8 GHz harmonically mode-locked ring laser were obtained. This result represents, to our knowledge, the lowest residual jitter reported from actively mode-locked semiconductor lasers, and shows that quantum-dot mode-locked lasers are promising as sources of ultralow noise optical pulse trains

Tailored stereotactic radiotherapy technique using deep inspiration breath-hold to reduce stomach dose for cardiac radioablation

PURPOSE: To provide a new insight on a novel safe cardiac radioablation using deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) to reduce gastrointestinal dose. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For treating incessant ventricular tachycardia (VT) originated from left ventricle inferior scar abutting the stomach, a target delineation and treatment planning for cardiac radioablation was performed. With four different computed tomography (CT) scan protocols-DIBH, full expiration breath-hold, four-dimensional (4D) CT without and with abdominal compression, the distances between the target and the stomach were compared. RESULTS: Among the protocols, the CT scan with DIBH showed largest distance between the target and the stomach and selected for the treatment planning. The prescribed dose was 25 Gy in a single fraction, and satisfactory dosimetric parameters were achieved with the DIBH. The patient was successfully treated with the DIBH, and experienced no acute toxicity. CONCLUSION: To gain the best benefit from cardiac radioablation, understanding the possible toxicity in the adjacent organs is crucial. By moving the heart with thoraco-diaphragmatic movement by DIBH, the target could be physically separated from the stomach