Determining the Effect of the Minimum Wage on Income Inequality

Many recent studies have shown a significant increase to income inequality since the 1980s. One of the proposed methods for fixing this trend is to increase the minimum wage, since this policy would help those at the low end of the income spectrum to see economic growth. To analyze the effectiveness of this policy, we studied data from countries that are part of the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation. By forming an econometric model to account for many factors that affect income inequality in nations around the world, including the real value of the minimum wage, we can determine the relationship and provide recommendations for future policy. We conclude that increases to the minimum wage can cause a decrease to income inequality until the minimum wage exceeds a maximum effectiveness value, at which point the effect starts to reverse itself. [excerpt

Do Living Wages alter the Effect of the Minimum Wage on Income Inequality?

Anker (2006) proposed a new methodology for calculating the living wage in countries around the world. By looking at OECD nations between 2000-2010, we look to see if countries with a national minimum wage higher than this living wage value see a notable difference in the effect of the minimum wage on income inequality. Our results show that countries with the minimum wage higher than the living wage value do see lower inequality, although there is a key value of the minimum wage, at which countries start to see disemployment effects that increase inequality

Trade Unions and Industrial Injury in Great Britain

Anecdotal evidence suggests that trade unions succeed in ameliorating workplace health and safety, but no attempt has been made to link specific workplace injury rates with a respective union presence. Relying on WERS98, this paper establishes a cross-sectional link between trade unions and occupational injury rates, revealing that unions gravitate to accident-prone workplaces and react by reducing injury rates within these types of employment units. However, the ability for unions to reduce injury rates does not appear to increase monotonically as they progress along a workplace instrumentality continuum from recognition alone to a pre-entry closed shop.Unions, industrial injury, occupational injury, health and safety

Fearless: Ben Litwin

Volunteering with different groups and organizations through Alpha Phi Omega, creating spaces for religious expression at the college, and interning at a coalition to serve low-income housing families, Ben Litwin ’14 fearlessly promotes social change on and off campus. [excerpt

Assessment of Red Blood Cell Membrane Fatty Acid Composition in Relation to Dietary Intake in Patients Undergoing Cardiac Catheterization

Red blood cells (RBC) have been shown to mediate plaque development seen in coronary artery disease (CAD). This study determined whether differences in RBC fatty acid (FA) composition were related to CAD risk. FAs were extracted from RBCs of 38 individuals who have undergone cardiac catheterization, 9 of whom had obstructive CAD, and analyzed via gas chromatography. Ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) assay was used to determine oxidative stress. Food frequency questionnaires were used to correlate RBC omega-3 FA to daily intake of omega-3 FA. No correlation was found between RBC content and intake of omega-3 FA. FRAP values and RBC FA composition did not differ between the 2 groups with exception of the saturated FA, palmitic acid (p=0.018). These results suggest that RBC FA composition may differ between individuals with or at risk for CAD. Additional research is needed to validate this biomarker as a predictor of CAD

Severity of cardiovascular disease and health-related quality of life in men with prostate cancer: a longitudinal analysis from CaPSURE.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the influence of comorbid cardiovascular disease severity on health-related quality of life (HRQL) in men treated with radical prostatectomy (RP) or radiotherapy (RT) for early stage prostate cancer.MethodsSubjects (n=830) with non-metastatic disease who had been diagnosed in 2000-2002 were drawn from Cancer of the Prostate Strategic Urologic Research Endeavor (CaPSURE). We evaluated the influence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) severity on generic and disease-specific HRQL before and 6, 12, 18, and 24 months after treatment with RP or RT. HRQL was measured with the SF-36 and the UCLA Prostate Cancer Index.ResultsMen with moderate (n=193) or severe (n=51) cardiovascular disease had worse pre-treatment HRQL than did men without CVD (n=293) (P<0.01); HRQL scores were worse in men referred for RT. During 24 months of follow-up, men with moderate or severe CVD had worse SF-36 physical and mental component summaries and worse bowel function at all time points (P<0.05). Men with severe CVD also experienced a slower recovery in physical function (P=0.03) and sexual functioning (P=0.02) than did men without CVD.ConclusionsProstate cancer patients with moderate to severe CVD have worse HRQL during follow-up. Those with severe CVD recover their physical and sexual functioning more slowly after treatment

Sexual well-being and diurnal cortisol after prostate cancer treatment.

Sexual dysfunction and psychological distress are common after prostate cancer. Research has not examined the role of neuroendocrine markers of stress (e.g. cortisol). This study examines whether sexual functioning or sexual bother is associated with diurnal cortisol. Men treated for prostate cancer completed the University of California-Los Angeles Prostate Cancer Index and provided saliva samples four times daily for cortisol assessment. Higher sexual bother, but not sexual functioning, was associated with steeper cortisol slope. Better sexual functioning, and not sexual bother, was significantly associated with the cortisol awakening response. Assessment of stress and stress-reducing interventions might be warranted in sexual rehabilitation after prostate cancer

3D-XY critical fluctuations of the thermal expansivity in detwinned YBa2Cu3O7-d single crystals near optimal doping

The strong coupling of superconductivity to the orthorhombic distortion in YBa2Cu3O7-d makes possible an analysis of the superconducting fluctuations without the necessity of subtracting any background. The present high-resolution capacitance dilatometry data unambiguously demonstrate the existence of critical, instead of Gaussian, fluctuations over a wide temperature region (+/- 10 K) around Tc. The values of the amplitude ratio A+/A-=0.9-1.1 and the leading scaling exponent |alpha|<0.018, determined via a least-squares fit of the data, are consistent with the 3D-XY universality class. Small deviations from pure 3D-XY behavior are discussed.Comment: 11 pages including three figure

Endomyocardial Biopsy of Right Atrial Angiosarcoma Guided by Intracardiac Echocardiography

We report a case of a 22-year-old female who presented with pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade. She was diagnosed with a right atrial mass by computed tomography and was referred to our institution for biopsy of this mass. Transcatheter biopsy was performed with intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) guidance, avoiding the need for transesophageal echocardiography or surgery to obtain the biopsy. ICE for transcatheter biopsy of an intracardiac mass is an attractive modality which provides precise localization of the cardiac structures