The Impact of Training on Productivity and Wages: Evidence from British Panel Data

It is standard in the literature on training to use wages as a sufficient statistic for productivity. But there are many reasons why wages and productivity may diverge. This paper is part of a smaller literature on the effects of work-related training on direct measures of productivity. We construct a panel of British industries between 1983 and 1996 containing training, productivity and wages. Using a variety of econometric estimation techniques (including system GMM) we find that training is associated with significantly higher productivity. Raising the proportion of workers trained in an industry by one percentage point (say from the average of 10% to 11%) is associated with an increase in value added per worker of about 0.6% and an increase in wages of about 0.3%. Furthermore, we find that the magnitude of the impact of training on wages is only half as large as the impact of training on productivity, implying that the existing literature has underestimated the importance of training. We also show evidence using complementary datasets (e.g. from individuals) that is suggestive of externalities of training and imperfect competition.Productivity, training, wages, panel data

The impact of training on productivity and wages: evidence from British panel data

It is standard in the literature on training to use wages as a sufficient statistic for productivity. This paper examines the effects of work-related training on direct measures of productivity. Using a new panel of British industries 1983-1996 and a variety of estimation techniques we find that work-related training is associated with significantly higher productivity. A one percentage point increase in training is associated with an increase in value added per hour of about 0.6% and an increase in hourly wages of about 0.3%. We also show evidence using individual level datasets that is suggestive of training externalities.Productivity, training, wages, panel data

The context of communication : factors affecting early language, interaction and socioemotional development

This thesis focused on two studies designed to investigate the influence of communicative context on parent-child interactions. Study 1 looked at the effects of different communication intervention systems (Baby Sign (BS), Enhanced Verbal (EV), and Enhanced Nonverbal (ENV) techniques) on language acquisition, nonverbal behaviours, and socio-emotional development. Study 2 measured the effects of chronic otitis media with effusion (OME) on interactions between parent and child. The investigative platform for both studies was to ascertain how the environment in which parent-infant interactions occur may be affected positively by the enhancement of communication and/or negatively by constitutional conditions (such as OME). Study 1 compared BS to other types of intervention. Typically-developing infants were recruited between the ages of 9-11 months and followed longitudinally for 20 months. BS was chosen due to its claims of advancement in IQ rates, symbolic development, complex language acquisition and development, as well as self-esteem (for example, www.babysigns.com). Using the MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventories (MCDIs) results showed that infants in all the intervention groups (at around 14 months of age) evidenced early language comprehension benefits (for phrases). BS also appeared to have an effect on single word comprehension. This may be a temporary advancement. No single group showed specifically enhanced benefits for language production over the others. Equally, there were no significant differences between the groups for the type of emerging lexicon. By 24 months the BS group evidenced a significant improvement in socioemotional development not evident in other groups, although the mechanism behind this was unclear. It was concluded that effects of BS on language development were restricted to early improvements in comprehension; and that these benefits may impact on subsequent socioemotional development especially around the 24 month age. This impact was not evident in the other intervention groups or in the non intervention control. This study has added to previous literature on BS by embedding the technique in context (taking into consideration the full communicative environment, verbal and nonverbal behaviours of parent and infant; and related areas of development, such as attachment and socioemotional changes). This is important as there are many pressures on parents to optimise their infant’s development and specific methods may be marketed as better than others. Findings here suggest that the quality of the interaction rather than the mode may be the key ingredient, although there are still questions regarding the effects of BS on socioemotional development. Study 2 measured the effects of chronic otitis media with effusion (OME) on interactions between parent and child and how OME impacted on the parent’s quality of life. OME is often asymptomatic; therefore parents can be unaware of the condition’s effects. Previous studies have tended to focus on the full OM spectrum and its effects on language development. Some, however, have shown that behavioural problems can result from persistent episodes of chronic OME (Maw et al., 1999) although many of these studies investigated older children, targeted attention as a behavioural measure, or included aspects such as reading ability as a behavioural outcome. This thesis explored the impact of OME on communicative style through the comparison of three groups: Group 1 - children with chronic OME; Group 2 - children with chronic throat and nose conditions; and Group 3 a non-medical control. Data for Groups 1 and 2 were collected during single appointments and involved dyads sourced from two ENT outpatient departments. Children were between the ages of 17-47 months. Results showed significant differences between the OME group and the other two for nonverbal and socioemotional behaviours. During parent-child play interactions, OME children glanced (with rapid, short glances) towards the parent more often than children in the other groups. One interpretation of this is that children with chronic OME persist in active triadic attention strategies whilst other children locate the topic of reference from the speech signal alone. Secondly, parents of children with OME raised significantly more concerns regarding their child’s socio-emotional development – especially in interacting with others - than parents in the other 2 groups. They also reported more family tension and arguments than in the non-OME ENT group. This suggests that experiencing chronic OME and its associated periods of hearing loss has either a direct or indirect detrimental impact on a child’s socioemotional wellbeing. This may relate to similar socioemotional difficulties reported in children with different types of communication problems e.g. late talkers (van Balkom et al, 2010). These concerns however were not reflected in the Parental QoL Questionnaire - used with the two medical groups. Findings imply the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Socioemotional (AQS: SE) may be a more accurate measure for assessing parental concerns regarding socioemotional behaviour. Study 2 adds to previous research into the socioemotional development of children with OME by showing that nonverbal and pragmatic skills can be altered by the condition and thereby can affect the communicative context of parent-infant interaction. More research in this area is implicated

Optical characterization of LDEF contaminant film

Dark brown molecular film deposits were found at numerous locations on the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) and have been documented in great detail by several investigators. The exact deposition mechanism for these deposits is as yet unknown, although direct and scattered atomic oxygen, and solar radiation interacting with materials outgassing products have all been implicated in the formation process. Specimens of the brown molecular film were taken from below the flange of the experimental tray located at position D10 on the LDEF. The tray was one of two, comprising the same experiment, the other being located on the wake facing side of the LDEF satellite at position B4. Having access to both trays, we were able to directly compare the effect that orientation with respect to the atomic oxygen flux vector had on the formation of the brown molecular film deposits. The film is thickest on surfaces facing toward the exterior, i.e. the tray corner, as can be seen by comparing the lee and wake aspects of the rivets. The patterns appear to be aligned not with the velocity vector but with the corner of the tray suggesting that flux to the surface is due to scattered atomic oxygen rather than direct ram impingement. The role of scattered flux is further supported by more faint plume patterns on the sides of the tray. The angle of these plumes is strongly aligned with the ram direction but the outline of the deposit implies that incident atoms are scattered by collisions with the edges of the opening resulting in a directed, but diffuse, flux of atomic oxygen to the surface. Spectral reflectance measurements in the 2 to 10 micron (4000 to 1000 wavenumbers) spectral range are presented for the film in the 'as deposited' condition and for the free standing film. The material was analyzed by FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) microspectroscopy using gold as the reference standard. The 'as deposited' specimen was on an aluminum rivet taken from beneath the tray flange while the free film was obtained by chipping some of the material from the rivet. The transmission spectrum over the 2 to 10 micron range for the free film is presented. This spectrum appears to be essentially the same as that presented by Crutcher et.al. for films formed at vent sites which faced into the ram direction and suggested to originate from urethanes and silicones used on the LDEF. Banks et. al. state that silicones, when exposed to atomic oxygen, release polymeric scission fragments which deposit on surfaces and form a glassy, dark contaminant layer upon further atomic oxygen exposure and solar irradiation

A comparison of freshmen attending selected Oregon community colleges and Oregon State University in terms of interests, values, and manifest needs

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether there were significant differences between Oregon community college collegiate freshmen and Oregon State University freshmen in terms of interest, values, and manifest needs. The study was limited to a representative sample of the freshman population in the lower-division collegiate program at three selected Oregon community colleges and to a representative sample of Oregon State University. The Strong Vocational Interest Blank for Men, the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values, the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, and a Personal Data Schedule were administered to 499 first-term male and female freshmen who were enrolled at these institutions for the fall term of 1963. The responses of the freshmen on the psychological tests were treated statistically by analysis of variance, and the responses on the Personal Data Schedule were converted to percentages and analyzed using the t-test. Significant differences were evident among the responses of the Oregon State University and community college males and females on the Personal Data Schedule. There were 32 items that differentiated between the community college and Oregon State University males at the 1 percent level and six items at the 5 percent level. There were 28 items that differentiated between the community college females at the 1 percent level and four that differentiated at the 5 percent level. On the Study of Values, Oregon State University males showed a higher mean score on the Theoretical scale than did the community college males. On the Social scale the community college males had a higher mean score than that of the Oregon State University males. Females at Oregon State University showed a higher mean score on the Economic scale than did the community college females, while the community college females had a higher mean score on the Religious scale than did the females at Oregon State University. There were many significant differences between the interests of Oregon State University males and community college males. Males at Oregon State University had substantially higher interest scores on the Strong Vocational Interest Inventory than did the community college males in Groups I and II, while community college males had considerably higher interest scores than did Oregon State University males in Groups VIII and IX. None of the scores on the occupational scales yielded significant differences among the mean scores of females attending Oregon State University and the community college females. Scores on the non-occupational scales, the Specialization Level and Occupational Level, differentiated between Oregon State University and community college males. The Oregon State University males scored higher than the community college males on both of these scales. The Occupational Level scale differentiated between Oregon State University and community college females and the Oregon State University females obtained the higher mean score. The least amount of difference between the mean occupational scores of the community college males and the mean occupational scores of Oregon State University males in the various major schools was found in the scores of the humanities majors when the miscellaneous category was excluded from the comparison. The greatest discrepancy in these occupational scores was found in the responses of males in engineering and science. The scores of the Oregon State University females in education most closely resembled the scores of the community college females, and the occupational scores of females that were least like the scores of community college females were those of the females in business and technology. Responses on the Study of Values and the Strong Vocational Interest Inventory indicated marked differences with respect to population characteristics in interests and values of freshmen attending community colleges and of freshmen attending Oregon State University. However, the responses on the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule show no evidence of differences among the personality characteristics of the freshmen

Global-mean marine δ13C and its uncertainty in a glacial state estimate

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2015. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Quaternary Science Reviews 125 (2015): 144-159, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.08.010.A paleo-data compilation with 492 δ13C and δ18O observations provides the opportunity to better sample the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and infer its global properties, such as the mean δ13C of dissolved inorganic carbon. Here, the paleocompilation is used to reconstruct a steady-state water-mass distribution for the LGM, that in turn is used to map the data onto a 3D global grid. A global-mean marine δ13C value and a self-consistent uncertainty estimate are derived using the framework of state estimation (i.e., combining a numerical model and observations). The LGM global-mean δ13C is estimated to be 0:14h±0:20h at the two standard error level, giving a glacial-to-modern change of 0:32h±0:20h. The magnitude of the error bar is attributed to the uncertain glacial ocean circulation and the lack of observational constraints in the Pacific, Indian, and Southern Oceans. Observations in the Indian and Pacific Oceans generally have 10 times the weight of an Atlantic point in the computation of the global mean. To halve the error bar, roughly four times more observations are needed, although strategic sampling may reduce this number. If dynamical constraints can be used to better characterize the LGM circulation, the error bar can also be reduced to 0:05 to 0:1h, emphasizing that knowledge of the circulation is vital to accurately map δ13CDIC in three dimensions.GG is supported by NSF grants OIA-1124880 and OCE-1357121, the WHOI Ocean and Climate Change Institute, and The Joint Initiative Awards Fund from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

A Comparison of Association Methods for Cytotoxicity Mapping in Pharmacogenomics

Cytotoxicity assays of immortalized lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) represent a promising new in vitro approach in pharmacogenomics research. However, previous studies employing LCLs in gene mapping have used simple association methods, which may not adequately capture the true differences in non-linear response profiles between genotypes. Two common approaches summarize each dose-response curve with either the IC50 or the slope parameter estimates from a hill slope fit and treat these estimates as the response in a linear model. The current study investigates these two methods, as well as four novel methods, and compares their power to detect differences between the response profiles of genotypes under a variety of different alternatives. The four novel methods include two methods that summarize each dose-response by its area under the curve, one method based off of an analysis of variance (ANOVA) design, and one method that compares hill slope fits for all individuals of each genotype. The power of each method was found to depend not only on the choice of alternative, but also on the choice for the set of dosages used in cytotoxicity measurements. The ANOVA-based method was found to be the most robust across alternatives and dosage sets for power in detecting differences between genotypes

California Student Counselors Reflect on a Study Abroad Experience in New Zealand

Seven counseling and guidance students from California participated in a study abroad program in which they were placed in a high school in Auckland, New Zealand, for one month. Their comments on the experience in response to researchers’ questions form the basis of this paper. They suggest that the participants benefited from being immersed in a culturally different context where they had to consider differences in school organization, counseling priorities, and students’ cultural mores. This immersion required them to think about their own professional values and to engage in high level learning, appropriate to masters level field experience work. They commented especially on different approaches to cultural and racial issues in New Zealand and California and on experiencing a counseling profession that is more focused on addressing social issues than on college readiness