Examining the Impact of Gender, Caretaking on Faculty Research Productivity, Tenure and Promotion Progress During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted the working and home lives of faculty. The largest impact was felt by women and caregivers, who suffered a staggering setback to their research productivity throughout the pandemic, and declines in research productivity have negative downstream consequences for tenure and promotion. The current research sought to examine gender and caregiving differences in research productivity throughout the COVID-19 pandemic among University of Dayton faculty. In two primary studies, research-active faculty were surveyed (Study 1) and interviewed (Study 2) to better understand the impact of gender and caregiving on research productivity during the pandemic. Study 1 also examined research productivity before the pandemic (2019) through the end of 2022 in order to examine change in productivity over time. Due to a small sample of data collected for Study 1, we were unable to examine differences in gender and caregiving, but we did find that multiple indicators of research productivity, ability to conduct research, difficulty with conducting research, and job satisfaction declined during the early pandemic but trended toward 2019 levels by 2022; although the quadratic pattern of the data suggests that these outcomes are beginning to improve over time, the majority of these outcomes have not reached their pre-pandemic values. Study 1 also examined correlations between job stress, burnout, workload, and multiple barriers to being research productive during the pandemic. Study 2 interviewed 19 faculty members and found that the predominantly female sample of faculty felt a lack of separation between their home life and work life during the pandemic, which was particularly pronounced for caregivers. They also reported declines in well-being and health, needing to put a hold on research due to caregiving, and finding it challenging to reset and restart their research. A consistent finding from both studies was that many faculty reported feeling undervalued and unappreciated by the university administration, and reported a lack of trust in the university. We conclude our report with a set of data-driven, equity-focused recommendations to improve faculty research productivity that focus on directing support to faculty research, teaching, and family. We also include additional recommendations that seek to address feelings of being underappreciated and undervalued, and increasing faculty job satisfaction

An E box comprises a positional sensor for regional differences in skeletal muscle gene expression and methylation

AbstractTo dissect the molecular mechanisms conferring positional information in skeletal muscles, we characterized the control elements responsible for the positionally restricted expression patterns of a muscle-specific transgene reporter, driven by regulatory sequences from the MLC1/3 locus. These sequences have previously been shown to generate graded transgene expression in the segmented axial muscles and their myotomal precursors, fortuitously marking their positional address. An evolutionarily conserved E box in the MLC enhancer core, not recognized by MyoD, is a target for a nuclear protein complex, present in a variety of tissues, which includes Hox proteins and Zbu1, a DNA-binding member of the SW12/SNF2 gene family. Mutation of this E box in the MLC enhancer has only a modest positive effect on linked CAT gene expression in transfected muscle cells, but when introduced into transgenic mice the same mutation elevates CAT transgene expression in skeletal muscles, specifically releasing the rostral restriction on MLC-CAT transgene expression in the segmented axial musculature. Increased transgene activity resulting from the E box mutation in the MLC enhancer correlates with reduced DNA methylation of the distal transgenic MLC1 promoter as well as in the enhancer itself. These results identify an E box and the proteins that bind to it as a positional sensor responsible for regional differences in axial skeletal muscle gene expression and accessibility

Patient characteristics, comorbidities, and medication use for children with ADHD with and without a co-occurring reading disorder: A retrospective cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often have a co-occurring reading disorder (RD). The purpose of this research was to assess differences between children with ADHD without RD (ADHD-only) and those with ADHD and co-occurring RD (ADHD+RD).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using data from the U.S. Thomson Reuter Marketscan^®Databases for the years 2005 through 2007, this analysis compared the medical records--including patient demographics, comorbidities, and medication use--of children (age < 18) with ADHD-only to those with ADHD+RD.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Patients with ADHD+RD were significantly younger, more likely to have received a procedure code associated with formal psychological or non-psychological testing, and more likely to have been diagnosed with comorbid bipolar disorder, conduct disorder, or depression. They were no more likely to have received an antidepressant, anti-manic (bipolar), or antipsychotic, and were significantly less likely to have received a prescription for a stimulant medication.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Relying on a claims database, there appear to be differences in the patient characteristics, comorbidities, and medication use when comparing children with ADHD-only to those with ADHD+RD.</p

The dynamic value of MNE political embeddedness: The case of the Chinese automobile industry

This paper examines the complex relationship between the embeddedness of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in host-country political networks and their long-run competitive positions in host emerging markets. We report the findings of a longitudinal study of the Chinese automobile sector from the early 1980s to the mid 2000s. Using data from 142 interviews over 11 years, and a wide range of secondary sources, we explore the process through which the value of political embeddedness changed over time in the face of profound and rapid changes in host-country business environments. On the basis of this longitudinal study, the paper unravels the underlying mechanisms that lead to the declining, and even negative, value of deep political embeddedness by MNEs in a politically stable emerging economy

Taboos in Corporate Social Responsibility Discourse

Corporations today have been engineered by CEOs and other business advocates to look increasingly green and responsible. However, alarming cases such as Enron, Parmalat and Worldcom bear witness that a belief in corporate goodness is still nothing other than naïve. Although many scholars seemingly recognize this, they still avoid touching on the most sensitive and problematic issues, the taboos. As a consequence, discussion of important though problematic topics is often stifled. The article identifies three ‘grand’ taboos of CSR discourse and explicitly raises them for discussion. They are the taboos of amoral business, continuous economic growth, and the political nature of CSR. It is suggested that CSR can only be as advanced as its taboos. The critical potential of the field remains underdeveloped as a consequence of the taboos, and in many cases the CSR discourse merely produces alluring but empty rhetoric about sustainability and responsible business. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2007taboo, CSR, corporate greening, growth, politics, amoral,