Globalisation and the labour market: an analysis of job stability and job security in Britain

Globalisation represents the increased international integration of goods, services, labour, technology, knowledge, ideas and capital of national economics from around the world. It also evokes many opinions in relation to the costs and benefits it can provide. Globalisation can bring greater benefits to countries in the form of greater productivity and output, potentially faster economic growth, increased welfare and even greater incentives to innovate. However, workers fear that globalisation costs more jobs than it creates (Eurobarometer, 69) and it could cause the structure of employment to permanently change over time. Ideally, workers would like to have jobs that last a life time Gob security) and jobs that pay a predictable wage Gob stability). Yet, should workers become dislocated from their jobs through firm closure or through layoffs, workers hope their prospective re-employment in new jobs is secure and stable with few short-term adjustment costs over time. But, many workers believe 'jobs are not for life' and this is in part attributed towards globalisation - increased trade and advancements in technology, the fall in transportation costs, exchange rate volatility and offshoring are all potential factors that have contributed towards greater competition in world markets for goods and services over the last thirty years. This thesis examines whether job security and job stability have changed over this time. It focuses on whether offshoring and the advancements in technology have increasing made jobs less secure and whether they have increasing made wage levels within jobs more volatile. Chapters 2 and 3 review the literature: chapter 2 explores the potential forces that could cause labour market insecurity to rise and chapter 3 examines the existing empirical literature to see whether labour market security has declined over time. From these reviews, chapter 2 finds that trade, the advancements in ICT and domestic policy reforms to labour market institutions have caused the structure of employment to change in favour of skilled labour at the expense of less-skilled workers even though the employment level has not significantly changed over the post 1990s to the latter 2000s. And the empirical evidence from chapter 3 finds that labour market security, which is composed of (a) job security, (b) income volatility within jobs (job stability) and (c) the loss of earnings between jobs has also not changed significantly from the 1970s to the early 20OOs. Chapter 4 examines the effects of industry level offshoring intensity and the advancements in ICT over the post 1990s have increasingly had an impact on the wage levels of individual workers. This chapter finds the impact of service offshoring (measured at the industry level), the potential threat from the advancements of technology that increasingly pose a threat to many more potentially tradable occupations (job tradability measured from the application of Blinder's (2007) occupation tradability index) and the threat of TBTC - particularly from the importance of completing routine intensive job tasks, have all had a negative and significant impact on the wage levels of workers over the period 1992 to 2007. Chapter 5 examines whether a rise in offshoring intensity could lead to a rise in job insecurity by increasing the probability of becoming unemployed. Using individual level data from 1992- 2005, the results show a rise in offshoring (materials and services) and the advancements in ICT did not lower job security, it actually raises the probability of remaining in employment. This chapter also finds workers were more likely to remain in employment with their current employers. But workers employed in potentially the more tradable jobs that are also routine job task intensive appear to have a higher probability of becoming unemployed. Collectively, chapter 4 and 5 suggest that while offshoring may put downward pressure on wage levels, it has had little impact on job security. Workers appear to sacrifice job stability for job security. Chapter 6 addressed whether there has been a secular decline in job security over the last two decades. Using job tenure and job transitions as measures for job security, this thesis finds medium [longer-term] job tenure shares (job tenure greater than or equal to five [ten] years) declined by 7.95% [8.85%] and 8.70% [7.95%] for men and for women with no children from 1992 to 2006. These declines are not indicative of a rise in job-to-job transitions, but a slender rise in job-to-unemployment and job-to-non-employment transitions over the time frame. Further analysis shows there is no evidence that these latter job transition results have arisen because of a rise in involuntary job separations resulting from redundancies or from firm closures over time

Emerging Properties and Functions of Actin and Actin Filaments Inside the Nucleus.

Peer reviewe

Novel haloarchaeal viruses from Lake Retba infecting Haloferax and Halorubrum species

The diversity of archaeal viruses is severely undersampled compared with that of viruses infecting bacteria and eukaryotes, limiting our understanding on their evolution and environmental impacts. Here, we describe the isolation and characterization of four new viruses infecting halophilic archaea from the saline Lake Retba, located close to Dakar on the coast of Senegal. Three of the viruses, HRPV10, HRPV11 and HRPV12, have enveloped pleomorphic virions and should belong to the family Pleolipoviridae, whereas the forth virus, HFTV1, has an icosahedral capsid and a long non-contractile tail, typical of bacterial and archaeal members of the order Caudovirales. Comparative genomic and phylogenomic analyses place HRPV10, HRPV11 and HRPV12 into the genus Betapleolipovirus, whereas HFTV1 appears to be most closely related to the unclassified Halorubrum virus HRTV-4. Differently from HRTV-4, HFTV1 encodes host-derived minichromosome maintenance helicase and PCNA homologues, which are likely to orchestrate its genome replication. HFTV1, the first archaeal virus isolated on a Haloferax strain, could also infect Halorubrum sp., albeit with an eightfold lower efficiency, whereas pleolipoviruses nearly exclusively infected autochthonous Halorubrum strains. Mapping of the metagenomic sequences from this environment to the genomes of isolated haloarchaeal viruses showed that these known viruses are underrepresented in the available viromes.Peer reviewe

Predicting deaths in a resource-limited neonatal intensive care unit in Nepal.

BackgroundThis study aimed to determine whether the Neonatal Acute Physiology (SNAP) scoring system (SNAP II) and with perinatal extension (SNAP II PE) can be used to predict neonatal deaths in a resource-limited neonatal intensive care unit in Nepal.MethodsA prospective observational study was conducted in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Kanti Children's Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal. Data required for the SNAP II and SNAP II PE scores were collected. The relationships between the SNAP II and SNAP II PE scores and neonatal mortality were analyzed.ResultsThere were 135 neonates admitted during the 6 month study period, of whom 126 met the inclusion criteria. Of these 126 neonates, 29 (23.0%) died. Mortality was 83% (5/6) when SNAP II was >40, and 66.7% (6/9) when SNAP II PE was >50. A SNAP II score of ≥12 had a sensitivity of 75.9%, and specificity of 73.2% for predicting mortality, and a SNAP II PE score of ≥14 had a sensitivity of 82.8% and specificity of 67.0% for it.ConclusionsSNAP II and SNAP II PE scoring of neonates can be used to predict prognosis of neonates in resource-limited NICUs in Nepal

Globalisation and the labour market : an analysis of job stability and job security in Britain

Globalisation represents the increased international integration of goods, services, labour, technology, knowledge, ideas and capital of national economics from around the world. It also evokes many opinions in relation to the costs and benefits it can provide. Globalisation can bring greater benefits to countries in the form of greater productivity and output, potentially faster economic growth, increased welfare and even greater incentives to innovate. However, workers fear that globalisation costs more jobs than it creates (Eurobarometer, 69) and it could cause the structure of employment to permanently change over time. Ideally, workers would like to have jobs that last a life time Gob security) and jobs that pay a predictable wage Gob stability). Yet, should workers become dislocated from their jobs through firm closure or through layoffs, workers hope their prospective re-employment in new jobs is secure and stable with few short-term adjustment costs over time. But, many workers believe 'jobs are not for life' and this is in part attributed towards globalisation - increased trade and advancements in technology, the fall in transportation costs, exchange rate volatility and offshoring are all potential factors that have contributed towards greater competition in world markets for goods and services over the last thirty years. This thesis examines whether job security and job stability have changed over this time. It focuses on whether offshoring and the advancements in technology have increasing made jobs less secure and whether they have increasing made wage levels within jobs more volatile. Chapters 2 and 3 review the literature: chapter 2 explores the potential forces that could cause labour market insecurity to rise and chapter 3 examines the existing empirical literature to see whether labour market security has declined over time. From these reviews, chapter 2 finds that trade, the advancements in ICT and domestic policy reforms to labour market institutions have caused the structure of employment to change in favour of skilled labour at the expense of less-skilled workers even though the employment level has not significantly changed over the post 1990s to the latter 2000s. And the empirical evidence from chapter 3 finds that labour market security, which is composed of (a) job security, (b) income volatility within jobs (job stability) and (c) the loss of earnings between jobs has also not changed significantly from the 1970s to the early 20OOs. Chapter 4 examines the effects of industry level offshoring intensity and the advancements in ICT over the post 1990s have increasingly had an impact on the wage levels of individual workers. This chapter finds the impact of service offshoring (measured at the industry level), the potential threat from the advancements of technology that increasingly pose a threat to many more potentially tradable occupations (job tradability measured from the application of Blinder's (2007) occupation tradability index) and the threat of TBTC - particularly from the importance of completing routine intensive job tasks, have all had a negative and significant impact on the wage levels of workers over the period 1992 to 2007. Chapter 5 examines whether a rise in offshoring intensity could lead to a rise in job insecurity by increasing the probability of becoming unemployed. Using individual level data from 1992- 2005, the results show a rise in offshoring (materials and services) and the advancements in ICT did not lower job security, it actually raises the probability of remaining in employment. This chapter also finds workers were more likely to remain in employment with their current employers. But workers employed in potentially the more tradable jobs that are also routine job task intensive appear to have a higher probability of becoming unemployed. Collectively, chapter 4 and 5 suggest that while offshoring may put downward pressure on wage levels, it has had little impact on job security. Workers appear to sacrifice job stability for job security. Chapter 6 addressed whether there has been a secular decline in job security over the last two decades. Using job tenure and job transitions as measures for job security, this thesis finds medium [longer-term] job tenure shares (job tenure greater than or equal to five [ten] years) declined by 7.95% [8.85%] and 8.70% [7.95%] for men and for women with no children from 1992 to 2006. These declines are not indicative of a rise in job-to-job transitions, but a slender rise in job-to-unemployment and job-to-non-employment transitions over the time frame. Further analysis shows there is no evidence that these latter job transition results have arisen because of a rise in involuntary job separations resulting from redundancies or from firm closures over time.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Nuclear actin interactome analysis links actin to KAT14 histone acetyl transferase and mRNA splicing

In addition to its essential functions within the cytoskeleton, actin also localizes to the cell nucleus, where it is linked to many important nuclear processes from gene expression to maintenance of genomic integrity. However, the molecular mechanisms by which actin operates in the nucleus remain poorly understood. Here, we have used two complementary mass spectrometry (MS) techniques, AP-MS and BioID, to identify binding partners for nuclear actin. Common high-confidence interactions highlight the role of actin in chromatin-remodeling complexes and identify the histone-modifying complex human Ada-Two-A-containing (hATAC) as a novel actin-containing nuclear complex. Actin binds directly to the hATAC subunit KAT14, and modulates its histone acetyl transferase activity in vitro and in cells. Transient interactions detected through BioID link actin to several steps of transcription as well as to RNA processing. Alterations in nuclear actin levels disturb alternative splicing in minigene assays, likely by affecting the transcription elongation rate. This interactome analysis thus identifies both novel direct binding partners and functional roles for nuclear actin, as well as forms a platform for further mechanistic studies on how actin operates during essential nuclear processes. This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.Peer reviewe

Nuclear actin is required for transcription during Drosophila Oogenesis

Actin has been linked to processes spanning the whole gene expression cascade, from regulating specific transcription factors, such as myocardin-related transcription factor (Mrtf), to chromatin remodelling and RNA polymerase (Pol) function. However, whether actin controls transcription of only specific genes or has a global role in gene expression has remained elusive. Our genome-wide analysis reveals, for the first time, that actin interacts with essentially all transcribed genes in Drosophila ovaries. Actin co-occupies majority of gene promoters together with Pol II, and on highly expressed genes these two proteins also associate with gene bodies. Mechanistically, actin is required for Pol II recruitment to gene bodies and manipulation of nuclear transport factors for actin leads to decreased expression of egg shell genes. Collectively, these results uncover a global role for actin in transcription, and demonstrate the in vivo importance of balanced nucleo-cytoplasmic shuttling of actin in transcriptional control of a developmental process.Peer reviewe

Factors affecting willingness to participate in vaccine clinical trials in an underdeveloped country: perspective from Nepal

Due to the inherent complex nature of clinical trials, individual’s willingness to participate and hence, enrollment in a clinical trial maybe challenging. When it comes to vaccine clinical trial in children, informed consent needs to be secured from the parents or legally acceptable representatives (LARs). Some of the factors which contribute to hesitancy in taking part in clinical trials are based on the level of education, living standards, part of the world they live, associated burden of disease, fear of different procedures in clinical trial, side effects, limited understanding, limited time, and mistrust with Investigational product. This study included 201 parents/LARs, who approached Kanti Children Hospital site in Kathmandu with the interest to get their children enrolled in a vaccine clinical trial with objectives of describing the reasons for agreeing or disagreeing to participate in the vaccine clinical trial, factors affecting decision making, and finding the major concerns of parents/LARs. The acceptance for the study vaccine was 136 (67.7%) whereas denial was 65 (32.3%). This study showed that age, education level, family structure, advice from family and friends, and medical guidance play important roles in willingness of parents to get their child enrolled in the trial. If a proper counseling is done, fear of blood sampling is not a big factor which is contrary to the belief among clinical researchers. Safety of vaccine, frequency of injections, and cost of vaccine were the main concerns of the parents, which need to be addressed extensively while planning for any clinical trial in children