Contending Theories of Wage Determination: An Intersectoral Analysis of Real Wage Growth in the U.S. Economy

In recent years, social movements and popular media have drawn attention to the issue of income inequality in the United States. This growing inequality in the distribution of income is often seen as a function of stagnating wage growth in the U.S. economy. There appears to be a fairly broad consensus among commentators that wage growth for many workers in the U.S. has stagnated in recent decades, though the precise causes and implications of this trend are a matter of considerable dispute. Some see it as a function of stagnant productivity growth, while others attribute it to the declining strength of the labor movement. This paper uses multiple regression analyses in an attempt to provide an empirical means to judge the theoretical salience of these contending viewpoints. The results of this study indicate that while wage growth has in fact maintained a positive correlation with productivity, this correlation is much weaker than expected, particularly for manufacturing industries. Furthermore, while labor union strength appears to be an insignificant factor in the determination of wages for manufacturing industries, it retains a strong statistical significance in service sector wages. I argue that this finding reflects a historical shift in the composition of U.S. industry. The data gathered in this study supports the view that labor union density plays a role in the strength of wage-productivity elasticity, which raises important questions of how best to conceptualize wage growth and aggregate income distribution from the standpoint of economic theory

A Summer Deer Food Study in Tensas Parish, Louisiana

Where deer have overpopulated their range, a thorough knowledge of range conditions and deer food habits is necessary to establish proper management. This study was made on an overpopulated deer range in Northeastern Louisiana. It provides information on certain phases of deer food habits not heretofore investigated in the region. The study procedure followed a modification of the Aldous Deer Browse Survey Method, whereby a percentage sample survey was made of the density of woody and herbaceous browse species and their utilization by deer. Vines made up 55 per cent, trees and shrubs 31 per cent, and forbs 14 per cent of the forest diet. Deer fed principally upon greenbrier, palaetto, ironweed, trumpet- vine, rattanvlne, waterwillow, deciduous holly, wild chervil, and Frenchaulberry. Ridge sites provided the largest quantity and variety of deer browse. Utilization of merchantable tree reproduction by deer was Halted. Scrub trees were more important food to deer than were the merchantable species. The deer range was in a deteriorated condition. Natural foods were too sparse to support the present deer population. Growth of browse plants was obviously inhibited by the combined effects of the dense crown cover and palmetto growth. In low areas, seasonal flooding, combined with a dense crown cover, inhibited understory plant growth. Aside from deer, a dense crown cover was apparently the greatest browse inhibitor

Forget cancer, let's MOVE: a behaviour change support model for physical activity for young people during and after cancer

Abstract: This paper describes a model of behaviour change support for a referral physical activity cancer service for young people. The service is underpinned by the self-determination (Deci & Ryan, 2008) principles of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. A range of tailored physical activity programmes are provided in community, in-patient and online settings. Each young person receives behaviour change support from motivational interviewing, which incorporates mental contrasting and implementation intentions. This paper seeks to share practice on how health psychology theory and techniques have been applied in order to support young people to be more physically active, both during and after their cancer treatment. Additionally, we share our experiences of providing consultancy to shape service development and planning.N/

Weekly Versus Monthly Testosterone Administration On Fast and Slow Skeletal Muscle Fibers in Older Adult Males

Context: In older adults, loss of mobility due to sarcopenia is exacerbated in men with low serum T. T replacement therapy is known to increase muscle mass and strength, but the effect of weekly (WK) vs monthly (MO) administration on specific fiber types is unknown. Objective: To determine the efficacy of WK vs MO T replacement on the size and functional capacity of individual fast and slow skeletal muscle fiber types. Design, Setting, and Patients: Subjects were randomized into a 5-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. All subjects (ages, 61–71 y) were community-dwelling men who had T levels \u3c 500 ng/dL. Intervention: Subjects were dosed weekly for 5 months, receiving continuous T (WK, n = 5; 100 mg T enanthate, im injection), monthly cycled T (MO, n = 7; alternating months of T and placebo), or placebo (n = 7). Muscle biopsies of the vastus lateralis were obtained before and after treatment. Main Outcome Measures: Main outcomes for individual slow and fast fibers included fiber diameter, peak force (P0), rate of tension development, maximal shortening velocity, peak power, and Ca2+ sensitivity. Results: Both treatments increased fiber diameter and peak power, with WK treatment 5-fold more effective than MO in increasing type I fiber P0. WK effects on fiber diameter and force were 1.5-fold higher in slow fibers compared to fast fibers. In fast type II fibers, diameter and P0 increased similarly between treatments. The increased power was entirely due to increased fiber size and force. Conclusions: In conclusion, T replacement effects were fiber-type dependent, restricted to increases in cell size, P0, and peak power, and dependent on the paradigm selected (WK vs MO)

Understanding the complex organisational processes that help and hinder creativity and innovation

This study looks at the topics of creativity and innovation and how they are experienced as ordinary, everyday work. In business publications there is much hype and hope around the words “creativity” and “innovation”, but there is also a limited understanding of how creativity and innovation are enacted in organisations. Consequently, academics have stressed the need for ‘opening the black box’ of the firm and understanding how innovation really works (Birdi et al, 2003). This research uses the Complex Responsive Processes approach to understand the ordinary, everyday experiences of people involved in work which was novel for the organisations concerned. I selected three organisational cases from the health and education sectors. I selected these because, in each case, people were working on complex challenges which had no single, obvious solution and which required the generation and development of new and useful ideas. The research makes a novel contribution to knowledge in three ways. First, it has been unusual in that it has extended the application of complex responsive processes to understand the processes which impact on creativity and innovation in the health and education sectors. While complex responsive processes thinking has been applied to these sectors before, to my knowledge, this is the first time it has been applied to understand processes impacting on creativity and innovation in these sectors. Second, this research finds a pattern of dynamics between trust and a paradoxical concept of diversity, comprising both sufficient difference and sufficient common-ground between organizational members. In this research, trust was a necessary foundation for the exploration of ideas. However, for risks to be taken and ideas to be implemented, in contexts of high uncertainty and risk, trust alone was insufficient. The quality of conversational life flourished where both trust and diversity were present. Finally, this research makes a methodological contribution through using Stacey’s five areas for focusing attention as a conceptual framework. The use of this framework helps provide a depth of compelling detail and insights which would not have been obtained through traditional lenses from the domains of creativity and innovation. This is the first time this framework for focusing attention has been applied in this way to understanding creativity and innovation in empirical settings.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Systematic review: self-monitoring of blood glucose in patients with Type 2 Diabetes

The benefit of self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) in the reduction of HbA1c in non-insulin-treated participants remains unclear. HbA1c may be improved in this population with SMBG. We aimed to investigate this. Meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were performed comparing SMBG versus usual care and structured versus unstructured SMBG; the effect of clinician therapy adjustment based on SMBG readings was examined. Medline, Embase and Cochrane Central were electronically searched to identify articles published from 1 January 2000 to 30 June 2020. Trials investigating changes in HbA1c were selected. Screening was performed independently by two investigators. Two investigators extracted HbA1c at baseline and follow-up for each trial. Nineteen RCTs, involving 4,965 participants were included. Overall, SMBG reduced HbA1c. Preplanned subgroup analysis showed that using SMBG readings to adjust therapy contributed significantly to the reduction. No significant improvement in HbA1c was shown in SMBG without therapy adjustment). The same difference was observed in structured SMBG compared to unstructured SMBG. HbA1c is improved with therapy adjustment based on structured SMBG readings. Implications are for clinicians to prescribe structured SMBG with an aim for therapy adjustment based on the readings, and not prescribing unstructured SMBG. Participants with suboptimal glycemic control may benefit most. A SMBG regimen that improves clinical- and cost-effectiveness is presented. Future studies can investigate this regimen specifically.N/

Wasted Words?: Current Trends in Collection Development Policies

The transition to electronic resources and the changing role of the collection development librarian are having a tremendous impact on the manner by which libraries select and acquire new materials. The goal of this research project was to further elucidate the current trends of collection development policies in members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) as well as gauge current use and future efficacy. The survey was designed and sent to librarians responsible for collection development at university-affiliated ARL libraries in order to obtain a current picture of academic collection development policies, and how they are changing due to the abundance of electronic resources and new methods of data-driven acquisitions. The goals of the survey are to Measure the continued use of CD policies as major collection-building tools; Assess the frequency of updates to collection development policies; Determine the availability of collection development policies; Measure and compare the amount of time available to librarians to review and select new materials; Determine if print materials are being reviewed in new and innovative ways or if they receive the same assessment as electronically formatted materials; Measure the employment of data or patron-driven acquisition methods. The findings will require additional assessment, but the data does seem to indicate a time of change in the way academic libraries complete and assess their primary collection development activities. This survey was created, at least in part, with the hope of setting a starting point for continued evaluation and longitudinal measurement. If our survey participants are as actively helpful in future years, these dreams of cyclical assessment may well come to fruition

Future Opportunities and Challenges in Remote Sensing of Drought

The value of satellite remote sensing for drought monitoring was first realized more than two decades ago with the application of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) for assessing the effect of drought on vegetation, as summarized by Anyamba and Tucker (2012, Chapter 2). Other indices such as the Vegetation Health Index (VHI) (Kogan, 1995) were also developed during this time period and applied to AVHRR NDVI and brightness temperature data for routine global monitoring of drought conditions. These early efforts demonstrated the unique perspective that global imagers like AVHRR could provide for operational drought monitoring through near-daily, synoptic observations of earth’s land surface. However, the advancement of satellite remote sensing for drought monitoring was limited by the relatively few spectral bands on operational global sensors such as AVHRR, along with a relatively short observational record

Exploring Apprenticeship Learning for Player Modelling in Interactive Narratives

In this paper we present an early Apprenticeship Learning approach to mimic the behaviour of different players in a short adaption of the interactive fiction Anchorhead. Our motivation is the need to understand and simulate player behaviour to create systems to aid the design and personalisation of Interactive Narratives (INs). INs are partially observable for the players and their goals are dynamic as a result. We used Receding Horizon IRL (RHIRL) to learn players' goals in the form of reward functions, and derive policies to imitate their behaviour. Our preliminary results suggest that RHIRL is able to learn action sequences to complete a game, and provided insights towards generating behaviour more similar to specific players.Comment: Extended Abstracts of the 2019 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (CHI Play

Real Effect or Bias? Best Practices for Evaluating the Robustness of Real-World Evidence through Quantitative Sensitivity Analysis for Unmeasured Confounding

The assumption of no unmeasured confounders is a critical but unverifiable assumption required for causal inference yet quantitative sensitivity analyses to assess robustness of real-world evidence remains underutilized. The lack of use is likely in part due to complexity of implementation and often specific and restrictive data requirements required for application of each method. With the advent of sensitivity analyses methods that are broadly applicable in that they do not require identification of a specific unmeasured confounder, along with publicly available code for implementation, roadblocks toward broader use are decreasing. To spur greater application, here we present a best practice guidance to address the potential for unmeasured confounding at both the design and analysis stages, including a set of framing questions and an analytic toolbox for researchers. The questions at the design stage guide the research through steps evaluating the potential robustness of the design while encouraging gathering of additional data to reduce uncertainty due to potential confounding. At the analysis stage, the questions guide researchers to quantifying the robustness of the observed result and providing researchers with a clearer indication of the robustness of their conclusions. We demonstrate the application of the guidance using simulated data based on a real-world fibromyalgia study, applying multiple methods from our analytic toolbox for illustration purposes.Comment: 16 pages which includes 5 figure