Essays on the impact of education on misclassified civic outcomes: studies of Italy and the UK

In this dissertation I examine the impact of education on a range of civic outcomes in Italy and the UK which embody two of the main dimensions of social capital: civic engagement and social trust. The central aim of this thesis is to attain a credible re- lationship between education and civic outcomes, accounting for diverse issues which may obscure it. Namely, unobservables driving education choices (i.e., endogeneity), and the tendency to under-report sensitive topics and over-report civic opinions (i.e., misclassi�cation). This approach allows me to ascertain the extent to which the causal e�ect of schooling on the civic indicators is either genuine or is driven mainly by endogeneity and a systematic misreporting by educational levels. I also investigate how these elements vary by contextual factors of the two countries. The contribution in this area is given by utilizing data from these two countries, considering a distinct group of civic outcomes (i.e., civic opinions and civic behaviours) and by dealing with misreporting. Previous research does not explicitly control for misclassi�cation and focuses on civic engagement, one aspect of social capital. Furthermore, I con- tribute by introducing a hurdle ordered probit with misclassi�cation to account for two issues regarding the distribution of a self-reported ordered outcome, its skewness and its misclassi�cation. The main �ndings are: (i) for Italy, qualitative overall con- clusions regarding the causality of education on civic outcomes are indeed a�ected when accounting for misclassi�cation: education turns out to be insigni�cant across civic behaviours, (ii) for the UK, on the contrary, education has signi�cant positive e�ects on all civic outcomes due to upward biases induced by endogeneity, (iii) both Italy and the UK, however, do not di�er substantially overall with regards to misre- porting: most civic outcomes are misclassi�ed for either country, and misreporting is more severe for civic behaviours due to a larger in uence of social desirability

Intergenerational Education Effects of Early Marriage in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper analyzes the evolution of the effects on educational inequality of early marriage by looking at the impact of whether women had married young on their children’s schooling outcomes for 25–32 countries (Demographic and Health Surveys) in 2000 and 2010 for Sub-Saharan Africa. We also explore indirect pathways—mother’s education, health, and empowerment as well as community channels—operating from early marriage to child schooling and assess the presence of negative externalities for non-early married mothers and their children on education transmission in communities with large rates of child marriage. In our econometric analysis we employ OLS, matching, instrumental variables, and pseudo-panel for a better understanding of changes over time. Our results show that early marriage is still a significant source of inequality, though its impact has decreased across time: girls born to early married mothers are between 6% and 11% more likely to never been to school and 1.6% and 1.7% to enter late, and 3.3% and 5.1% less likely to complete primary school, whereas boys are between 5.2% and 8.8% more likely to never been to school and 1% and 1.9% to enter late, and 2.3% and 5.5% less likely to complete primary school. Second, child marriage increases gender inequality within household’s with girls losing an additional 0.07 years of schooling as compared to boys if born to early married mothers. Third, our estimates show that mother’s education and health mediate some of the effect of early marriage and that the large prevalence of child marriage in a community also impairs educational transmission for non-early married mothers. Fourth, empowering of young wives can weaken other channels of transmission of education inequalities. Overall, our findings highlight the need to target these children with the appropriate interventions and support to achieve the greater focus on equity in the global post-2015 education agenda

The impact of bullying on students’ learning in Latin America: A matching approach for 15 countries

We examine the impact of bullying on learning and non-cognitive outcomes for sixth grade students in 15 Latin America countries using data from the Third Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (TERCE) learning survey. We apply OLS and propensity score matching to attenuate the impact of confounding factors. Matching results show that students being bullied achieve between 9.6 and 18.4 points less in math than their non-bullied peers whilst in reading between 5.8 and 19.4 lower scores, a 0.07-0.22 reduction in the standard deviation of test scores. Thus, substantial learning gains could be accomplished by anti-bullying policies in the region

Insertion of Tetracysteine Motifs into Dopamine Transporter Extracellular Domains

The neuronal dopamine transporter (DAT) is a major determinant of extracellular dopamine (DA) levels and is the primary target for a variety of addictive and therapeutic psychoactive drugs. DAT is acutely regulated by protein kinase C (PKC) activation and amphetamine exposure, both of which modulate DAT surface expression by endocytic trafficking. In order to use live imaging approaches to study DAT endocytosis, methods are needed to exclusively label the DAT surface pool. The use of membrane impermeant, sulfonated biarsenic dyes holds potential as one such approach, and requires introduction of an extracellular tetracysteine motif (tetraCys; CCPGCC) to facilitate dye binding. In the current study, we took advantage of intrinsic proline-glycine (Pro-Gly) dipeptides encoded in predicted DAT extracellular domains to introduce tetraCys motifs into DAT extracellular loops 2, 3, and 4. [3H]DA uptake studies, surface biotinylation and fluorescence microscopy in PC12 cells indicate that tetraCys insertion into the DAT second extracellular loop results in a functional transporter that maintains PKC-mediated downregulation. Introduction of tetraCys into extracellular loops 3 and 4 yielded DATs with severely compromised function that failed to mature and traffic to the cell surface. This is the first demonstration of successful introduction of a tetracysteine motif into a DAT extracellular domain, and may hold promise for use of biarsenic dyes in live DAT imaging studies

The Efficiency of Secondary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: EESSA Project The Case of Malawi

There is limited research on secondary education in sub-Saharan Africa that explores the key factors which can promote efficient and effective secondary schools. What there is includes IIEP studies by Lewin and Caillods (2001), and the outputs from the World Bank's Secondary Education in Africa programme that includes analysis of costs and efficiency (Lewin 2008). Knowledge gaps remain with the risk that African governments embarking on large scale reforms in secondary education may invest in ways that fail to identify the components of the system and processes that drive efficient and effective delivery of secondary education, and therefore which areas to prioritize investment to achieve universal access. This study of secondary school efficiency and effectiveness in Malawi responds to this gap and provides evidence to inform discussions about key reforms in secondary education to improve quality and equitable access, especially for disadvantaged groups.Using both survey and case study data, the study analysed school efficiency in different types and sizes of secondary schools. The main output measure was final examination grades. For an estimation of inputs, teacher numbers, student-teacher ratio, class sizes, teacher quality (qualified/unqualified), and other infrastructure and material resources in schools was used. The samples sizes for the analysis was based on 88 secondary schools

The Efficiency of Secondary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: EESSA Project The Case of Uganda

There is limited research on secondary education in sub-Saharan African context that explores the keyfactors that promote efficient and effective secondary schools. What there is includes IIEP studies byLewin and Caillods (2001), and the outputs from the World Bank's Secondary Education in Africa programme that includes analysis of costs and efficiency (Lewin 2008). Knowledge gaps remain withthe risk that African governments embarking on large scale reforms in secondary education may investin ways that fail to identify the components of the system and processes that drive efficient and effectivedelivery of secondary education, and therefore which areas to prioritize investment to achieve universalaccess. This large study of secondary school efficiency and effectiveness in Uganda responds to this gapand provides evidence to inform discussions about key reforms in secondary education to improve qualityand equitable access, especially for disadvantaged groups

QTL and systems genetics analysis of mouse grooming and behavioral responses to novelty in an open field

International audienceThe open field is a classic test used to assess exploratory behavior, anxiety, and locomotor activity in rodents. Here we mapped quantitative trait loci (QTLs) underlying behaviors displayed in an open field, using a panel of 53 BXD recombinant inbred mouse strains with deep replication (10 per strain and sex). The use of these strains permits the integration and comparison of data obtained in different laboratories, and also offers the possibility to study trait covariance by exploiting powerful bioinformatics tools and resources. We quantified behavioral traits during 20 min test sessions including (1) percent time spent and distance travelled near the wall (thigmotaxis), (2) leaning against the wall, (3) rearing, (4) jumping, (5) grooming duration, (6) grooming frequency, (7) locomotion, and (8) defecation. All traits exhibit moderate heritability making them amenable to genetic analysis. We identified a significant QTL on chromosome M.m. 4 at ~104 Mb that modulates grooming duration in both males and females (LRS values of ~18, explaining 25% and 14% of the variance, respectively) and a suggestive QTL modulating locomotion that maps to the same locus. Bioinformatic analysis indicates Disabled 1 (Dab1, a key protein in the reelin signaling pathway) as a particularly strong candidate gene modulating these behaviors. We also found two highly suggestive QTLs for a sex by strain interaction for grooming duration on chromosomes 13 and 17. In addition, we identified a pairwise epistatic interaction between loci on chromosomes 12 at 36-37 Mb and 14 at 34-36 Mb that influences rearing frequency in males

RINL, Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor Rab5-Subfamily, Is Involved in the EphA8-Degradation Pathway with Odin

The Rab family of small guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) plays a vital role in membrane trafficking. Its active GTP-bound state is driven by guanine nucleotide-exchange factors (GEFs). Ras and Rab interactor (or Ras interaction/interference)-like (RINL), which contains a conserved VPS9 domain critical for GEF action, was recently identified as a new Rab5 subfamily GEF in vitro. However, its detailed function and interacting molecules have not yet been fully elucidated. Here we found that RINL has GEF activity for the Rab5 subfamily proteins by measuring their GTP-bound forms in cultured cells. We also found that RINL interacts with odin, a member of the ankyrin-repeat and sterile-alpha motif (SAM) domain-containing (Anks) protein family. In addition, the Eph tyrosine kinase receptor EphA8 formed a ternary complex with both RINL and odin. Interestingly, RINL expression in cultured cells reduced EphA8 levels in a manner dependent on both its GEF activity and interaction with odin. In addition, knockdown of RINL increased EphA8 level in HeLa cells. Our findings suggest that RINL, as a GEF for Rab5 subfamily, is implicated in the EphA8-degradation pathway via its interaction with odin

The Interaction Properties of the Human Rab GTPase Family – A Comparative Analysis Reveals Determinants of Molecular Binding Selectivity

Rab GTPases constitute the largest subfamily of the Ras protein superfamily. Rab proteins regulate organelle biogenesis and transport, and display distinct binding preferences for effector and activator proteins, many of which have not been elucidated yet. The underlying molecular recognition motifs, binding partner preferences and selectivities are not well understood.Comparative analysis of the amino acid sequences and the three-dimensional electrostatic and hydrophobic molecular interaction fields of 62 human Rab proteins revealed a wide range of binding properties with large differences between some Rab proteins. This analysis assists the functional annotation of Rab proteins 12, 14, 26, 37 and 41 and provided an explanation for the shared function of Rab3 and 27. Rab7a and 7b have very different electrostatic potentials, indicating that they may bind to different effector proteins and thus, exert different functions. The subfamily V Rab GTPases which are associated with endosome differ subtly in the interaction properties of their switch regions, and this may explain exchange factor specificity and exchange kinetics.We have analysed conservation of sequence and of molecular interaction fields to cluster and annotate the human Rab proteins. The analysis of three dimensional molecular interaction fields provides detailed insight that is not available from a sequence-based approach alone. Based on our results, we predict novel functions for some Rab proteins and provide insights into their divergent functions and the determinants of their binding partner selectivity

Sharp bounds and normalization of Wiener-type indices

10.1371/journal.pone.0078448PLoS ONE811-POLN