The Effect of Obesity on Wages and Employment: The Difference Between Having a High BMI and Being Fat

In this paper, we re-examine the relationship between overweight and labour market success, using indicators of individual body composition along with BMI (Body Mass Index). We use the dataset from Finland in which weight, height, fat mass and waist circumference are not self-reported, but obtained as part of the overall health examination. We find that waist circumference, but not weight or fat mass, has a negative effect on wages for women, whereas all measures of obesity have negative effects on women’s employment probabilities. For men, the only obesity measure that is significant for men’s employment probabilities is fat mass. One interpretation of our findings is that the negative wage effects of overweight on wages run through the discrimination channel, but that the negative effects of overweight on employment have more to do with ill health. All in all, measures of body composition provide a more refined picture about the effects of obesity on wages and employment.

Influence of phosphate ligands in abolishing the conformational difference between ribonuclease A and its acid-denatured derivative

The initial structural alteration of RNAase A due to acid denaturation (0.5 N HCl, 30 degrees C) that accompanies deamidation (without altering enzymic activity) has been dectected by spectrophotometric titration, fluorescence and ORD/CD measurements. It is shown that acid treated RNAase A has an altered conformation at neutral pH, 25 degrees C. This is characterized by the increased accessibility of buried tyrosine residue(s) towards the solvent. The most altered conformation of RNAase A is found in the 10 h acid-treated derivative. This has about 1.5 additional exposed tyrosine residues and a lesser amount of secondary structure than RNAase A. All three methods (titration, fluorescence and CD) established that the structural transition of RNAase A is biphasic. The first phase occurs within 1 h and the resulting subtle conformational change is constant up to 7 h. Following this, after the release of 0.55 mol of ammonia, the major conformational change begins. The altered conformation of the acid-denatured RNAase A could be reversed completely to the native state through a conformational change induced by substrate analogs like 2'- or 3'-CMP. Thus the monodeamidated derivative isolated from the acid-denatured RNAase A by phosphate is very similar to RNAase A in over-all conformation. The results suggest the possibility of flexibility in the RNAase A molecule that does not affect its catalytic activity, as probed through the tyrosine residues.

Supramolecular Chirality in Organogels: A Detailed Spectroscopic, Morphological, and Rheological Investigation of Gels (and Xerogels) Derived from Alkyl Pyrenyl Urethanes

This Article addresses the formation of chiral supramolecular structures in the organogels derived from chiral organogelator 1R (or 2R), and its mixtures with its enantiomer (1S) and achiral analogue 3 by extensive circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopic measurements. Morphological analysis by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were complemented by the measurements of their bulk properties by thermal stability and rheological studies. Specific molecular recognition events (1/3 vs 2/3) and solvent effects (isooctane vs dodecane) were found to be critical in the formation of chiral aggregates. Theoretical studies were also carried out to understand the interactions responsible for the formation of the superstructures.

Studies of fungi associated with Tomicus piniperda L. in Finland

The Scots pine bark beetle, Tomicus piniperda is a secondary colonizer of pine and other conifers. It is a native species from Europe and Asia that was recently introduced in North America. Although it is necessary to understand this insect's interactions with other organisms, few studies have focussed on its fungal associates. This study focused on the effect of latitude in the occurrence of fungi associated with T. piniperda. T. piniperda were collected from Pinus sylvestris in Northern (Rovaniemi) and Southern (Hyytiala) Finland. Both endo- and epi- mycota were isolated. The fungi were identified using a combination of morphological features and molecular data. The results revealed a great diversity of fungi species associated with T. piniperda, with a total of 3073 isolates representing 23 species. The most frequently isolated fungi in the bark beetles from Northern Finland were Beauvaria bassiana, Kuraishia sp. and Penicillium sp. whereas P. brevicompactum and Mortierella sp. were mostly observed in the South. Ophiostoma canum and O. minus were also observed. The number of isolates per insect in the north was 2.83 epi- and 2.38 for endo-mycota fungus. In the south, the number of isolates per insect was 4.1 for epi- and 3.5 for endo-mycota. Statistical analysis indicated that there was significant differences in fungal populations associated with the beetles in Southern and Northern Finland. There was however no significant difference between the epi- and endo-mycota fungal populations. The highest richness and diversity of the fungal species was observed in the South. However, the overall fungal diversity index analysis revealed that the mycobiota was undersampled.

Analysis of the evanescent field coupling between a fiber and a planar waveguide using the explicit finite difference method with a nonuniform mesh (Journal Paper)

We investigate an optical waveguide system consisting of an unclad fiber core suspended at a constant distance parallel to the surface of a planar waveguide. The coupling and propagation of light in the combined system is studied using the three-dimensional explicit finite difference beam propagation method with a nonuniform mesh configuration. The power loss in the fiber and the field distribution in the waveguide are studied as a function of various parameters, such as index changes, index profile, and propagation distance, for the combined system.

Behavioural and morphological dimorphism of the sexes: an account of two primitively eusocial wasps

In social Hymenoptera, foraging, nest building, brood care and all other colony maintenance functions are carried out by the females while males function solely as reproductives. This asymmetry in social roles of the two sexes has led social insect researchers to focus almost exclusively on the females whereas males have remained relatively neglected. We studied two sympatric, primitively eusocial wasps, Ropalidia marginata and Ropalidia cyathiformis, and compared the morphological and behavioural profiles of males and females. Males of both species are smaller in size and weigh less compared to females. Males of the two species live in the nest for different durations. Borrowing from the ecological literature we use novel methods to compute and compare behavioural diversity and behavioural richness and show that females of both species are behaviourally richer and more diverse than the males.

Liquid phase epitaxial growth of pure and doped GaSb layers: morphological evolution and native defects

Undoped and Te-doped gallium antimonide (GaSb) layers have been grown on GaSb bulk substrates by the liquid phase epitaxial technique from Ga-rich and Sb-rich melts. The nucleation morphology of the grown layers has been studied as a function of growth temperature and substrate orientation. MOS structures have been fabricated on the epilayers to evaluate the native defect content in the grown layers from the C-V characteristics. Layers grown from antimony rich melts always exhibit p-type conductivity. In contrast, a type conversion from p- to n- was observed in layers grown from gallium rich melts below 400 degrees C. The electron mobility of undoped n-type layers grown from Ga-rich melts and tellurium doped layers grown from Sb- and Ga-rich solutions has been evaluated.

Lopsidedness in WHISP galaxies II. Morphological lopsidedness

The distribution of stars and gas in many galaxies is asymmetric. This so-called lopsidedness is expected to significantly affect the dynamics and evolution of the disc, including the star formation activity. Here, we measure the degree of lopsidedness for the gas distribution in a selected sample of 70 galaxies from the Westerbork Hi Survey of Spiral and Irregular Galaxies. This complements our earlier work (Paper I) where the kinematic lopsidedness was derived for the same galaxies. The morphological lopsidedness is measured by performing a harmonic decomposition of the surface density maps. The amplitude of lopsidedness A(1), the fractional value of the first Fourier component, is typically quite high (about 0.1) within the optical disc and has a constant phase. Thus, lopsidedness is a common feature in galaxies and indicates a global mode. We measure A(1) out to typically one to four optical radii, sometimes even further. This is, on average, four times larger than the distance to which lopsidedness was measured in the past using near-IR as a tracer of the old stellar component, and therefore provides a new, more stringent constraint on the mechanism for the origin of lopsidedness. Interestingly, the value of A(1) saturates beyond the optical radius. Furthermore, the plot of A(1) versus radius shows fluctuations that we argue are due to local spiral features. We also try to explain the physical origin of this observed disc lopsidedness. No clear trend is found when the degree of lopsidedness is compared to a measure of the isolation or interaction probability of the sample galaxies. However, this does not rule out a tidal origin if the lopsidedness is long-lived. In addition, we find that the early-type galaxies tend to be more morphologically lopsided than the late-type galaxies. Both results together indicate that lopsidedness has a tidal origin.