Customer Discrimination and Employment Outcomes: Theory and Evidence from the French Labor Market

The paper investigates the link between the over-exposure of African immigrants to unemployment in France and their under-representation in jobs in contact with customers. We build a two-sector matching model with ethnic sector-specific preferences, economy-wide employer discrimination, and customer discrimination in jobs in contact with customers. The outcomes of the model allow us to build a test of ethnic discrimination in general and customer discrimination in particular. We run the test on French individual data in a cross-section of Employment Areas. Our results show that there is customer discrimination in the French labor market for contact jobs; a decrease in discrimination intensity by one standard deviation would reduce the raw unemployment rate of African immigrants by 4.3 percentage points.Customer Discrimination; Matching frictions; Jobs in contact; Ethnic Unemployment

Production, by co-grinding in a media mill, of porous biodegradable polylactic acid-apatite composite materials for bone tissue engineering

This paper presents the results of a study of the production of porous biodegradable composite materials by co-grinding, followed by scaffolding. Dry powders of polylactic acid and nanocrystalline carbonated apatite, analogous to bone mineral were co-ground in a tumbling ball mill in order to disperse the mineral filler within the polymer. Porous scaffolds were then made by hot moulding the mixture of the two components along with a pore-forming agent which was subsequently eliminated by washing. The mechanical resistance of the scaffolds was evaluated in order to determine the best operating conditions to produce implants offering optimised properties for use as bone substitutes. It was shown that 30 wt.% of filler and 70 wt.% of pore-forming agent produce scaffolds which are sufficiently porous and resistan

The Neighbor is King: Customer Discrimination in the Housing Market

This paper provides a method to single out customer-based discrimination in the housing market. We build a matching model with ethnic externalities where landlords differ in the number of housing units they own within the same building. Multiple-dwelling landlords discriminate more often than single-dwelling landlords only if some tenants are prejudiced against the minority group. By testing the null hypothesis whereby minority tenants are equally likely to have a multiple-dwelling landlord, we can test whether there is customer discrimination or not. We run the test on French data and show evidence of customer discrimination in the rental market

Customer Discrimination and Employment Outcomes: Theory and Evidence from the French Labor Market

The paper investigates the link between the over-exposure of African immigrants to unemployment in France and their under-representation in jobs in contact with customers. We build a two-sector matching model with ethnic sector-specific preferences, economy-wide employer discrimination, and customer discrimination in jobs in contact with customers. The outcomes of the model allow us to build a test of ethnic discrimination in general and customer discrimination in particular. We run the test on French individual data in a cross-section of Employment Areas. Our results show that there is customer discrimination in the French labor market for contact jobs; a decrease in discrimination intensity by one standard deviation would reduce the raw unemployment rate of African immigrants by 4.3 percentage points

Weaning Strategy from Veno-Arterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO)

Background: Significant advances in extracorporeal technology have led to the more widespread use of veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA ECMO) for cardiac failure. However, procedures for weaning from VA ECMO are not standardized. High death rate after successful weaning shows that many questions remain unresolved in this field

Patients with hematologic malignancies have many reasons to die during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation

We read with great interest the article by Wohlfarth and colleagues regarding the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in 14 adult patients with hematological malignancies. We would like to highlight two main points. First, the authors focused their report and their discussion on bleeding complications and anticoagulation management in this high-risk population. Although we concede that it is a serious concern in these patients, it is not the only one. ECMO support is associated with nosocomial infections. Impairment of cellular immunity, cytopenia and chemotherapy (CT) may further increase the risks of infection and may dissuade clinicians from using ECMO in these patients. Developing new strategies that aim to limit nosocomial infections is crucial to improving outcomes in this population. ECMO in awake, non-intubated, spontaneously breathing patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome, to avoid mechanical ventilation and its related adverse events, is a potentially promising application. Thus, in our opinion, it would also be important to provide a thorough description of nosocomial infections that might have occurred in these 14 patients. Second, the authors reported that 5 of 14 patients initially received CT while receiving ECMO. The pharmacokinetics of many of the medications administered to patients receiving ECMO are complex and, to date, there are very limited data to guide our daily practice. Therefore, clinicians must be aware that providing CT to patients receiving ECMO is a potential gamble, which risks worsening patient outcomes due to ineffective drug regimens. CT during ECMO should be restricted to those cases where postponing therapy is not an option

Production par co-broyage de matériaux composites poreux biodégradables à usage orthopédique

L’article présente les résultats d’une étude sur la production de matériaux composites poreux biodégradables par co-broyage suivi d’une mise en forme. De l’acide polylactique et une apatite nanocristalline carbonatée analogue au minéral osseux, sous forme de poudres, ont été cobroyés dans un broyeur à boulets afin de disperser la charge minérale dans le polymère. Des implants poreux ont ensuite été réalisés en moulant à chaud le mélange des deux constituants et un agent porogène qui a ensuite été éliminé par lessivage. La résistance mécanique des implants a enfin été caractérisée. Il a été montré que des pourcentages de 30 % de charge et 70 % d’agent porogène permettent de produire des implants suffisamment poreux et résistants