Labor Court Inputs, Judicial Cases Outcomes and Labor Flows: Identifying Real EPL.

Using a data set of individual labor disputes brought to court over the years 1990 to 2003 in France, we examine the impact of the enforcement of Employment Protection Legislation on labor market outcomes. First, we present a simple theoretical model showing that judicial case outcomes cannot be directly interpreted in terms of EPL. A large fraction of cases that go to trials may well be a sign of low firing costs when firms face low litigation costs and are therefore willing to go to court or a sign of high firing costs when workers face low litigation costs and are therefore willing to sue the firm. Second, we exploit our model as well as the French institutional setting to generate instruments for these endogenous outcomes. Using these instruments, we show that labor courts decisions have a causal effect on labor flows. More dropped cases and more trials cause more job destructions: more trials indeed are a sign of lower separation costs. More settlements, higher filing rates, a larger fraction of workers represented at trial, large lawyer density dampen job destruction. A larger judge density causes less job creation, in particular on the extensive margin.Employment protection legislation, Labor flows, Labor judges, Unfair dismissal, France

Demonstration of the metaphylactic use of gamithromycin against bacterial pathogens associated with bovine respiratory disease in a multicentre farm trial

On five commercial cattle rearing sites across Europe, a total of 802 young cattle at high risk of developing bovine respiratory disease (BRD) associated with the bacterial pathogens Mannheimia haemolytica or Pasteurella multocida and/or Mycoplasma bovis were enrolled into a multicentre, controlled field trial. Half were treated with a single dose of gamithromycin at 6 mg/kg bodyweight by subcutaneous injection and half received an injection of a saline placebo as the control. All animals were observed daily for 14 days for signs of BRD as defined by set criteria. The proportion of metaphylactic preventive treatment successes, defined as animals surviving to day 14 without signs of BRD, in the gamithromycin-treated group (86 per cent) was significantly (P=0.0012) higher than in the saline-treated controls (61 per cent). Morbidity among the treated animals was reduced by 64 per cent compared with the controls

The 21 cm Signature of Shock Heated and Diffuse Cosmic String Wakes

The analysis of the 21 cm signature of cosmic string wakes is extended in several ways. First we consider the constraints on $G\mu$ from the absorption signal of shock heated wakes laid down much later than matter radiation equality. Secondly we analyze the signal of diffuse wake, that is those wakes in which there is a baryon overdensity but which have not shock heated. Finally we compare the size of these signals compared to the expected thermal noise per pixel which dominates over the background cosmic gas brightness temperature and find that the cosmic string signal will exceed the thermal noise of an individual pixel in the Square Kilometre Array for string tensions $G\mu > 2.5 \times 10^{-8}$.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, Appendix added, version published in JCA

Stents in pediatric and adult congenital cardiac catheterization in France in 2013

Stents have contributed to the development of the interventional catheterization for congenital heart diseases (CHD). The aim of this study was to describe indications, results and adverse events in current practice.MethodsThe participation to this study was proposed to all catheterization laboratories specialized in CHD in France (M3C network). All cases with stents implantation in 2013 in pediatric and adult CHD were retrospectively included. Adverse events were assessed using the Bergersen classification.Results174 stents were implanted during 132 procedures in 127 patients by 6 main operators in 9 centers. Patients were aged 15.7±15.1years old (min 5day-old - max 70years old). Sixteen types of procedures were identified. Main indications were transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement (29 patients, 23.0%), pulmonary artery branches angioplasty (34 patients, 27.0%), aortic (re)coarctation stenting (37 patients, 29.4%) and ductus arteriosus stenting (11 patients, 8.7%). 18 patients (14.3%) were under one y.o and 35 (27.8%) were over 18y.o. Main pathologies were tetralogy of Fallot and variants (ACC-CHD 8.3, n=45, 35.7%), and aortic coarctation (ACC-CHD 9.2, n=36, 28.6%). More than 1 stent was implanted in 32 procedures (24.4%, max. 5 stents). Main stents implanted were the CP stent (33.0%), EV3 LD max (22.0%), Valeo (16.2%) and valved stents (15.0%). 98.5% procedures were considered as successful. Serious adverse events were observed in 12.9%. After multivariate adjustment, only procedure type was related to the risk of total adverse events (OR: 3.0, 95%CI 1.1–7.9) but not to stent related adverse events. Age, weight, center, operator, type of stents, stent diameter, genetic disorder and type of CHD were not significantly related to the risk of adverse events.ConclusionStents are used in various CHD catheterization procedures, from infancy to adult age. Adverse events rate is significant and seems related to the type of procedure

Asian soybean rust: modeling the impact on soybean grain yield in the Triângulo Mineiro / Alto Paranaíba Region, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Understanding the impact of Asian soybean rust on soybean yield is of great importance in the crop simulation model for this crop become it is possible to predict yield using different sowing dates and growth conditions. The goal of this study were to evaluate the performance of two soybean cultivars in Triângulo Mineiro/Alto Paranaíba, MG, Brazil and the effects of soybean rust on the yield of these cultivars using the CSM-CROPGRO Soybean model. Two soybean cultivars NK 7074 (early) and UFUS-Impacta (medium late), which differ in their development cycles, were growing in Uberaba city during the 2009/2010 growing season. The validation for cultivar UFUS-Impacta was conducted comparing the measured and simulated yield data considering three different sowing dates in the Uberlândia city during the 2002/2003 growing season. Daily meteorological data obtained from six meteorological stations of the National Institute of Meteorology (INMET ). To determine the performance of the soybean cultivars and the effect of soybean rust on yield, three different scenarios were used: no occurrence of rust (NOR) and occurrence of rust with inoculum concentrations of U5.000 and U10.000 urediniospores/mL. For all environments studied, the early cultivar had the best performance than the medium late cultivar. Soybean rust had the most effect on yield for the U10.000 scenario than for the U5.000 scenario. The best soybean performance occurred for Araxá and Uberaba cities. The South-Southeast area of the Triângulo Mineiro/Alto Paranaíba region was the most sensitive to the effect of rust on yield compared to the North region

The 21 cm Signature of Cosmic String Wakes

We discuss the signature of a cosmic string wake in 21cm redshift surveys. Since 21cm surveys probe higher redshifts than optical large-scale structure surveys, the signatures of cosmic strings are more manifest in 21cm maps than they are in optical galaxy surveys. We find that, provided the tension of the cosmic string exceeds a critical value (which depends on both the redshift when the string wake is created and the redshift of observation), a cosmic string wake will generate an emission signal with a brightness temperature which approaches a limiting value which at a redshift of $z + 1 = 30$ is close to 400 mK in the limit of large string tension. The signal will have a specific signature in position space: the excess 21cm radiation will be confined to a wedge-shaped region whose tip corresponds to the position of the string, whose planar dimensions are set by the planar dimensions of the string wake, and whose thickness (in redshift direction) depends on the string tension. For wakes created at $z_i + 1 = 10^3$, then at a redshift of $z + 1 = 30$ the critical value of the string tension $\mu$ is $G \mu = 6 \times 10^{-7}$, and it decreases linearly with redshift (for wakes created at the time of equal matter and radiation, the critical value is a factor of two lower at the same redshift). For smaller tensions, cosmic strings lead to an observable absorption signal with the same wedge geometry.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures; a couple of comments added in the discussion sectio