Structure and performance of the services sector in transition economies

This paper examines the structure and performance of the services sector in Eastern European and Central Asian countries during 1997-2004. Services represent an increasing share of total value added and employment with the major sub-sectors being wholesale trade, retail trade, inland transport, telecommunications, and real estate activities. A clear divide separates EU-5 countries from South Eastern European countries and Ukraine in terms of services labor productivity. Although a large gap in productivity also separates EU-8 countries from EU-15 countries, that gap was reduced from 1997 to 2004 as most services sub-sectors experienced fast productivity growth. High skill intensive sub-sectors and information and communications technology producers and users have exhibited higher productivity levels and growth rates relative to other sub-sectors since 2000. The author finds a positive effect of services liberalization on the productivity growth of services sub-sectors. The author also finds a positive and significant effect of services liberalization in both finance and infrastructure on the productivity of downstream manufacturing.Labor Policies,E-Business,Labor Markets,Economic Theory&Research,Transport Economics Policy&Planning

Scaling of nascent nodes in extended s-wave superconductors

We analyze the low-energy properties of superconductors near the onset of accidental nodes, i.e. zeroes of the gap function not enforced by symmetry. The existence of such nodes has been motivated by recent experiments suggesting a transition between nodeless and nodal superconductivity in iron-based compounds. We find that the low-temperature behavior of the penetration depth, the specific heat, and the NMR spin-lattice relaxation rate are determined by the scaling properties of a quantum critical point associated with the nascent nodes. Although the power-law exponents are insensitive to weak short-range electronic interactions, they can be significantly altered by the curvature of the Fermi surface or by the three-dimensional character of the gap. Consequently, the behavior of macroscopic quantities near the onset of nodes can be used as a criterion to determine the nodal structure of the gap function.Comment: minor changes; version accepted for publicatio

Antimicrobial susceptibility assessment of Campylobacter on outdoor iberian pig sows

Both Campylobacter and Salmonella are considered the most frequent bacterial causes of human enteritis in industrialized countries. The consumption of raw or undercooked poultry and pork contaminated meat products are the main sources of human infection. The prevalence of Campylobacter and Salmonella was determined in the present work for extensive production Iberian pig sows, Sus mediterraneus. Samples were collected at the maternity area of a creator from, water drinkers, feed and feed containers as well as from sows faecal matter. Of 42 samples, 31 and 23 carried Campylobacter spp. and Salmonella spp. respectively. Only Salmonella spp. was found in all 3 tested water and feed containers. Of the 58 isolated Campylobacter strains only one was identified, by multiplex-PCR, as Campylobacter jejuni, all other were C. coli. Antibiotic susceptibility was performed by disc diffusion method with Nalidixic acid, Ciprofloxacin, Erythromycin, Tetracycline, Chloramphenicol and Ampicilin. While 95% of the tested strains were susceptible to chloramphenicol, 66% and 53% were resistant to the tested fluoroquinolones, Ciprofloxacin and Nalidixic acid respectively. Erythromycin resistance was fairly low in comparison to previous publications with 14% of resistant strains. 38% were resistant to Tetracycline and 57% to Ampicilin. Seven of the 58 Campylobacter strains were entirely susceptible and none were resistant to all the antimicrobials tested. Multiple drug resistance was found in 88% of strains. Cross contamination may occur between sows inside maternity facilities and piglets may become infected in an early age by their mothers. New and better control measures are therefore necessary to minimize transmission between animals reducing the number of contaminated individuals and the potential transmission to human handlers and consumers