Estimating the employment effect of the minimum wage through variation in compliance: evidence from five US states

The implications of a binding minimum wage law on employment have been the subject of a lively and ongoing debate. Estimation of employment effects may be hindered by the non-random manner in which minimum wage laws are created. To overcome this, we explore the employment implications of the minimum wage in the US restaurant industry through an approach that exploits variation in compliance, as opposed to legislation. In the five US states without state minimum wages, violations of the US federal minimum wage are shown to be associated with decreased employment in the restaurant industry in the time period around the federal minimum wage increases of 2007 through 2009. The most robust specification shows an elasticity of employment with respect to unpaid wages of -0.233. Robustness checks use earlier time periods to show results do not reflect seasonal trends, vary the group of industries used as controls, and only use 2007 to show estimates are not confounded by a unique effect of the Great Recession on the restaurant industry

Regulation enforcement

This paper compares the effectiveness of two mechanisms of regulation enforcement: (1) the frequency of inspections and (2) penalties for violations. Threat effects of increased penalties and inspection rates, rather than corrective effects upon receiving an inspection or penalty, are the focus of analysis. Mining industry data from 2004–2009 are used to analyze the responses of mines to separate increases in inspections and citation penalties regarding regulations of safety standards. Mines did not improve safety in response to increased penalties at the ex-ante inspecting rates; however, mines significantly reduced accidents under increased inspections when implemented at those higher penalty rates. The identification strategy results in a local average treatment effect that implies increasing inspection rates from current levels would likely increase social welfare. Results are shown to be robust to bandwidth changes and model specification. The interpretation of the estimated local effect in the context of selection is analyzed. Robustness checks regarding selection exploit staffing changes and restrict to similar samples of treated and non-treated mines, justifying that results are representative

Benchmarking leads to a dynamic of constant growth in university leaders' pay

Based on an analysis of ten years of pay data, Michael W. Gmeiner, Richard McManus and Adelina Gschwandtner shed light on the complex process used to determine salaries for top university executives in the UK and show how benchmarking against peer institutions drives growth in pay packages for Vice Chancellors (VCs)

Numerical Analysis of the Effects of Engineering Measures on the Sediment Transport and Morphodynamics on the Lower Danube

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchive

River Bed Degradation and Morphological Development Before and After River Restoration Measures at the Danube River East of Vienna

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchive

Detection of DHCMT long-term metabolite glucuronides with LC-MSMS as an alternative approach to conventional GC-MSMS analysis

Dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (DHCMT) is one of the most detected illicit used anabolic–androgenic steroids in professional sports. Therefore, a fast and accurate analysis of this substance is of great importance for a constructive fight against doping abuse. The conventional method for the analysis of this drug, GC-MSMS, is very sensitive and selective but also very time- and resource-consuming. With the presented work, a new approach for simple detection with LC-HRMSMS without any sample preparation is introduced. The method is based on the direct analysis of two newly described phase-II metabolites of the DHCMT long-term metabolite 4-chloro-18-nor-17β-hydroxymethyl-17α-methyl-5β-androst-13-en-3α-ol (M3). LC-HRMSMS, GC-MSMS, fractionation and derivatization experiments are combined to identify and characterize for the first time two different glucuronide-acid conjugates of this metabolite in positive human urine samples. In addition, a third glucuronide metabolite was identified, however without isomeric structure determination. The detection of these metabolites is particularly interesting for confirmation analyses, as the method is rapid and requires little sample material

Detection of DHCMT long-term metabolite glucuronides with LC-MSMS as an alternative approach to conventional GC-MSMS analysis

Dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (DHCMT) is one of the most detected illicit used anabolic–androgenic steroids in professional sports. Therefore, a fast and accurate analysis of this substance is of great importance for a constructive fight against doping abuse. The conventional method for the analysis of this drug, GC-MSMS, is very sensitive and selective but also very time- and resource-consuming. With the presented work, a new approach for simple detection with LC-HRMSMS without any sample preparation is introduced. The method is based on the direct analysis of two newly described phase-II metabolites of the DHCMT long-term metabolite 4-chloro-18-nor-17β-hydroxymethyl-17α-methyl-5β-androst-13-en-3α-ol (M3). LC-HRMSMS, GC-MSMS, fractionation and derivatization experiments are combined to identify and characterize for the first time two different glucuronide-acid conjugates of this metabolite in positive human urine samples. In addition, a third glucuronide metabolite was identified, however without isomeric structure determination. The detection of these metabolites is particularly interesting for confirmation analyses, as the method is rapid and requires little sample material

Grundlegende Prozesse betreffend Hydraulik, Sedimenttransport und Flussmorphologie an der Donau

Im Rahmen des Pilotprojektes Bad Deutsch-Altenburg wurde vor, während und nach der gleichzeitigen Umsetzung mehrerer Maßnahmen (Buhnenumbau, Granulometrische Sohlverbesserung GSV, Uferrückbau und Gewässervernetzung) ein umfassendes Monitoringprogramm durchgeführt. Ziel war es, neben der Ist-Zustandserfassung, Begleitung und Dokumentation der Bauphase und der Erfassung der Entwicklung nach Bau auch die zugrunde liegenden Prozesse hinsichtlich Hydraulik, Sedimenttransport und Flussmorphologie zu analysieren. Erstmals wurde dabei die zeitliche Schwankung der Sohlschubspannung direkt gemessen. Die auftretenden Sohlschubspannungen folgten dabei in Abhängigkeit von der Turbulenzintensität einer Log-Normal- oder einer Normalverteilung. Diese Schwankungen sind mit ein Grund, weshalb schon bei Niederwasser ein nennenswerter Geschiebetransport gemessen wurde. Der effektive Durchfluss des Geschiebetransportes liegt dabei im Bereich von 2000 und 2200 m3/s. 50% Prozent des Geschiebes wird bei Durchflüssen bis 2300 m3/s transportiert, mit Jahresfrachten von 306.000 bis 594.000 t für die Jahre 2006 bis 2014. Bei Betrachtung des Transportverhaltens einzelner Tracersteine in 3 Größenklassen durchwanderten 74% der Steine die 3 km lange Strecke in einem Jahr, mit Geschwindigkeiten von 6,2 bis 10,6 m/d. Kleine Steine bewegten sich häufiger und weiter als mittlere und große, welche ein ähnliches Transportverhalten aufwiesen. Die erstmalig an der Donau beschriebenen Kiesdünen erreichten im Vergleich wesentlich höhere Geschwindigkeiten mit 2,5 bis 9 m/h. Ein Abgleich mit Fangkorbmessungen zeigte, dass Kiesdünen, wenn sie auftreten, den überwiegenden Teil des Geschiebetransportprozesses bestimmen.In the scope of the Pilotproject Bad Deutsch-Altenburg a comprehensive monitoring program was conducted, prior, during and after the implementation of several measures (groyne reconstruction, granulometric bed improvementGBI, river bank restoration and side arm reconnection). Beside the documentation of the current status, during the construction works and after the implementation of the measures, description and analyses of the underlying processes concerning hydrodynamics, sediment transport and morphology were a main objective. For the first time the instantaneous bed shear stress was measured directly in a gravel bed river. The probability distributions of the occurring bed shear stress, showed a dependency on the turbulence intensity, either following a log-normal or a normal distribution. Those fluctuations seem to be one of the reasons for a notable bed load transport, measured during low flow conditions in the Danube. The effective discharge lies in a discharge range from 2000 to 2200 m3/s, with 50% of the bed load being transported at discharges up to 2300 m3/s and an annual bed load transport between 306,000 and 594,000 tons for the years 2006 to 2014. Regarding the transport behaviour of single tracer stones 74% passed the 3 km long reach within one year, with a virtual velocity between 6,2 and 10,6 m/d. Small stones moved more frequent and farther, compared to the medium and big stones, who showed a comparable transport behaviour. In comparison gravel dunes moving with 2,59 m/h have a substantially higher velocity, and tend to dominate the bed load transport process when occurring.(VLID)136346

Free Fermion Orientifolds

We investigate a class of orientifold models based on tensor products of 18 Ising models. Using the same search criteria as for the comparable case of Gepner model orientifolds we find that there are no three-family standard model configurations with tadpole cancellation. Even if we do not impose the latter requirement, we only find one such configuration in the special case of complex free fermions. In order to allow a comparison with other approaches we enumerate the Hodge numbers of the type-IIB theories we obtain. We provide indications that there are fermionic IIB vacua that are not $Z_2\times Z_2$ orbifolds.Comment: 18 pages + Appendix; references adde

Stakeholder views on the acceptability of human infection studies in Malawi.

BACKGROUND: Human infection studies (HIS) are valuable in vaccine development. Deliberate infection, however, creates challenging questions, particularly in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) where HIS are new and ethical challenges may be heightened. Consultation with stakeholders is needed to support contextually appropriate and acceptable study design. We examined stakeholder perceptions about the acceptability and ethics of HIS in Malawi, to inform decisions about planned pneumococcal challenge research and wider understanding of HIS ethics in LMICs. METHODS: We conducted 6 deliberative focus groups and 15 follow-up interviews with research staff, medical students, and community representatives from rural and urban Blantyre. We also conducted 5 key informant interviews with clinicians, ethics committee members, and district health government officials. RESULTS: Stakeholders perceived HIS research to have potential population health benefits, but they also had concerns, particularly related to the safety of volunteers and negative community reactions. Acceptability depended on a range of conditions related to procedures for voluntary and informed consent, inclusion criteria, medical care or support, compensation, regulation, and robust community engagement. These conditions largely mirror those in existing guidelines for HIS and biomedical research in LMICs. Stakeholder perceptions pointed to potential tensions, for example, balancing equity, safety, and relevance in inclusion criteria. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest HIS research could be acceptable in Malawi, provided certain conditions are in place. Ongoing assessment of participant experiences and stakeholder perceptions will be required to strengthen HIS research during development and roll-out