The Effectiveness of Co-Determination Laws in Cooperative and Adversarial Employment Relations: When Does Regulation Have Bite?

The German Codetermination Law grants workers of establishments with 200 or more employees the right to have a works councillor who is fully exempted from his or her regular job duties while still paid a regular salary. This article analyses theoretically and empirically how this de jure right to exemption translates into de facto practice, and explicitly takes into account the nature of the employment relations participation regime. It is found that the right of exemption has no effect in cooperative employment relations because exemptions are granted even in the absence of legal rights, but does make a difference in adversarial relations when exemptions are only granted above the threshold where legal rights force employers to do so, i.e. legal rights do make a decisive difference in exactly those situations where the legislators’ intent would not be realized without the right to legal enforcemen

Quantum value indefiniteness

The indeterministic outcome of a measurement of an individual quantum is certified by the impossibility of the simultaneous, definite, deterministic pre-existence of all conceivable observables from physical conditions of that quantum alone. We discuss possible interpretations and consequences for quantum oracles.Comment: 19 pages, 2 tables, 2 figures; contribution to PC0

Imports, unionization and racial age discrimination in the US

Past studies of the relationship between competition and racial wages find that domestic competition reduces racial wage discrimination of nonunion workers. This article examines the effects of foreign competition on racial wages of union and nonunion workers utilizing an empirical model which allows for cluster-adjusted SEs by industry. Such a procedure allows independence of observations across industries but not within industries, thereby not overstating the significance of industry invariant controls. In this analysis, clustered SEs prevent the overstatement of the significance of imports as a means to reduce earnings discrimination. We find evidence of a wage premium for nonunion white workers in concentrated industries; however, imports cause the wages of nonunion whites to converge towards market rates. In contrast, for union workers in concentrated industries, wage standardization provides a sanctuary from market power initiated discrimination such that imports play a limited role in reducing discrimination

Geographic variation in breeding system and environment predicts melanin-based plumage ornamentation of male and female Kentish plovers

Sexual selection determines the elaboration of morphological and behavioural traits and thus drives the evolution of phenotypes. Sexual selection on males and females can differ between populations, especially when populations exhibit different breeding systems. A substantial body of literature describes how breeding systems shape ornamentation across species, with a strong emphasis on male ornamentation and female preference. However, whether breeding system predicts ornamentation within species and whether similar mechanisms as in males also shape the phenotype of females remains unclear. Here, we investigate how different breeding systems are associated with male and female ornamentation in five geographically distinct populations of Kentish plovers Charadrius alexandrinus. We predicted that polygamous populations would exhibit more elaborate ornaments and stronger sexual dimorphism than monogamous populations. By estimating the size and intensity of male (n = 162) and female (n = 174) melanin-based plumage ornaments, i.e. breast bands and ear coverts, we show that plumage ornamentation is predicted by breeding system in both sexes. A difference in especially male ornamentation between polygamous (darker and smaller ornaments) and monogamous (lighter and larger) populations causes the greatest sexual dimorphism to be associated with polygamy. The non-social environment, however, may also influence the degree of ornamentation, for instance through availability of food. We found that, in addition to breeding system, a key environmental parameter, rainfall, predicted a seasonal change of ornamentation in a sex-specific manner. Our results emphasise that to understand the phenotype of animals, it is important to consider both natural and sexual selection acting on both males and females

Laparoscopy in management of appendicitis in high-, middle-, and low-income countries: a multicenter, prospective, cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Appendicitis is the most common abdominal surgical emergency worldwide. Differences between high- and low-income settings in the availability of laparoscopic appendectomy, alternative management choices, and outcomes are poorly described. The aim was to identify variation in surgical management and outcomes of appendicitis within low-, middle-, and high-Human Development Index (HDI) countries worldwide. METHODS: This is a multicenter, international prospective cohort study. Consecutive sampling of patients undergoing emergency appendectomy over 6 months was conducted. Follow-up lasted 30 days. RESULTS: 4546 patients from 52 countries underwent appendectomy (2499 high-, 1540 middle-, and 507 low-HDI groups). Surgical site infection (SSI) rates were higher in low-HDI (OR 2.57, 95% CI 1.33-4.99, p = 0.005) but not middle-HDI countries (OR 1.38, 95% CI 0.76-2.52, p = 0.291), compared with high-HDI countries after adjustment. A laparoscopic approach was common in high-HDI countries (1693/2499, 67.7%), but infrequent in low-HDI (41/507, 8.1%) and middle-HDI (132/1540, 8.6%) groups. After accounting for case-mix, laparoscopy was still associated with fewer overall complications (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.42-0.71, p < 0.001) and SSIs (OR 0.22, 95% CI 0.14-0.33, p < 0.001). In propensity-score matched groups within low-/middle-HDI countries, laparoscopy was still associated with fewer overall complications (OR 0.23 95% CI 0.11-0.44) and SSI (OR 0.21 95% CI 0.09-0.45). CONCLUSION: A laparoscopic approach is associated with better outcomes and availability appears to differ by country HDI. Despite the profound clinical, operational, and financial barriers to its widespread introduction, laparoscopy could significantly improve outcomes for patients in low-resource environments. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT02179112

Prognostic model to predict postoperative acute kidney injury in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery based on a national prospective observational cohort study.

Background: Acute illness, existing co-morbidities and surgical stress response can all contribute to postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery. The aim of this study was prospectively to develop a pragmatic prognostic model to stratify patients according to risk of developing AKI after major gastrointestinal surgery. Methods: This prospective multicentre cohort study included consecutive adults undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection, liver resection or stoma reversal in 2-week blocks over a continuous 3-month period. The primary outcome was the rate of AKI within 7 days of surgery. Bootstrap stability was used to select clinically plausible risk factors into the model. Internal model validation was carried out by bootstrap validation. Results: A total of 4544 patients were included across 173 centres in the UK and Ireland. The overall rate of AKI was 14·2 per cent (646 of 4544) and the 30-day mortality rate was 1·8 per cent (84 of 4544). Stage 1 AKI was significantly associated with 30-day mortality (unadjusted odds ratio 7·61, 95 per cent c.i. 4·49 to 12·90; P < 0·001), with increasing odds of death with each AKI stage. Six variables were selected for inclusion in the prognostic model: age, sex, ASA grade, preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate, planned open surgery and preoperative use of either an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or an angiotensin receptor blocker. Internal validation demonstrated good model discrimination (c-statistic 0·65). Discussion: Following major gastrointestinal surgery, AKI occurred in one in seven patients. This preoperative prognostic model identified patients at high risk of postoperative AKI. Validation in an independent data set is required to ensure generalizability

Herschel-ATLAS/GAMA : what determines the far-infrared properties of radio galaxies?

We perform a stacking analysis of Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) data in order to obtain isothermal dust temperatures and rest-frame luminosities at 250 mu m (L-250), for a well-defined sample of 1599 radio sources over the H-ATLAS Phase 1/Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) area. The radio sample is generated using a combination of NRAO VLA Sky Survey data and K-band United Kingdom Infrared Telescope Deep Sky Survey-Large Area Survey data, over the redshift range 0.01 < z < 0.8. The far-infrared (FIR) properties of the sample are investigated as a function of 1.4-GHz luminosity, redshift, projected radio-source size and radio spectral index. In order to search for stellar-mass-dependent relations, we split the parent sample into those sources which are below and above 1.5 L-K*. After correcting for stellar mass and redshift, we find no relation between the 250-mu m luminosity and the 1.4-GHz radio luminosity of radio active galactic nuclei. This implies that a galaxy's nominal radio luminosity has little or no bearing on the star formation rate (SFR) and/or dust mass content of the host system, although this does not mean that other variables (e. g. radio source size) related to the jets do not have an effect. The L-250 of both the radio detected and non-radio-detected galaxies (defined as those sources not detected at 1.4 GHz but detected in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey with r' 30 kpc) counterparts. The higher dust temperature suggests that this may be attributed to enhanced SFRs in compact radio galaxies, but whether this is directly or indirectly due to radio activity (e. g. jet-induced or merger-driven star formation) is as yet unknown. For matched samples in L-K and g'-r', sub-1.5 L-K* and super-1.5 L-K* radio-detected galaxies have 0.89 +/- 0.18 and 0.49 +/- 0.12 times the 250 mu m luminosity of their non-radio-detected counterparts. Thus, while no difference in L-250 is observed in sub-1.5 L-K* radio-detected galaxies, a strong deficit is observed in super-1.5 L-K* radio-detected galaxies. We explain these results in terms of the hotter, denser and richer halo environments massive radio galaxies maintain and are embedded in. These environments are expected to quench the cold gas and dust supply needed for further star formation and therefore dust production. Our results indicate that all massive radio galaxies (>1.5 L-K*) may have systematically lower FIR luminosities (similar to 25 per cent) than their colour-matched non-radio-detected counterparts. Finally, no relation between radio spectral index and L-250 is found for the subset of 1.4-GHz radio sources with detections at 330 MHz

An extremely powerful long-lived superluminal ejection from the black hole MAXI J1820+070

Black holes in binary systems execute patterns of outburst activity where two characteristic X-ray states are associated with different behaviours observed at radio wavelengths. The hard state is associated with radio emission indicative of a continuously replenished, collimated, relativistic jet, whereas the soft state is rarely associated with radio emission, and never continuously, implying the absence of a quasi-steady jet. Here we report radio observations of the black hole transient MAXI J1820$+$070 during its 2018 outburst. As the black hole transitioned from the hard to soft state we observed an isolated radio flare, which, using high angular resolution radio observations, we connect with the launch of bi-polar relativistic ejecta. This flare occurs as the radio emission of the core jet is suppressed by a factor of over 800. We monitor the evolution of the ejecta over 200 days and to a maximum separation of 10$''$, during which period it remains detectable due to in-situ particle acceleration. Using simultaneous radio observations sensitive to different angular scales we calculate an accurate estimate of energy content of the approaching ejection. This energy estimate is far larger than that derived from state transition radio flare, suggesting a systematic underestimate of jet energetics

Reproducibility of molecular phenotypes after long-term differentiation to human iPSC-derived neurons: A multi-site omics study

Reproducibility in molecular and cellular studies is fundamental to scientific discovery. To establish the reproducibility of a well-defined long-term neuronal differentiation protocol, we repeated the cellular and molecular comparison of the same two iPSC lines across five distinct laboratories. Despite uncovering acceptable variability within individual laboratories, we detect poor cross-site reproducibility of the differential gene expression signature between these two lines. Factor analysis identifies the laboratory as the largest source of variation along with several variation-inflating confounders such as passaging effects and progenitor storage. Single-cell transcriptomics shows substantial cellular heterogeneity underlying inter-laboratory variability and being responsible for biases in differential gene expression inference. Factor analysis-based normalization of the combined dataset can remove the nuisance technical effects, enabling the execution of robust hypothesis-generating studies. Our study shows that multi-center collaborations can expose systematic biases and identify critical factors to be standardized when publishing novel protocols, contributing to increased cross-site reproducibility