Sozialabgaben und Beschäftigung (Social security contributions and employment)

"The relationship between high social security contributions and the local labour market performance has been and still is intensively discussed in the political arena. Various reform concepts suggested by members of politics and associations are going around. Some measures to restrict the increase in social security contributions have been implemented over the past years. To evaluate the different reform approaches, the causal relationship between social security contributions and employment is of significant importance. The question at the crux of this issue is what effects a change/reduction in the social security contribution rates has on firstly, labour supply and demand alone, and then, when taking into consideration circular-flow effects, on the employment level in the economy as a whole. The analyses of supply and demand show that by reducing social security contributions ceteris paribus additional manpower can be motivated to take up employment, and that companies would be prepared to hire additional workers. This is also true at macroeconomic level. Without counter-financing, the circular-flow model predicts a permanent increase in labour demand, and thus in employment, by 150,000 to 160,000 people in the case of a linear reduction in social security contributions by one percentage point. Considerably lower or even slightly negative employment effects result from counter-financing with direct or indirect taxes or a combination thereof. If the reduction in social security contributions is carried out in an asymmetrical way, for example by means of a tax-free allowance, this results in considerably higher labour market effects than with a linear reduction with an identical volume of financial relief. In order to really be able to realise the additional employment opportunities of low-skilled and low-wage workers provided by an asymmetrical reduction in social security contributions, it would also be important when developing supporting wage policies, for tax increases which also affect low-income groups not to result in a disproportionately large increase in the lower wage groups. This concluding finding shows again the importance of a close co-operation between fiscal policy and collective bargaining policy." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))Sozialabgaben, Beschäftigungseffekte, Arbeitskräfteangebot, Arbeitskräftenachfrage

Modeling of the angular tolerancing of an effective medium diffractive lens using combined finite difference time domain and radiation spectrum method algorithms

International audienceA new rigorous vector-based design and analysis approach of diffractive lenses is presented. It combines the use of two methods: the Finite-Difference Time-Domain for the study in the near field, and the Radiation Spectrum Method for the propagation in the far field. This approach is proposed to design and optimize effective medium cylindrical diffractive lenses for high efficiency structured light illumination systems. These lenses are realised with binary subwavelength features that cannot be designed using the standard scalar theory. Furthermore, because of their finite and high frequencies characteristics, such devices prevent the use of coupled wave theory. The proposed approach is presented to determine the angular tolerance in the cases of binary subwavelength cylindrical lenses by calculating the diffraction efficiency as a function of the incidence angle

A high-order Nystrom discretization scheme for boundary integral equations defined on rotationally symmetric surfaces

A scheme for rapidly and accurately computing solutions to boundary integral equations (BIEs) on rotationally symmetric surfaces in R^3 is presented. The scheme uses the Fourier transform to reduce the original BIE defined on a surface to a sequence of BIEs defined on a generating curve for the surface. It can handle loads that are not necessarily rotationally symmetric. Nystrom discretization is used to discretize the BIEs on the generating curve. The quadrature is a high-order Gaussian rule that is modified near the diagonal to retain high-order accuracy for singular kernels. The reduction in dimensionality, along with the use of high-order accurate quadratures, leads to small linear systems that can be inverted directly via, e.g., Gaussian elimination. This makes the scheme particularly fast in environments involving multiple right hand sides. It is demonstrated that for BIEs associated with the Laplace and Helmholtz equations, the kernel in the reduced equations can be evaluated very rapidly by exploiting recursion relations for Legendre functions. Numerical examples illustrate the performance of the scheme; in particular, it is demonstrated that for a BIE associated with Laplace's equation on a surface discretized using 320,800 points, the set-up phase of the algorithm takes 1 minute on a standard laptop, and then solves can be executed in 0.5 seconds.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1012.56301002.200

INSPEcT: a computational tool to infer mRNA synthesis, processing and degradation dynamics from RNA- and 4sU-seq time course experiments.

Abstract Motivation: Cellular mRNA levels originate from the combined action of multiple regulatory processes, which can be recapitulated by the rates of pre-mRNA synthesis, pre-mRNA processing and mRNA degradation. Recent experimental and computational advances set the basis to study these intertwined levels of regulation. Nevertheless, software for the comprehensive quantification of RNA dynamics is still lacking. Results: INSPEcT is an R package for the integrative analysis of RNA- and 4sU-seq data to study the dynamics of transcriptional regulation. INSPEcT provides gene-level quantification of these rates, and a modeling framework to identify which of these regulatory processes are most likely to explain the observed mRNA and pre-mRNA concentrations. Software performance is tested on a synthetic dataset, instrumental to guide the choice of the modeling parameters and the experimental design. Availability and implementation: INSPEcT is submitted to Bioconductor and is currently available as Supplementary Additional File S1. Contact: [email protected] Supplementary Information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online

Selective transcriptional regulation by Myc: Experimental design and computational analysis of high-throughput sequencing data

AbstractThe gene expression programs regulated by the Myc transcription factor were evaluated by integrated genome-wide profiling of Myc binding sites, chromatin marks and RNA expression in several biological models. Our results indicate that Myc directly drives selective transcriptional regulation, which in certain physiological conditions may indirectly lead to RNA amplification. Here, we illustrate in detail the experimental design concerning the high-throughput sequencing data associated with our study (Sabò et al., Nature. (2014) 511:488–492) and the R scripts used for their computational analysis

Quadrature by Expansion: A New Method for the Evaluation of Layer Potentials

Integral equation methods for the solution of partial differential equations, when coupled with suitable fast algorithms, yield geometrically flexible, asymptotically optimal and well-conditioned schemes in either interior or exterior domains. The practical application of these methods, however, requires the accurate evaluation of boundary integrals with singular, weakly singular or nearly singular kernels. Historically, these issues have been handled either by low-order product integration rules (computed semi-analytically), by singularity subtraction/cancellation, by kernel regularization and asymptotic analysis, or by the construction of special purpose "generalized Gaussian quadrature" rules. In this paper, we present a systematic, high-order approach that works for any singularity (including hypersingular kernels), based only on the assumption that the field induced by the integral operator is locally smooth when restricted to either the interior or the exterior. Discontinuities in the field across the boundary are permitted. The scheme, denoted QBX (quadrature by expansion), is easy to implement and compatible with fast hierarchical algorithms such as the fast multipole method. We include accuracy tests for a variety of integral operators in two dimensions on smooth and corner domains

The decoupled potential integral equation for time harmonic electromagnetic scattering

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: "Vico, F., Ferrando, M., Greengard, L. and Gimbutas, Z. (2016), The Decoupled Potential Integral Equation for Time-Harmonic Electromagnetic Scattering. Commun. Pur. Appl. Math., 69: 771–812", which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cpa.21585. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.[EN] We present a new formulation for the problem of electromagnetic scattering from perfect electric conductors. While our representation for the electric and magnetic fields is based on the standard vector and scalar potentials A, phi in the Lorenz gauge, we establish boundary conditions on the potentials themselves rather than on the field quantities. This permits the development of a wellconditioned second-kind Fredholm integral equation that has no spurious resonances, avoids low-frequency breakdown, and is insensitive to the genus of the scatterer. The equations for the vector and scalar potentials are decoupled. That is, the unknown scalar potential defining the scattered field, phi(scat), is determined entirely by the incident scalar potential phi(inc). Likewise, the unknown vector potential defining the scattered field, A scat, is determined entirely by the incident vector potential A(inc). This decoupled formulation is valid not only in the static limit but for arbitrary omega >= 0. (C) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.This work was supported in part by the Applied Mathematical Sciences Program of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-FGO288ER25053 (L.G.), by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and AFOSR under NSSEFF Program Award FA9550-10-1-0180 (L.G. and Z.G.), and in part by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion) under projects CSD2008-00068 and TEC2010-20841-C04-01. The authors thank A. Klockner and M. O'Neil for many useful discussions.Vico Bondía, F.; Ferrando Bataller, M.; Greengard, L.; Gimbutas, Z. (2016). The decoupled potential integral equation for time harmonic electromagnetic scattering. Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics. 69(4):771-812. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpa.21585S77181269

Preliminary study: Treatment with intramuscular interferon beta-1a results in increased levels of IL-12Rβ2+ and decreased levels of IL23R+ CD4+ T - Lymphocytes in multiple sclerosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There are a lack of biomarkers which can be used to predict clinical outcomes for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients receiving interferon beta (IFN-β). Thus the objective of this study was to characterize changes in CD4+ T-lymphocyte expression in an unbiased manner following initiation of intramuscular (IM) IFN-β-1a treatment, and then to verify those findings using marker-specific assays.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Peripheral blood specimens were collected from twenty MS patients before and after treatment with intramuscular (IM) IFN-β-1a and were used for isolation of mononuclear cells (PBMCs). mRNA expression patterns of negatively-selected CD4+ T-cells from the PBMCs were analyzed using microarray gene expression technology. IL-12 and IL-23 receptor levels on PBMC-derived CD4+ T-cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. The phosphorylation status of Stat4 was measured by performing densitometry on western blots.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Microarray analyses demonstrated that mRNA expression of the IL-12Rβ2 gene was uniformly up-regulated in response to IFN-β-1a treatment and was associated with an increased number of IL-12Rβ2⁺CD4⁺T-cells by flow cytometry in 4 of 6 patients. This finding was substantiated by demonstrating that Stat4 phosphorylation, a transcription factor for IL-12, was increased after treatment. Conversely, the number of IL-23R⁺CD4⁺T-cells was decreased following treatment.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The IL-12 receptor shares a common subunit, the IL-12Rβ2, with the IL-23 receptor. Both of these receptors have a probable role in regulating IL-17 and TH-17 cells, important mediators of inflammation in multiple sclerosis (MS). Thus, the changes in the numbers of CD4⁺T-cells expressing these receptors in response to IFN-β-1a treatment may point to an important mechanism of action for this drug, but further large scale studies are needed to confirm these preliminary observations.</p

Distinct muscle imaging patterns in myofibrillar myopathies

Objective: To compare muscle imaging findings in different subtypes of myofibrillar myopathies (MFM) in order to identify characteristic patterns of muscle alterations that may be helpful to separate these genetic heterogeneous muscular disorders. Methods: Muscle imaging and clinical findings of 46 patients with MFM were evaluated (19 desminopathy, 12 myotilinopathy, 11 filaminopathy, 1 alpha B-crystallinopathy, and 3 ZASPopathy). The data were collected retrospectively in 43 patients and prospectively in 3 patients. Results: In patients with desminopathy, the semitendinosus was at least equally affected as the biceps femoris, and the peroneal muscles were never less involved than the tibialis anterior (sensitivity of these imaging criteria to detect desminopathy in our cohort 100%, specificity 95%). In most of the patients with myotilinopathy, the adductor magnus showed more alterations than the gracilis muscle, and the sartorius was at least equally affected as the semitendinosus (sensitivity 90%, specificity 93%). In filaminopathy, the biceps femoris and semitendinosus were at least equally affected as the sartorius muscle, and the medial gastrocnemius was more affected than the lateral gastrocnemius. The semimembranosus mostly showed more alterations than the adductor magnus (sensitivity 88%, specificity 96%). Early adult onset and cardiac involvement was most often associated with desminopathy. In patients with filaminopathy, muscle weakness typically beginning in the 5th decade of life was mostly pronounced proximally, while late adult onset (> 50 years) with distal weakness was more often present in myotilinopathy. Conclusions: Muscle imaging in combination with clinical data may be helpful for separation of distinct myofibrillar myopathy subtypes and in scheduling of genetic analysis