Earnings Losses of Displaced Workers: Canadian Evidence from a Large Administrative Database on Firm Closures and Mass Layoffs

Using Statistics Canada’s Longitudinal Worker File, we document short-term and long-term earnings losses for a large (10%) sample of Canadian workers who lost their job through firm closures or mass layoffs during the late 1980s and the 1990s. Our use of a nationally representative sample allows us to examine how earnings losses vary across age groups, gender, industries and firms of different sizes. Furthermore, we conduct separate analyses for workers displaced only through firm closures and for a broader sample displaced either through firm closures or mass layoffs. Our main finding is that while the long-term earnings losses experienced on average by workers who are displaced through firm closures or mass layoffs are important, those experienced by displaced workers with considerable seniority appear to be even more substantial. Consistent with findings from the United States by Jacobson, Lalonde and Sullivan (1993), high-seniority displaced men experience long-term earnings losses that represent between 18% and 35% of their pre-displacement earnings. For their female counterparts, the corresponding estimates vary between 24% and 35%.Layoffs; Job Losses; Employment; Worker Displacement; Earnings Losses

Les difficultés psychosociales vécues par les enfants mineurs de personnes atteintes de maladie mentale

Cet article présente les résultats d’analyse d’entrevues menées auprès d’adultes témoignant de ce qu’ils ont connu dans leur enfance en ce qui concerne leur vie avec un parent atteint de maladie mentale. « L’analyse des situations du point de vue de ceux qui les subissent » (Mayer, 1997, p. 217) nous a semblé indiquée pour cette étude et a permis de donner la parole à ceux qui vivent ces situations. Le phénomène est exploré sous deux angles : celui des situations particulières vécues par ces enfants à des phases aiguës de la maladie de leurs parents en lien avec des dimensions de la détresse psychologique; et celui du rôle parental en lien avec les dimensions de la négligence parentale et de la maltraitance. Notre objectif est de sensibiliser les intervenants et les responsables de la programmation de services à cette problématique et à l’importance d’agir auprès de ces familles.This article presents the results of an analysis done on interviews conducted with adults, who related their childhood experiences in living with a parent suffering from mental illness. The phenomenon is examined from two angles: the distinct situations experienced by these children, during the acute stage of their parents’ mental illness, with respect to the various dimensions of the psychological distress; and that of the parental role, as it relates to the dimensions of neglect and illtreatment.Our objective is to heighten awareness of these issues in persons interceding and in program specialists, as well as to stress the importance of intervention in families concerned

The Effects of Acute Anaerobic Exercise on the Cardiovascular and Metabolic Response to the Cold Pressor Test in Healthy Adult Males

International Journal of Exercise Science 13(3): 1729-1740, 2020. Little is known about the physiological response to the cold pressor test (CPT) when in a clinically-induced state of autonomic nervous system (ANS) imbalance, despite its utility in various disease- and injury-states. To date, research in this area is limited to acute aerobic and isometric exercise, with a paucity of research investigating the effects of anaerobic exercise on the physiological response to the CPT. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to assess the effects of the Wingate anaerobic cycle test (WAT) on cardiovascular (CV) and metabolic recovery following the CPT in a group of healthy adult males. A pre-post intervention study was conducted, whereby 10 healthy adult males (age = 29 ± 4 years, height = 182 ± 7 cm, mass = 83 ± 9 kg) completed a baseline cold pressor test (CPT-only) and a follow-up cold pressor test preceded by a Wingate anaerobic exercise test (WAT+CPT). Recovery slopes for various CV and metabolic variables, including heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), and relative oxygen consumption (O2) were analyzed using single-subject analysis, with celeration line slopes calculated for all participants in the CPT-only and WAT+CPT testing sessions. Celeration line slopes were compared between testing sessions using paired t-tests. No differences were identified for recovery slopes for HR (p = .295), diastolic BP (p = .300), and relative O2 (p= .176) when comparing CPT-only and WAT+CPT testing sessions. Our results suggest that the CPT elicits a CV and metabolic response beyond that elicited solely by an acute bout of anaerobic exercise. As such, the CPT may be able to serve as a surrogate test for anaerobic exercise for individuals where high-intensity exercise may be contraindicated. Future research is warranted however, as the specific physiological mechanisms governing the observed responses have yet to be elucidated

Technology platform for the fabrication of titanium nanostructures

Abstract : This paper presents two approaches for the fabrication of top-down titanium nanostructures. The first approach involves electron beam lithography followed by a tailored titanium plasma etching. The two main challenges of this process lie in the optimization of the negative tone Ma–N electroresist resolution and in the definition of a controlled titanium etching process for titanium patterns less than 20 nm thick and wide. The second proposed approach is a damascene process where the titanium nanostructures are buried in the oxide. Very shallow and narrow (20 nm × 20 nm) trenches are first patterned in the oxide and nanostructures are obtained by planarization of an evaporated titanium film. The dimensions of the structures are defined by the electron beam lithography resolution and the etching recipe. The third dimension is given by the titanium or any other metal thickness and can be controlled down to few nanometers thanks to the planarization step

Mental Health Treatment Involvement and Religious Coping among African American, Hispanic, and White Veterans of the Wars of Iraq and Afghanistan

Although racial/ethnic differences have been found in the use of mental health services for depression in the general population, research among Veterans has produced mixed results. This study examined racial/ethnic differences in the use of mental health services among 148 Operation Enduring/Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) Veterans with high levels of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and evaluated whether religious coping affected service use. No differences between African American, Hispanic, and Non-Hispanic white Veterans were found in use of secular mental health services or religious counseling. Women Veterans were more likely than men to seek secular treatment. After controlling for PTSD symptoms, depression symptom level was a significant predictor of psychotherapy attendance but not medication treatment. African American Veterans reported higher levels of religious coping than whites. Religious coping was associated with participation in religious counseling, but not secular mental health services

Molecular pathways leading to loss of skeletal muscle mass in cancer cachexia can findings from animal models be translated to humans?

Background: Cachexia is a multi-factorial, systemic syndrome that especially affects patients with cancer of the gastrointestinal tract, and leads to reduced treatment response, survival and quality of life. The most important clinical feature of cachexia is the excessive wasting of skeletal muscle mass. Currently, an effective treatment is still lacking and the search for therapeutic targets continues. Even though a substantial number of animal studies have contributed to a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of the loss of skeletal muscle mass, subsequent clinical trials of potential new drugs have not yet yielded any effective treatment for cancer cachexia. Therefore, we questioned to which degree findings from animal studies can be translated to humans in clinical practice and research. Discussion: A substantial amount of animal studies on the molecular mechanisms of muscle wasting in cancer cachexia has been conducted in recent years. This extensive review of the literature showed that most of their observations could not be consistently reproduced in studies on human skeletal muscle samples. However, studies on human material are scarce and limited in patient numbers and homogeneity. Therefore, their results have to be interpreted critically. Summary: More research is needed on human tissue samples to clarify the signaling pathways that lead to skeletal muscle loss, and to confirm pre-selected drug targets from animal models in clinical trials. In addition, improved diagnostic tools and standardized clinical criteria for cancer cachexia are needed to conduct standardized, randomized controlled trials of potential drug candidates in the future

Convergeront-ils un jour? Les gains des travailleurs immigrants et de ceux nes au Canada au cours des dernieres decennies

A l'aide des donnees de recensement de 1980 a 2000, on examine quelles seraient les conditions necessaires pour que les cohortes de nouveaux immigrants parviennent a la parite de gains avec les travailleurs nes au Canada. Selon les resultats, il faudrait que les gains des nouveaux immigrants s'ameliorent considerablement et rapidement pour que leur profil relatif se rapproche de celui des travailleurs nes au Canada. La raison est simple : la plus forte croissance relative des gains des cohortes de nouveaux immigrants n'a que partiellement compense la baisse tres marquee de leurs gains relatifs au moment de leur arrivee au Canada.Ethnic diversity and immigration, Immigrants and non-permanent residents, Income, pensions, spending and wealth, Integration of newcomers, Labour, Labour market and income, Low income and inequality, Visible minorities, Wages, salaries and other earnings

Simulating switchgrass aboveground biomass and production costs in eastern Canada with the Integrated Farm System Model

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a herbaceous perennial grass that can be used as bedding for livestock, planted in buffer strips, and used as biofuel but it is still not widely grown in eastern Canada. The objectives of this study were to verify the performance of the Integrated Farm System Model (IFSM) in simulating switchgrass growth and to estimate its yield potential and production cost in Eastern Canada. The performance of the IFSM was assessed with dry matter (DM) yield of switchgrass (cv. Cave-in-Rock) measured over three growing seasons (2015 to 2017) in southern Quebec, Canada. The model performed reasonably well with normalized root mean square errors of 19.5% for calibration and 27.9% for validation. Simulation results of potential yield and economic management over the long-term (1986 to 2015) for five switchgrass production sites in Eastern Canada indicated that average DM yields in Quebec City and Fredericton (9.6 and 9.7 t ha-1, respectively) were significantly lower than average DM yields in Saint-Hubert, Ottawa, and London (10.8, 10.4, and 11.0 t ha-1 respectively). Average annual production costs per tonne of DM for the spring harvest were higher at low-yield sites ($66.67 and$64.50 for Fredericton and Quebec City, respectively) than at high-yield sites ($60.10,$62.82, and $60.08 for Saint-Hubert, Ottawa, and London, respectively). The IFSM-estimated production costs were within the range of the calculated values reported in other agro-economic analyses conducted in Ontario and Quebec.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author