The Impact of ICT Usage, Workplace Organisation and Human Capital on the Provision of Apprenticeship Training: A Firm-Level Analysis Based on Swiss Panel Data

Firstly, we investigated the determinants of a) the propensity of Swiss firms to provide apprenticeship training, and b) the intensity of training (measured by the employment share of apprentices). We primarily were interested in the relevance as explanatory factors of the three constituent elements of the new firm paradigm that emerged in the course of the last twenty years: intensive usage of ICT; redesign of workplace organisation; shift from lower to higher skills. We found that the skill composition of the workforce (including further training), ICT intensity and, to a lesser extent, workplace organisation are important drivers of apprenticeshipbased skill formation, with stronger effects on training propensity than on training intensity. Secondly, we analysed the relationship between apprenticeship training and firm performance. It turned out that productivity and apprenticeships (training propensity or intensity) are negatively correlated. The study is relevant for training policy in advanced economies where the new firm paradigm plays a large and growing role

Heteroresistance to penicillin in Streptococcus pneumoniae

Heteroresistance to β-lactam antibiotics has been mainly described for staphylococci, for which it complicates diagnostic procedures and therapeutic success. This study investigated whether heteroresistance to penicillin exists in Streptococcus pneumoniae. Population analysis profile (PAP) showed the presence of subpopulations with higher penicillin resistance in four of nine clinical pneumococcal strains obtained from a local surveillance program (representing the multiresistant clones ST179, ST276, and ST344) and in seven of 16 reference strains (representing the international clones Spain23F-1, Spain9V-3, Spain14-5, Hungary19A-6, South Africa19A-13, Taiwan23F-15, and Finland6B-12). Heteroresistant strains had penicillin minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) (for the majority of cells) in the intermediate- to high-level range (0.19–2.0 μg/ml). PAP curves suggested the presence of subpopulations also for the highly penicillin-resistant strains Taiwan19F-14, Poland23F-16, CSR19A-11, and CSR14-10. PAP of bacterial subpopulations with higher penicillin resistance showed a shift toward higher penicillin-resistance levels, which reverted upon multiple passages on antibiotic-free media. Convergence to a homotypic resistance phenotype did not occur. Comparison of two strains of clone ST179 showed a correlation between the heteroresistant phenotype and a higher-penicillin MIC and a greater number of altered penicillin-binding proteins (PBP1a, -2b, and -2x), respectively. Therefore, heteroresistance to penicillin occurs in international multiresistant clones of S. pneumoniae. Pneumococci may use heteroresistance to penicillin as a tool during their evolution to high penicillin resistance, because it gives the bacteria an opportunity to explore growth in the presence of antibiotics before acquisition of resistance genes

The Effect of Subsidizing Continuous Training Investments - Evidence from German Establishment Data

This paper evaluates the impact of a training voucher program on establishments' investments in further training. The voucher program that was implemented in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia increased training incentives for employees in small and medium-sized establishments by reducing training costs by 50%. The estimation is based on a quasi-experimental research design exploiting variation across time, regions and establishment size. Using establishment data, I find that the share of establishments that invest in training increased by approximately 5 percentage points. Training intensity and the educational structure of participants remained unaffected among those establishments investing in training