Business Employment Dynamics: Tabulations by Employer Size

The gross job gains and gross job loss statistics from the BLS Business Employment Dynamics (BED) program measure the large gross job flows that underlie the quarterly net change in employment. In the fourth quarter of 2004, employment grew by 869,000 jobs. This growth is the sum of 8.1 million gross job gains from opening and expanding establishments, and 7.2 million gross job losses from contracting and closing establishments. The new BED data have captured the attention of economists and policymakers across the country, and these data are becoming a major contributor to our understanding of employment growth and business cycles in the U.S. economy. Following the initial release of the BED data in September 2003, the BED data series expanded in May 2004 with the release of industry statistics. The BLS then began work on tabulations by size class. The production of size-class statistics is a complex task involving several economic and statistical issues. Although it is trivial to classify a business into a size class in any given quarter, it is difficult to classify a business into a size class for a longitudinal analysis of employment growth. Several different classifications exist, and many of these possible classifications have appealing theoretical and statistical properties. Furthermore, these alternative classification methodologies result in sharply different portraits of employment growth by size class. In this article, we discuss the alternative statistical methodologies that the BLS considered for creating size class tabulations from the Business Employment Dynamics data. Our primary focus is on four methodologies: quarterly base-sizing, annual base-sizing, mean-sizing, and dynamic-sizing. We discuss the evaluation criteria that BLS considered for choosing its official size class methodology.gross job gains; gross job losses; business employment dynamics; size-class statistics; dynamic-sizing

L'India contemporanea. Dinamiche culturali e politiche, trasformazioni economiche e mutamento sociale

Frutto di uno studio interdisciplinare realizzato da tre grandi centri di ricerca indiani, il volume rende con sapienza la vivacità delle dinamiche sociali e della complessa evoluzione culturale in corso nella società indiana.- Indice #5- Introduzione #9- Correnti culturali e versioni indiane della modernità. Le tradizioni e il futuro della democrazia, Ashis Nandy #13- Caste e classi in India: realtà sociale e rappresentazioni politiche, Dhirubhai L. Sheth #33- Religione e politica in India. Cultura politica, revivalismo, fondamentalismo e secolarismo, Triloki N. Madan #61- Comunitarismo e integrazione nello stato nazionale. Tolleranza e secolarismo, Shail Mayaram #79- Il ruolo delle scuole e delle università nel promuovere una cultura comune e lo sviluppo sociale nelle città e nelle aree rurali, Suma Chitnis #101- I partiti e il processo elettorale in India. Nodi centrali nel dibattito politico corrente, Peter R. de Souza #127- Pluralismo centrale e istituzioni politiche. Lo stato federale indiano e il suo futuro, Ajit Mozoomdar #149- Società civile, movimenti sociali e stato in India: le politiche del cambiamento sociale, Shobha Raghuram #183- Geostrategia e geopolitica dell’India. Sviluppi recenti, sfide contemporanee e prospettive future, Jasjit Singh #209- La demografia e le sue implicazioni economiche, Vishvanath A. Pai Panandiker #235- L’economia dell’India e le sue prospettive, Isher J. Ahluwalia #255- Diseguaglianze nella distribuzione del reddito e del patrimonio in India, Nilakantha Rath #279- Il ruolo dello stato e del mercato nell’economia indiana, Eswaran Sridharan #317- La posizione geoeconomica dell’India. Relazioni internazionali e prospettive dell’integrazione regionale, con particolare riferimento all’ASEAN, Charan D. Wadhva #34

COVID-19: Rapid antigen detection for SARS-CoV-2 by lateral flow assay: A national systematic evaluation of sensitivity and specificity for mass-testing

Background Lateral flow device (LFD) viral antigen immunoassays have been developed around the world as diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2 infection. They have been proposed to deliver an infrastructure-light, cost-economical solution giving results within half an hour. Methods LFDs were initially reviewed by a Department of Health and Social Care team, part of the UK government, from which 64 were selected for further evaluation from 1st August to 15th December 2020. Standardised laboratory evaluations, and for those that met the published criteria, field testing in the Falcon-C19 research study and UK pilots were performed (UK COVID-19 testing centres, hospital, schools, armed forces). Findings 4/64 LFDs so far have desirable performance characteristics (orient Gene, Deepblue, Abbott and Innova SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Qualitative Test). All these LFDs have a viral antigen detection of >90% at 100,000 RNA copies/ml. 8951 Innova LFD tests were performed with a kit failure rate of 5.6% (502/8951, 95% CI: 5.1–6.1), false positive rate of 0.32% (22/6954, 95% CI: 0.20–0.48). Viral antigen detection/sensitivity across the sampling cohort when performed by laboratory scientists was 78.8% (156/198, 95% CI 72.4–84.3). Interpretation Our results suggest LFDs have promising performance characteristics for mass population testing and can be used to identify infectious positive individuals. The Innova LFD shows good viral antigen detection/sensitivity with excellent specificity, although kit failure rates and the impact of training are potential issues. These results support the expanded evaluation of LFDs, and assessment of greater access to testing on COVID-19 transmission. Funding Department of Health and Social Care. University of Oxford. Public Health England Porton Down, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, National Institute of Health Research

Mandibular second premolar with three canals: Re-treatment of a case with unusual root canal anatomy

A thorough knowledge of root canal anatomy along with the anatomical variations that may be present is essential for success of endodontic therapy. Unusual presentations in the number of the roots or the canals should be expected in every tooth. Mandibular second premolars are thought of as having a single root and canal. Studies have stated that the prevalence of three canals with three orifices in this tooth is 0.4%. The mandibular second premolar is particularly difficult to treat owing to the fact that a wide variation in the number, location and curvature of the roots and canals exist. Added to this is the fact that the access opening is restricted and location of the lingually placed orifices is difficult. This case report details the re-treatment of a mandibular second premolar with three canals and three separate orifices using the surgical microscope

Do Small Businesses Create More Jobs? New Evidence for the United States from the National Establishment Time Series

We use the National Establishment Time Series (NETS) to revisit the debate about the role of small businesses in job creation (Birch, 1987; Davis, Haltiwanger, & Schuh, 1996a). Using the NETS data, we examine evidence for the overall economy, as well as for different sectors. The results indicate that small firms and small establishments create more jobs, on net, although the difference is much smaller than Birch's methods suggest. Moreover, in the recent period we study, a negative relationship between establishment size and net job creation holds for both the manufacturing and services sectors. © 2011 The President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.