The Influence of Employment Protection and Firm-Level Factors on Labor Investment Decisions

[EN]In this research, we study the impact of business decisions on employment. We also argue the need to analyze how internal and external factors to the company condition its labor investment decisions. For this analysis, we focus on legal form, company size, and social responsibility as internal factors that may affect this type of investment. As external factors, we consider employment protection legislation in its different dimensions, such as protection of temporary employment, protection of the regular employee, and protection of employment in general. The last one is a combination of different aspects of employee protection and incorporates restrictions on collective dismissal. [ES]En este trabajo, estudiamos el impacto que tienen las decisiones empresariales en el empleo. También se argumenta la necesidad de analizar cómo los factores internos y externos a la empresa afectan a sus decisiones de inversión en mano de obra. Para nuestros análisis, nos centramos en la forma jurídica, el tamaño de la empresa y la responsabilidad social como factores internos que pueden afectar a este tipo de inversión. Como factores externos, consideramos la legislación de protección al trabajador en sus distintas dimensiones (protección al empleo temporal, protección al empleado con contrato indefinido y protección al empleo en general), siendo la tercera una combinación de distintos aspectos sobre la protección al empleado, además de incorporar restricciones al despido colectivo

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved