Une arme miracle contre le chômage ?:Une nouvelle évaluation des effets des allègements de charges sociales sur les bas salaires

La revue Économie et Statistique vient de faire paraître un article de Bruno Crépon et Rozenn Desplatz qui propose une nouvelle évaluation des effets des allègements de charges sociales sur les bas salaires. Selon cette étude, ceux-ci auraient provoqué, de 1994 à 1997, une augmentation de 460 000 du nombre d’emplois dans l’économie française. Ce chiffre est nettement supérieur aux estimations antérieures 1. Il est maintenant évoqué dans le débat public pour justifier la poursuite de la politique de baisse des charges sociales, comme axe central de la politique de l’emploi. Compte tenu de la complexité de l’article, la plupart des commentateurs se contentent de citer le chiffre tel quel : « Les experts ont parlé ». Mais quelle est la fiabilité de ce résultat ? Par quels mécanismes, ces emplois ont-ils été créés ? La réduction des cotisations sociales est-elle une arme miracle contre le chômage ? [Premier paragraphe]Bruno Crépon et Rozenn Deslpatz, Une nouvelle évaluation des effets des allègements de charges sociales sur les bas salaires, Economie et Statistique, n°348, 2001, 0336-145

critical relative indentation depth in carbon based thin films

Abstract The thin film hardness estimation by nanoindentation is influenced by substrate beyond a critical relative indentation depth (CRID). In this study we developed a methodology to identify the CRID in amorphous carbon film. Three types of amorphous carbon film deposited on silicon have been studied. The nanoindentation tests were carried out applying a 0.1–10 mN load range on a Berkovich diamond tip, leading to penetration depth-to-film thickness ratios of 8–100%. The work regained during unloading ( W e ) and the work performed during loading ( W t ) was estimated for each indentation. The trend of unload-to-load ratio ( W e / W t ) data as a function of depth has been studied. W e / W t depth profiles showed a sigmoid trend and the data were fitted by means of a Hill sigmoid equation. Using Hill sigmoid fit and a simple analytical method it is possible to estimate CRID of carbon based films

Multi-panel drugs detection in human serum for personalized therapy

This work focuses on P450 biosensors based on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and different cytochrome isoforms: 3A4, 2B4, 2C9. The proposed biosensors exhibit enhanced sensitivities and decreased detection limits thanks to carbon nanotubes. The MWCNT structuring improves the sensitivity from 5.1 to 20.5 nA/mM mm2 in case of CYP2B4-mediated Benzphetamine detection, from 0.26 to 0.63 nA/μM mm2 in case of CYP3A4-mediated Cyclophosphamide detection, and from 0.11 to 0.25 nA/μM mm2 in case of CYP2C9-mediated Naproxen detection. By using MWCNT, the limit of detection was enhanced from 59 to 12 μM in case of Cyclophosphamide and from to 187 to 82 μM in case of Naproxen. This makes possible the drug detection in human serum within the pharmacological range. In the paper, a new mathematical model is also proposed to succeed in discriminating different drug contributions in a mixture containing both Cyclophosphamide and Dextromethorphan or combining Naproxen and Flurbiprofen. Data analysis shows variations in reduction peaks that are dependent on the drug ratio, and that are consistent with competitive kinetics of substrates. This new approach enables multiple drug detection and opens the way to possible applications in personalized therapy

Development of W–SiO2 and Nb–TiO2 solar absorber coatings for combined heat and power systems at intermediate operation temperatures

Two new absorber coatings for mid-temperature operation (300–350 1C) in collectors for solar thermal electricity plants are presented in this study. The absorbers consist of two cermet layers of either W–SiO2 or Nb–TiO2, deposited on a molybdenum infrared reflector and coated with an antireflection layer of silicon oxide. The optimization of the optical performance was made in two steps. First, the layer structure was optimized in model calculations. The optical constants used in this modelling were derived directly from sputtered films of the cermet constituents using reflectance and transmittance measure- ments. The absorber coatings were then sputter-deposited using parameters from the modelling. The results show good agreement between modelled and sputtered optical performance evaluated as solar absorptance and thermal emittance at 350 1C. The optimal values reached for W–SiO2 was 0.91 in combination with 0.08 and 0.93 in combination with 0.09 for Nb–TiO2. The materials characterization from XRD, AES and TEM shows that the composite coatings contain nano-metal inclusions, meaning that they are cermet coatings. Scratch tests show that the coatings adhere well to the substrate of stainless steel. Temperature testing at 350 1C in vacuum for up to 1500 h shows that both coatings are stable under such conditions. Only a slight change occurs during the first 72 h that decreases the emittance but does not change the solar absorptance. ERDA confirms that there is no detectable level of ion migration between layers, only a small decrease in hydrogen content was observed, which indicates outgassing.Digespo projec

End-to-End Industrial Study of Retiming

Sequential circuits are combinational circuits that are separated by registers. Retiming is considered as the most promising technique for optimizing sequential circuits, that involves moving the edge-triggered registers across the combinational logic without changing the functionality. Despite significant efforts spent on sequential optimization since 1980's, there are few works discussed its performance in an end to-end design flow. The retiming algorithms were mostly evaluated at the logic level. However, it turns out that the retiming results at logic level could be significantly different than evaluating the physical level.This paper provides the findings of how retiming algorithms perform in an end-to-end industrial design flow, with seven industry designs taken from a recent 14nm microprocessor. Experiments are conducted with several complete industrial design flows. The evaluations are made at the end of the physical design flow. The experimental results show that the performance (design quality) of the retiming algorithms vary on the designs. Based these experimental results, we discover a feature that describes the retiming potentials of sequential designs. This model successfully forecast whether the given industrial designs could be significantly improved by retiming in an end-to-end design flow, regarding timing, area, and power

Implementation of an automated ECG-based diagnosis for a wireless body sensor platform

Wireless Body Sensor Networks (WBSN) are poised to become a key enabling technology of personal systems for pervasive healthcare. Recent results have however shown that the conventional approach to their design, which consists in continuous wireless streaming of the sensed data to a central data collector, is unsustainable in terms of network lifetime and autonomy. Furthermore, it was established that wireless data communication is responsible for most of the energy consumption. To address the energy inefficiency of conventional WBSNs, we advocate an advanced WBSN concept where sensor nodes exploit their available, yet limited processing and storage resources to deploy advanced embedded intelligence and processing, to reduce the amount of wireless data communication and consequently energy consumption. More specifically, this paper addresses the design and optimization of an automated real-time electrocardiogram (ECG) signal analysis and cardiovascular arrhythmia diagnosis application for a prototype sensor node called Wireless 25 EEG/ECG system. The satifactory accuracy of this on-line automated ECG-based analysis and diagnosis system is assessed and compared to the salient off-line automated ECG analysis algorithms. More importantly, our results show an energy consumption reduction of 80% to 100% with respect to conventional WBSNs, when our analysis and diagnosis algorithm is used to process the sensed ECG data to extract its relevant features, which are then wirelessly reported to the WBSN central data collector, after the node can automatically determine the potential cardiovascular pathology without human monitoring

Variable frequency of LRRK2 variants in the Latin American research consortium on the genetics of Parkinson's disease (LARGE-PD), a case of ancestry

ABSTARCT: Mutations in Leucine-Rich Repeat Kinase 2 (LRRK2), primarily located in codons G2019 and R1441, represent the most common genetic cause of Parkinson's disease in European-derived populations. However, little is known about the frequency of these mutations in Latin American populations. In addition, a prior study suggested that a LRRK2 polymorphism (p.Q1111H) specific to Latino and Amerindian populations might be a risk factor for Parkinson's disease, but this finding requires replication. We screened 1734 Parkinson's disease patients and 1097 controls enrolled in the Latin American Research Consortium on the Genetics of Parkinson's disease (LARGE-PD), which includes sites in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay. Genotypes were determined by TaqMan assay (p.G2019S and p.Q1111H) or by sequencing of exon 31 (p.R1441C/G/H/S). Admixture proportion was determined using a panel of 29 ancestry informative markers. We identified a total of 29 Parkinson's disease patients (1.7%) who carried p.G2019S and the frequency ranged from 0.2% in Peru to 4.2% in Uruguay. Only two Parkinson's disease patients carried p.R1441G and one patient carried p.R1441C. There was no significant difference in the frequency of p.Q1111H in patients (3.8%) compared to controls (3.1%; OR 1.02, p = 0.873). The frequency of LRRK2-p.G2019S varied greatly between different Latin American countries and was directly correlated with the amount of European ancestry observed. p.R1441G is rare in Latin America despite the large genetic contribution made by settlers from Spain, where the mutation is relatively common

Free-standing graphene oxide and carbon nanotube hybrid papers with enhanced electrical and mechanic performance and their synergy in polymer laminates

Hybrid nanomaterials fabricated by the heterogeneous integration of 1D (carbon nanotubes) and 2D (graphene oxide) nanomaterials showed synergy in electrical and mechanical properties. Here, we reported the infiltration of carboxylic functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (C-SWNT) into free-standing graphene oxide (GO) paper for better electrical and mechanical properties than native GO. The stacking arrangement of GO sheets and its alteration in the presence of C-SWNT were comprehensively explored through scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction. The C-SWNTs bridges between different GO sheets produce a pathway for the flow of electrical charges and provide a tougher hybrid system. The nanoscopic surface potential map reveals a higher work function of the individual functionalised SWNTs than surrounded GO sheets showing efficient charge exchange. We observed the enhanced conductivity up to 50 times and capacitance up to 3.5 times of the hybrid structure than the GO-paper. The laminate of polystyrene composites provided higher elastic modulus and mechanical strength when hybrid paper is used, thus paving the way for the exploitation of hybrid filler formulation in designing polymer composites