Nonstandard Forms and Measures of Employment and Unemployment in Transition: A Comparative Study of Estonia, Romania, and Russia

This paper looks behind the standard, publicly available labor force statistics relied upon in most studies of transition economy labor markets. We analyze microdata on detailed labor force survey responses in Russia, Romania, and Estonia to measure nonstandard, boundary forms and alternative definitions of employment and unemployment. Our calculations show that measured rates are quite sensitive to definition, particularly in the treatment of household production (subsistence agriculture), unpaid family helpers, and discouraged workers, while the categories of part-time work and other forms of marginal attachment are still relatively unimportant. We find that tweaking the official definitions in apparently minor ways can produce alternative employment rates that are sharply higher in Russia but much lower in Romania and slightly lower in Estonia, and alternative unemployment rates that are sharply higher in Romania and moderately higher in Estonia and Russia.nonstandard, work, data, unemployment, Estonia, Russia, Romania

Nonstandard Forms and Measures of Employment and Unemployment in Transition: A Comparative Study of Estonia, Romania, and Russia

This paper looks behind the standard, publicly available employment and unemployment statistics that studies of transition economy labor markets have typically relied upon. We analyze microdata on detailed labor force survey responses in Russia, Romania, and Estonia to measure nonstandard, boundary forms and alternative definitions of labor force status. Our estimates show that measured employment and unemployment rates are quite sensitive to definition, particularly in the treatment of household production (subsistence agriculture), unpaid family helpers, and discouraged workers, while the categories of part-time work and other forms of marginal attachment are still relatively unimportant. We find that tweaking the official definitions in apparently minor ways can produce alternative employment rates that are sharply higher in Russia but much lower in Romania and slightly lower in Estonia, and alternative unemployment rates that are sharply higher in Romania and moderately higher in Estonia and Russia.employment, unemployment, Estonia, Romania, Russia

Materiales activados alcalinamente a base de residuos de vidrio y escoria para aislamiento térmico y acústico

Porous alkali activated materials (AAM), can be obtained from waste glass powder and slag mixtures by alkali activation with NaOH solution. To obtain an adequate porous microstructure, the hardened AAM pastes were thermally treated at temperatures ranging between 900°C and 1000°C, for 60 or 30 minutes. Due to the intumescent behaviour specific for this type of materials, an important increase of the volume and porosity occurs during the thermal treatment. The partial substitution of waste glass powder with slag, determines the increase of compressive strength assessed before (up to 37 MPa) and after (around 10 MPa) thermal treatment; the increase of slag dosage also determines the increase of the activation temperature of the intumescent process (above 950°C). The high porosity and the specific microstructure (closed pores with various shapes and sizes) of these materials recommend them to be utilised as thermal and acoustical insulation materials.Los materiales activados alcalinamente porosos (AAM) se pueden obtener a base de polvo de residuos de vidrio y mezclas de escoria mediante activación alcalina con una solución de hidróxido de sodio (NaOH). Para obtener una microestructura porosa adecuada, las pastas de AAM endurecidas se trataron térmicamente a temperaturas que oscilan entre 900°C y 1000°C durante 60 o 30 minutos. Debido al comportamiento intumescente específico de este tipo de material, se produce un aumento significativo en el volumen y la porosidad durante el tratamiento térmico. La sustitución parcial del polvo de residuos de vidrio por escoria conlleva un aumento en las resistencias a compresión previamente evaluadas (hasta 37 MPa) y después (aproximadamente 10 MPa) del tratamiento térmico; el aumento de la dosis de escoria también determina el aumento de la temperatura de activación del proceso intumescente (por encima de 950°C). La alta porosidad y la microestructura específica de estos materiales recomiendan que se utilicen como materiales de aislamiento térmico y acústico

Geometrical Models of the Locally Anisotropic Space-Time

Along with the construction of non-Lorentz-invariant effective field theories, recent studies which are based on geometric models of Finsler space-time become more and more popular. In this respect, the Finslerian approach to the problem of Lorentz symmetry violation is characterized by the fact that the violation of Lorentz symmetry is not accompanied by a violation of relativistic symmetry. That means, in particular, that preservation of relativistic symmetry can be considered as a rigorous criterion of the viability for any non-Lorentz-invariant effective field theory. Although this paper has a review character, it contains (with few exceptions) only those results on Finsler extensions of relativity theory, that were obtained by the authors.Comment: 35 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the Russian journal Hypercompl. Numb. Geom. Phys; submit/0362894 (George Bogoslovsky

INFLUENCE OF THE NUMBER OF PASSES OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY ON PENETRATION RESISTANCE AND THE DEGREE OF SOIL COMPACTION

In the context of the ongoing development of mechanized agriculture, which implies the use of heavy agricultural machinery, often on soils with high moisture content, it increased significantly the risk of soil compaction. Compaction has become a problem of major proportions especially to farmers, because this phenomenon causes environmental damage, and affects soil quality and crop production. Penetration resistance is a valuable and easy to determine indicator of the degree of compaction of agricultural soil. In this paper are presented the results of some experimental research conducted to determine the penetration resistance of a plot of clover, under the influence of the number of passes of a tractor, in order to assess, from an qualitative point of view, the degree of soil compaction

Synthesis and characterization of ZnO nanopowder by non-basic

Nanocrystalline ZnO particles were prepared from methanolic solutions of zinc acetate dihydrate without using base such as NaOH or LiOH through a colloid process carried out at a low temperature of 60 o C. The precipitate obtained after 12-72h contained ZnO, covered with polymeric species of zinc hydroxo acetate. The reaction course was studied by mass spectrometry means. To complete the hydrolysis process, up to pure ZnO, it was necessarily to reflux the white precipitate separate from methanolic solution, in water at 80 o C. We found that reaction time in the presence of methanol primarily influenced the size of the particles, while the reaction time in the presence of water mainly influenced the ZnO purity

Cellulose acetate membranes functionalized with resveratrol by covalent immobilization for improved osseointegration

Covalent immobilization of resveratrol onto cellulose acetate polymeric membranes used as coating on a Mg-1Ca-0.2Mn-0.6Zr alloy is presented for potential application in the improvement of osseointegration processes. For this purpose, cellulose acetate membrane is hydrolysed in the presence of potassium hydroxide, followed by covalent immobilization of aminopropyl triethoxy silane. Resveratrol was immobilized onto membranes using glutaraldehyde as linker. The newly synthesised functional membranes were thoroughly characterized for their structural characteristics determination employing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA/DTG) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. Subsequently, in vitro cellular tests were performed for evaluating the cytotoxicity biocompatibility of synthesized materials and also the osseointegration potential of obtained derivatised membrane material. It was demonstrated that both polymeric membranes support viability and proliferation of the pre-osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells, thus providing a good protection against the potential harmful effects of the compounds released from coated alloys. Furthermore, cellulose acetate membrane functionalized with resveratrol exhibits a significant increase in alkaline phosphatase activity and extracellular matrix mineralization, suggesting its suitability to function as an implant surface coating for guided bone regeneration

Augmented Reality Future Step Visualization for Robust Surgical Telementoring

Introduction Surgical telementoring connects expert mentors with trainees performing urgent care in austere environments. However, such environments impose unreliable network quality, with significant latency and low bandwidth. We have developed an augmented reality telementoring system that includes future step visualization of the medical procedure. Pregenerated video instructions of the procedure are dynamically overlaid onto the trainee's view of the operating field when the network connection with a mentor is unreliable. Methods Our future step visualization uses a tablet suspended above the patient's body, through which the trainee views the operating field. Before trainee use, an expert records a “future library” of step-by-step video footage of the operation. Videos are displayed to the trainee as semitransparent graphical overlays. We conducted a study where participants completed a cricothyroidotomy under telementored guidance. Participants used one of two telementoring conditions: conventional telestrator or our system with future step visualization. During the operation, the connection between trainee and mentor was bandwidth throttled. Recorded metrics were idle time ratio, recall error, and task performance. Results Participants in the future step visualization condition had 48% smaller idle time ratio (14.5% vs. 27.9%, P < 0.001), 26% less recall error (119 vs. 161, P = 0.042), and 10% higher task performance scores (rater 1 = 90.83 vs. 81.88, P = 0.008; rater 2 = 88.54 vs. 79.17, P = 0.042) than participants in the telestrator condition. Conclusions Future step visualization in surgical telementoring is an important fallback mechanism when trainee/mentor network connection is poor, and it is a key step towards semiautonomous and then completely mentor-free medical assistance systems

Non-Traditional Presenting Grade II Brain Meningioma: A Case Study

Meningioma is a relatively common form of cancer, occurring in approximately 97 out of 100,000 individuals. Although it arises from the meninges surrounding the central nervous system (CNS) rather than from neurons, it is classified with CNS tumors due to overlapping symptoms caused by compression of nerves and vessels in the head. Extracranial metastasis is rare, at less than 1%, and correlates with reduced survival rates