Wage bargaining in Germany: The role of works councils and opening clauses

German employment relations are characterized by a distinct dual system: First, working conditions and wages are determined by industry level collective bargaining agreements. Second, on the establishment level the works council is responsible for employer-employee negotiations. But since the mid-1980s more and more areas of regulation were transferred from the industry to the establishment level using so called opening-clauses. Our analysis relies on rich German establishment data and reveals new insights in the institutional machinery of wage bargaining: While the existence of such clauses is related to higher wages (11 %), their application results in wages cuts of roughly the same size. Regarding works councils our results suggest that they are able to prevent negative wage effects of opening clauses on average.Das deutsche System der industriellen Beziehungen ist durch einen charakteristischen Dualismus gekennzeichnet: Einerseits werden in überbetrieblichen, sektoralen Tarifverträgen Arbeitsbedingungen und Löhne vereinbart. Andererseits regelt der Betriebsrat auf betrieblicher Ebene den Interessensausgleich zwischen Belegschaft und Betriebsführung. Seit Mitte der 1980er-Jahre wurden im Rahmen von Öffnungsklauseln jedoch zunehmend tarifvertragliche Regelungen auf betrieblicher Ebene verändert. Unsere Analysen basieren auf den Daten des IAB-Betriebspanels und gestatten einen besseren Einblick in die institutionellen Mechanismen der Lohnfindung. Wie sich zeigt, geht die Existenz von Öffnungsklauseln in Branchentarifverträgen mit einem höheren Lohnniveau (11 %) einher, deren betrieblicher Einsatz führt hingegen zu einer Lohnreduktion in ungefähr gleichem Ausmaß. Darüber hinaus legen unsere Ergebnisse den Schluss nahe, dass Betriebsräte in der Lage sind, die negativen Lohneffekte von Öffnungsklauseln zu verhindern

Engineered Nanostructures for High Thermal Conductivity Substrates

In the DARPA Thermal Ground Plane (TGP) program[1],we are developing a new thermal technology that will enable a monumental thermal technological leap to an entirely new class of electronics, particularly electronics for use in high-tech military systems. The proposed TGP is a planar, thermal expansion matched heat spreader that is capable of moving heat from multiple chips to a remote thermal sink. DARPA’s final goals require the TGP to have an effective conductivity of 20,000 W/mK, operate at 20g, with minimal fluid loss of less than 0.1%/year and in a large ultra-thin planar package of 10cmx20cm, no thicker than 1mm. The proposed TGP is based on a heat pipe architecture[2], whereby the enhanced transport of heat is made possible by applying nanoengineered surfaces to the evaporator, wick, and condenser surfaces. Ultra-low thermal resistances are engineered using superhydrophilic and superhydrophobic nanostructures on the interior surfaces of the TGP envelope. The final TGP design will be easily integrated into existing printed circuit board manufacturing technology. In this paper, we present the transport design, fabrication and packaging techniques, and finally a novel fluorescence imaging technique to visualize the capillary flow in these nanostructured wicks.United States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (SSC SD Contract No. N66001-08-C-2008

PulseNet International: vision for the implementation of whole genome sequencing (WGS) for global food-borne disease surveillance

FWD-NEXT Expert Panel - Portugal/INSA - Vítor Borges (Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal)PulseNet International is a global network dedicated to laboratory-based surveillance for food-borne diseases. The network comprises the national and regional laboratory networks of Africa, Asia Pacific, Canada, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, and the United States. The PulseNet International vision is the standardised use of whole genome sequencing (WGS) to identify and subtype food-borne bacterial pathogens worldwide, replacing traditional methods to strengthen preparedness and response, reduce global social and economic disease burden, and save lives. To meet the needs of real-time surveillance, the PulseNet International network will standardise subtyping via WGS using whole genome multilocus sequence typing (wgMLST), which delivers sufficiently high resolution and epidemiological concordance, plus unambiguous nomenclature for the purposes of surveillance. Standardised protocols, validation studies, quality control programmes, database and nomenclature development, and training should support the implementation and decentralisation of WGS. Ideally, WGS data collected for surveillance purposes should be publicly available, in real time where possible, respecting data protection policies. WGS data are suitable for surveillance and outbreak purposes and for answering scientific questions pertaining to source attribution, antimicrobial resistance, transmission patterns, and virulence, which will further enable the protection and improvement of public health with respect to food-borne disease.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An Assessment of Different Genomic Approaches for Inferring Phylogeny of Listeria monocytogenes

Background/objectives: Whole genome sequencing (WGS) has proven to be a powerful subtyping tool for foodborne pathogenic bacteria like L. monocytogenes. The interests of genome-scale analysis for national surveillance, outbreak detection or source tracking has been largely documented. The genomic data however can be exploited with many different bioinformatics methods like single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), core-genome multi locus sequence typing (cgMLST), whole-genome multi locus sequence typing (wgMLST) or multi locus predicted protein sequence typing (MLPPST) on either core-genome (cgMLPPST) or pan-genome (wgMLPPST). Currently, there are little comparisons studies of these different analytical approaches. Our objective was to assess and compare different genomic methods that can be implemented in order to cluster isolates of L. monocytogenes.Methods: The clustering methods were evaluated on a collection of 207 L. monocytogenes genomes of food origin representative of the genetic diversity of the Anses collection. The trees were then compared using robust statistical analyses.Results: The backward comparability between conventional typing methods and genomic methods revealed a near-perfect concordance. The importance of selecting a proper reference when calling SNPs was highlighted, although distances between strains remained identical. The analysis also revealed that the topology of the phylogenetic trees between wgMLST and cgMLST were remarkably similar. The comparison between SNP and cgMLST or SNP and wgMLST approaches showed that the topologies of phylogenic trees were statistically similar with an almost equivalent clustering.Conclusion: Our study revealed high concordance between wgMLST, cgMLST, and SNP approaches which are all suitable for typing of L. monocytogenes. The comparable clustering is an important observation considering that the two approaches have been variously implemented among reference laboratories

Adrenal failure followed by status epilepticus and hemolytic anemia in primary antiphospholipid syndrome

We report on a 14 year old boy who presented with the symptoms abdominal pain, fever and proteinuria. A hematoma in the region of the right pararenal space was diagnosed. Prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time were prolonged, lupus anticoagulant and anticardiolipin antibodies were positive and serum cortisol was normal. Ten days after admission the boy suddenly suffered generalized seizures due to low serum sodium. As well, the patient developed hemolytic anemia, acute elevated liver enzymes, hematuria and increased proteinuria. At this time a second hemorrhage of the left adrenal gland was documented. Adrenal function tests revealed adrenal insufficiency. We suspected microthromboses in the adrenals and secondary bleeding and treated the boy with hydrocortisone, fludrocortisone and phenprocoumon. CONCLUSION: Adrenal failure is a rare complication of APS in children with only five cases reported to date. As shown in our patient, this syndrome can manifest in a diverse set of simultaneously occurring symptoms

Increasing Quinolone Resistance in Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis

Until recently, Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis has remained sensitive to most antibiotics. However, national surveillance data from Denmark show that quinolone resistance in S. Enteritidis has increased from 0.8% in 1995 to 8.5% in 2000. These data support concerns that the current use of quinolone in food animals leads to increasing resistance in S. Enteritidis and that action should be taken to limit such use

Epidemiology of Yersinia enterocolitica 0:3 in humans and pigs in Denmark

The prevalence of Yersinia enterocolitica 0:3 in humans, monitored from 1985 to 2000 by bacteriological examination of patients with diarrhoea, was compared with seroprevalence data from finisher pigs and bacteriological results from meat samples. The number of patients diagnosed with Y enterocolitica 0:3 infection declined consistently from 1500 cases in 1985 to 265 cases in 2000. Two cross-sectional studies carried out at the slaughterhouse showed a seroprevalence in finishers of 66.7% in 1993, compared with 69.2% in 2000. The prevalence of Y. enterocolitica 0:3 in pork was low: 2.0% in 1997 and 3.2% in 1999, respectively. Since 980, faecal contamination at Danish slaughterhouses has fallen to a level below 2% since 1993 following measures to improve slaughter hygiene. It is discussed whether these hygienic measures alone can account for the decrease in human yersiniosis observed in Denmark

Novel study design to assess the utility of the copd assessment test in a primary care setting

The quality of a consultation provided by a physician can have a profound impact on the quality of care and patient engagement in treatment decisions. When the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) was developed, one of its aims was to aid the communication between physician and patient about the impact of COPD. We developed a novel study design to assess this in a primary care consultation. Primary care physicians across five countries in Europe conducted videoed consultations with six standardised COPD patients (played by trained actors) which had patient-specific issues that the physician needed to identify through questioning. Half the physicians saw the patients with the completed CAT, and half without. Independent assessors scored the physicians on their ability to identify and address the patient-specific issues, review standard COPD aspects, their understanding of the case and their overall performance. This novel study design presented many challenges which needed to be addressed to achieve an acceptable level of robustness to assess the utility of the CAT. This paper discusses these challenges and the measures adopted to eliminate or minimise their impact on the study results