Diese Arbeit setzt sich hauptsächlich mit der Frage auseinander, inwieweit das chinesische Gesetzesrecht einerseits und das deutsche Gesetzesrecht andererseits in der Lage sind, dem in beiden Rechtsordnungen verankerten Anspruch des Leiharbeitnehmers auf Equal Pay Geltung zu verschaffen. Die Entwicklung der chinesischen Gesetzgebung über die Arbeitnehmerüberlassung zeigt, dass der Gesetzgeber in der Praxis weitverbreiteten Diskriminierung von Leiharbeitnehmern im Vergleich zu Festangestellten entschieden entgegentreten will. In Deutschland ist das genaue Gegenteil zu beobachten. War der Schutz des Leiharbeitnehmers bei Erlass des Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetzes im Jahre 1972 noch das maßgebliche Motiv, wurde mit dem Reformgesetz vom 23.12.2002 damit begonnen, die Arbeitnehmerüberlassung mehr und mehr als Instrument der Beschäftigungspolitik zu sehen und die Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsvorschriften zu "liberalisieren". Anders als die chinesische Gesetzgebung zeigt die Rechtsprechung in China ein anderes Bild: Von den in der vorliegenden Arbeit untersuchten 25 Gerichtsfällen wurde nur in 4 Fällen zugunsten des Leiharbeitnehmers entschieden. Eine Analyse der ablehnenden Entscheidungen macht jedoch klar, dass die Gerichte für ihre Entscheidungen Begründungen heranzogen, die im Gesetz keine Stütze finden. Die Forschungsergebnisse zeigen: Das Problem eines unzureichenden Leiharbeitnehmerschutzes des chinesischen Rechts liegt darin, dass die Rechtsprechung das ihr zur Verfügung stehende gesetzliche Instrumentarium nicht hinreichend nutzt. In Deutschland ergibt sich dieses Problem vielmehr aus der bewussten und klaren Entscheidung des Gesetzgebers, der Vorgabe des Europäischen Gesetzgebers – tarifvertragliche Abweichung vom Equal Pay ausschließlich unter Berücksichtigung des Gesamtschutzes des Leiharbeitnehmers – nicht zu folgen. / This dissertation mainly deals with the question: To what extent the Chinese law and the German law can guarantee the validity of the right of temporary agency workers to equal pay, which is anchored in both legal systems. The development of Chinese legislation on temporary agency work shows that in practice, the legislator undoubtedly wants to decisively counteract widespread discrimination against temporary agency workers. In Germany, the exact opposite situation can be observed. While the protection of temporary agency worker remained the decisive motive when the Act on Temporary Agency Work was enacted in 1972, the reform law of December 23, 2002 began to view temporary agency work more and more as an instrument of employment policy and to "liberalize" the regulations on temporary agency work. In contrast to Chinese legislation, the judgement in China shows a different picture: Among the 25 cases researched in this dissertation, there are only 4 cases that were judged in favor of the temporary agency worker. This could lead to the assumption that in China, the law also attaches only secondary importance to the temporary agency worker's claim to equal pay. However, an analysis of the judgements clarifies that the courts used justifications for their decisions which could not find support in the law. According to the research of this dissertation, the problem of inadequate protection to temporary agency worker under Chinese law lies in the fact that the courts fail to make sufficient use of the legal instruments at their disposal. In Germany, this problem is resulted rather from the deliberate and clear decision of the legislator, namely failure to follow the specification of the European legislator - deviation from equal pay by collective agreement exclusively under consideration of the overall protection of the temporary agency worker.

Invitant à réfléchir sur l’appartenance au groupe dans le domaine de la protection sociale, la thèse contribue à éclairer cette dernière et appelle à repenser la condition de l’étranger. L’observation de la construction de l’État social révèle à quel point celui-ci est lié à l’État-Nation. La solidarité, maître-mot de la protection sociale, s’est développée dans le périmètre de l’État-Nation. N’appartenant pas au groupe national, l’étranger, à moins d’être rattaché à la collectivité des travailleurs, a été exclu du cercle de la solidarité. La construction européenne et la montée en puissance des droits de l’homme ont toutefois conduit à délégitimer la condition de nationalité pour faire prévaloir l’égalité. Alors, la voie s’est ouverte pour que se concrétise le projet d’une protection sociale universelle, i.e. applicable à toutes les personnes, en tant que membres de la société, résidant sur le territoire français. La nationalité a laissé place à la résidence. Pareil passage s’est inscrit dans un double contexte. Dans l’ordre interne d’une part, les préoccupations relatives à la maîtrise de l’immigration ont conduit à réorganiser la protection sociale de l’étranger autour de l’exigence de régularité du séjour. Plus libéral, un tel régime conserve néanmoins l’empreinte de la nationalité. L’approfondissement de l’intégration européenne et la promotion d’une nouvelle citoyenneté sociale, d’autre part, font du droit de l’UE un laboratoire incitant à ouvrir le champ des possibles. De son étude, émerge un critère universel d’accès à la protection sociale organisé moins autour du lien à l’État qu’à la société, un lien non plus de nationalité mais d’intégration. / By inviting consideration of the phenomenon of group belonging in the field of social protection, the thesis sets out to shed light on the field and calls for a rethinking of the condition of foreigners. Observation of how the social State is constructed reveals the extent to which it is related to the Nation-State. Solidarity, the key word in social protection, developed within the scope of the Nation-State. Because foreigners do not belong to the national group, they are excluded from the circle of solidarity, unless they attach themselves to the community of workers. The construction of Europe and the rise of human rights have, however, resulted in a delegitimisation of the condition of nationality in the interests of equality. The way is thus open to realise plans for universal social protection, i.e. protection applicable to all those living on French soil, by virtue of their status as members of society. Nationality has given way to residence. The context behind such a shift is twofold. At the domestic level, on the one hand, concerns over the control of immigration have resulted in social protection for foreigners being reorganised around the requirement for legal residency. Although more liberal, such a regime nevertheless retains the imprint of nationality. On the other, closer European integration and the promotion of a new social citizenship have automatically made EU law a testing ground to encourage the opening up of new possibilities. From its study there emerges a universal criterion of access to social protection centred less on the link to the State and more on the link to society, a link no longer of nationality but of integration.

R&D plays a dual role: First, it generates new knowledge and second, it develops a firm's absorptive capacity. Most of the existing strategic investment game models neglect, however, the second role of R&D. The aim of this paper is to incorporate the absorptive capacity hypothesis in such a model by endogenizing the spillover. A two-stage game is established and subsequently solved, looking for the subgame perfect Nash equilibria. Considering the comparative static properties of the model as well as the simulation results, a new effect appears: The "free-rider effect" of the models with exogenous spillover, which deteriorates the higher the spillover becomes, is now counteracted by the "absorptive capacity effect". It is found that firms will invest more in R&D to strengthen absorptive capacity when the spillover parameter is higher. (author's abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Changes in both sleep architecture and cognition are common with age. Typically these changes have a negative connotation: sleep fragmentation, insomnia, and deep sleep loss as well as forgetfulness, lack of focus, and even dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Research has shown that psychosocial stressors, such as isolation from family and friends or loss of a loved one can also have significant negative effects on sleep architecture and cognitive capabilities. This leaves the elderly in a particularly vulnerable situation: suffering from cognitive decline and sleep dysregulation already, and more likely to respond negatively to psychosocial stressors. Taking all of these factors into account, it’s surprising that little research has been done to elucidate the mechanisms behind aged subjects’ enhanced vulnerability to new onset psychosocial stress. Our lab embarked on a series of studies to test the effects of age and psychosocial stress on sleep architecture and cognition. Our first study measured sleep stages in young adult and aged F344 rats during their resting and active periods. Animals were behaviorally characterized on the Morris water maze and gene expression profiles of their parietal cortices were taken. We confirmed previous studies that found impaired cognition and decreased resting deep sleep with age. However, it was increased active deep sleep that correlated best with poor cognitive performance. In the second study rats were subjected to immobilization (restraint stress) immediately preceding their final water maze task. Hippocampi were prepared for synaptic electrophysiology and trunk blood was taken for corticosterone measurement after post-stress sleep architecture data was collected. Young subjects responded to acute stress with decreased cognition, elevated CORT levels and altered sleep architecture. In contrast, stressed aged subjects were statistically indistinguishable from control aged subjects, suggesting that aged rats are less responsive to an acute psychosocial stress event. Together, these studies suggest that alleviating sleep dysregulation could therapeutically benefit cognition psychosocial stress resilience.

En droit de l’aide sociale, le terme « renonciation » est très peu utilisé par la doctrine, sans doute parce que, de longue date, il a été considéré que le bénéficiaire ne pouvait renoncer ni tacitement ni expressément à son droit à l’aide sociale. Néanmoins, il réapparaît depuis peu dans les travaux de la doctrine portant sur le non-recours aux droits sociaux. Quoique ces notions désignent indubitablement des situations d’abandon de droits, cet usage du terme « renonciation » ne saurait suffire à convaincre de l’existence de la renonciation en droit de l’aide sociale dans la mesure où, malgré les nombreuses controverses doctrinales autour de la définition de la notion de renonciation, elle a toujours été enfermée par la doctrine majoritaire dans un cadre conceptuel particulièrement étroit. Se révèle alors l’intérêt d’étudier la renonciation en droit de l’aide sociale, étude d’autant plus importante que cette réflexion conduit à envisager sous un angle nouveau non seulement la notion même de renonciation, mais encore la problématique de l’effectivité des droits sociaux. L’objet de cette thèse consiste donc à se questionner sur l’existence et sur les caractéristiques de la renonciation en droit de l’aide sociale et, en filigrane, sur la nature et la spécificité de ces droits ainsi que sur la place du bénéficiaire au sein du droit de l’aide sociale. / In welfare law, the term « waiver » is seldom used by doctrine, no doubt because over the years it has been thought that the beneficiaries could not waiver either tacitly or expressly their rights to welfare. Nevertheless, recently the term has resurfaced in doctrinal research on non-recourse to welfare rights. Although these notions undoubtedly refer to situations whereby beneficiaries renounce their rights, such use of the term “waiver” is definitely not sufficient to prove the existence of waiver in welfare law. Indeed, despite numerous doctrinal controversies pertaining to the definition of the notion of waiver, prevailing doctrine has always circumscribed this definition within a very narrow conceptual framework. Accordingly, the study of welfare law becomes significant, all the more so as it leads to considering from a new perspective not only the very notion of waiver, but also the issue of the effectiveness of welfare rights. The aim of this thesis thus consists in questioning the existence and characteristics of waiver in welfare law and inherently, the nature and specificity of these rights together with the place of the beneficiary within welfare law.

Environmental exposures causing ingestions of toxic chemicals, such as the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon 2-aminoanthracene (2-AA), may increase the risk of developing cancer and other diseases such as diabetes. To understand the mode of action of 2-AA as it relates to diabetogenic processes and pancreatic cancer, 2-AA binding to soluble protein mixtures was investigated using a novel technique called dynamic isoelectric anisotropy ligand binding assay (DIABLA). Twenty four post-weaning 3-4 week old Fischer-344 (F-344) male rats were fed 0 mg/kg (control), 50 mg/kg (low dose), 75 mg/kg (medium dose) and 100 mg/kg (high dose) 2-AA diet for 14 and 28 days. Total proteins extracted from the pancreas and liver were evaluated for their binding potential using DIABLA. This technique utilizes capillary isoelectric focusing and fluorescence anisotropy to separate proteins in their active form as well as evaluate the chemical interactions. Isoelectric point (pI) values for protein binding as well as experimental mass spectra data were determined. Investigation of 2-AA binding through screening a complex mixture of proteins is a step towards understanding the mode of action and the biological activities.

MELO, Cintia de Brito. Fortificação de alimentos com ferro: verificação do atendimento à RDC nº 344/2002/ANVISA no Estado do Ceará. 2016. 49 f. Dissertação (mestrado em ciência e tecnologia de alimentos)- Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza-CE, 2016. / Submitted by Elineudson Ribeiro (elineudsonr@gmail.com) on 2016-03-22T18:41:11Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_dis_cbmelo.pdf: 1003999 bytes, checksum: db40a2cc654e8358a812b453ba454998 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by José Jairo Viana de Sousa (jairo@ufc.br) on 2016-05-18T18:38:11Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_dis_cbmelo.pdf: 1003999 bytes, checksum: db40a2cc654e8358a812b453ba454998 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-05-18T18:38:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_dis_cbmelo.pdf: 1003999 bytes, checksum: db40a2cc654e8358a812b453ba454998 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016 / Iron deficiency is the most prevalent nutritional disorder in the world. In Brazil, iron deficiency has been recognized as an important cause of anemia for more than two decades. Iron deficiency anemia sets up an epidemiological problem of great importance that has influenced the health public spending. Among the factors that contribute to this cause is the low intake of iron, influenced by poor living conditions. The iron has been used in foods widely consumed by the population as a strategy to improve the nutritional status of populations in several countries. This study was carried out to evaluate the iron content of wheat and corn flour products available in the State of Ceará through the Nutritional Content Assessment Program of Health Ministry (PATEN) in a quantitative and retrospective kind of study of iron content assessment through analysis realized by the Central Public Laboratory of Ceara State (LACEN). Thus, attempting to verify the compliance of the products sold in the state of Ceara to The Board Resolution Collegiate, RDC Nº 344/2002/ANVISA, which obligates the fortification of wheat and maize flour with iron and folic acid, as well as to compare the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia in the the last two decades in Brazil. It was concluded that approximately 58% of the samples analyzed in the last three years were considered unsatisfactory in relation to RDC No. 344/2002/ANVISA, ie having iron content of less than 4.2 mg per 100 g of flour. In turn, the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia in Brazil has not changed significantly over the last two decades, even with the mandatory fortification of flour with iron. / A deficiência de ferro é o distúrbio nutricional mais prevalente no mundo. No Brasil, a deficiência de ferro tem sido reconhecida como importante causa de anemia há mais de duas décadas. A anemia ferropriva configura um problema epidemiológico da maior relevância influindo nos gastos públicos de saúde. Dentre os fatores que contribuem para essa causa está a baixa ingestão de ferro que é favorecida por condições precárias de vida. A fortificação com ferro nos alimentos amplamente consumidos pela população vem sendo utilizada como estratégia para melhorar a situação nutricional nas populações de diversos países. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar os teores de ferro dos produtos obtidos com farinhas de trigo e milho comercializados no Estado do Ceará por meio do Programa de Avaliação do Teor Nutricional do Ministério da Saúde (PATEN) em um estudo do tipo retrospectivo quantitativo de avaliação dos teores de ferro em análises realizadas no Laboratório Central de Saúde Pública do Estado do Ceará (LACEN). A partir de então, buscou-se verificar o atendimento dos produtos comercializados no Estado do Ceará à Resolução da Diretoria Colegiada nº 344/2002/ANVISA, que torna obrigatória a fortificação de farinhas de trigo e milho com ferro e ácido fólico, assim como, comparar dados relativos à prevalência de anemia ferropriva das duas últimas décadas no Brasil. Concluiu-se que aproximadamente 58% das amostras analisadas, nos últimos três anos, foram consideradas insatisfatórias em relação ao atendimento da RDC nº 344/2002/ANVISA, ou seja, possuem teor de ferro menor que 4,2 mg por cada 100 g de farinha. Por sua vez, a prevalência de anemia ferropriva no Brasil não se alterou significativamente ao longo de duas décadas, mesmo com a obrigatoriedade da fortificação das farinhas com ferro.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Anatomy and Physiology / Michael J. Kenney / It is well established that normal aging is associated with progressive increases in efferent sympathetic nerve discharge (SND). Type II diabetes, obesity, heart failure, and hypertension are pathologies that have been attributed to both the processes of aging and sympathetic dysfunction, exemplifying the importance of understanding central regulation of SND during aging. However, the central mechanisms mediating altered SND with advancing age remain unclear. The rostral ventral lateral medulla (RVLM) is a brainstem region critically involved in setting the basal level of sympathetic outflow and cardiovascular function. Indeed, the RVLM is the only presympathetic region that when bilaterally inactivated results in profound reductions in both SND and arterial pressure. Glutamatergic influences in RVLM activity are powerfully inhibited by tonic GABAergic neural inputs originating from the caudal ventral lateral medulla (CVLM); effects that are mediated by GABAA receptors located on presympathetic neuronal cell bodies within the RVLM. In the present study we proposed that reductions in GABA[subscript A] receptor subunit gene expression may reflect withdrawal of GABAergic tone in the RVLM thereby contributing to the basal sympathetic activation that occurs with advancing age. Therefore, the objective of the current study was to identify age-related changes in the constitutive expression of genes related to GABAergic and muscarinic, nicotinic and dopaminergic receptor systems due to their reported involvement in modulating GABA[subscript A] receptor function, in the RVLM of adult young (3-5 mo. old), middle-aged (12 mo. old), weight stable presenescent (24-25 mo. old) and senescent (>24 mo. old) Fischer 344 (F344) rats using a commercially available real-time PCR array. Real-time analysis revealed nonuniform and age-associated changes in the RVLM GABA, muscarinic, nicotinic and dopaminergic neurotransmitter gene expression profile between young and middle-aged F344 rats. Heterogeneous expression of genes related to these neurotransmitters was also observed between presenescent and senescent F344 rats. Our results suggest that potential changes in neurotransmitter synthesis and degradation, uptake, transport, signaling and receptor subunit composition may account for the sympathoexcitatory state that is commonly observed in the aged.

No description available.

Obesity is a worldwide problem affecting both children and adults. Genetic, physiological, environmental, psychological, social and economic factors interact in varying degrees, influencing body weight and fat distribution and the progress of obesity. Moreover, some anthropogenic chemicals have proven to be endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) with the potential to interfere with different actions of hormones in the body. EDCs may thereby disrupt homeostasis, modifying developmental, behavioral and immune functions in humans and animals, and also promoting adiposity. Because hormones generally act at low concentrations, small changes in the endocrine system may lead to extensive effects. Based on data from experimental and epidemiological studies this thesis elucidates the relationship between a large number of environmental contaminants and obesity. The experimental studies demonstrated that fructose supplementation in the drinking water resulted in unfavorable metabolic alterations such as a higher liver somatic index (LSI), an increase in plasma triglycerides and increased plasma levels of apo A-I. Fructose in combination with exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) increased liver fat content and plasma levels of apo A-I in juvenile female Fischer 344 rats. The experimental studies also showed that the retro-peritoneal fat, which in rats is a distinct fat depot easy to distinguish and dissect, correlated well with the measurements of total fat mass analyzed with MRI, and could therefore be used as a substitute for total fat mass in rats. The epidemiological studies showed that circulating levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) were related to fat mass measured by DXA. OCDD, HCB, TNC, DDE and the less chlorinated PCBs were positively related to fat mass, while the more highly chlorinated PCBs showed a negative association. Further, circulating levels of BPA were positively associated with levels of the hormones adiponectin and leptin, but negatively related with ghrelin, hormones which are involved in the regulation of hunger and satiety. However, serum BPA levels were not related to measures of fat mass in the elderly individuals in the PIVUS cohort. This thesis concludes that environmental contaminants such as BPA and POPs most likely are contributors, along with genetic, social and behavioral factors, to the development of obesity.