It has been at least two decades since the introduction of Extracorporeal Shock-Wave Treatment (ESWT) for the treatment of non-unions; despite conflicting opinions in the literature, it is recently achieving good results also in acute fractures. This paper reports Authors’ clinical experience with electromagnetic shock-waves in the treatment of delayed unions and fresh fractures. Nonunion cases...

This paper is motivated by the open question whether the union of two disjoint NPcomplete sets always is NP-complete. We discover that such unions retain much of the complexity of their single components. More precisely, they are complete with respect to more general reducibilities. Moreover, we approach the main question in a more general way: We analyze the scope of the complexity of unions o...

We critically review the recent literature on currency unions, and discuss the methodological challenges posed by the empirical assessment of their costs and benefits. In the process, we provide evidence on the economic effects of the euro. In particular, and in contrast with estimates of the trade effect of other currency unions, we find that the impact of the euro on trade has been close to z...

The Determinants of Firm Performance: Unions, Works Councils, and Employee Involvement/High Performance Work Practices Drawing on evidence from the United States and Germany, this paper offers a survey of the effects of worker representation (in unions and works councils) and innovative work practices on firm performance. The focus is on the growing links between these two historically separate...

Deregulation and liberalization of health services take several forms in Europe: public-private partnerships; contracting out of services; and corporatization of health care institutions. The impact on health workers includes changes in terms and conditions of employment, breakup of collective bargaining agreements, and often more stressful working conditions. The author examines four types of ...

PURPOSE Examine unionized workers' knowledge and attitudes about workplace tobacco use, their exposure to secondhand smoke, and the role of labor unions in addressing smoking and cessation coverage policies. DESIGN Random-digit dial telephone survey. SUBJECTS Unionized workers in Minnesota (N = 508). MEASURES Knowledge and attitudes about workplace tobacco use and tobacco control policy m...

BACKGROUND Migrant workers have become a vital labor supply to China's economy. Their migration process and work conditions may influence their health and work ability. The work ability of migrant workers in China and the influence of the migration process on work ability have not been explored extensively in previous studies. The objective of this study is to evaluate the association of migrat...

We all know that labor unions in the private sector are in untrammeled decline. From about twenty-five percent in the 1950s, today the percent of employees in the private sector that are members of a labor union is less than nine percent.' It is expected that the decline will continue until union density reaches an equilibrium point of about three percent.' The future is not bright. However, un...

To give you a history of the evolution of the Prevention through Design (PtD) concepts, upon which I will base suggestions for possible future activities, I commence with a review of how an Institute for Safety through Design was created at the National Safety Council. In the early 1990s, several safety professionals recognized, through their studies of investigational reports of occupational i...