The 8th edition of Higher Education and Research in France, Facts and Figures presents an annual overview, backed up by figures, of developments within the French system, its resources and outcomes. Wherever the data permit, an international comparison is provided. A double page is devoted to each theme (49 in total), including a summary of the main data available and several graphs and tables as illustrations. This publication relies on key national and international statistical sources providing data on higher education and research in France.
In 2013, the French nation spent €28.7 billion on higher education, an increase of 1.2% in comparison with 2012 (at constant prices, i.e. adjusted for inflation). Expenditure on higher education has more than doubled since 1980 (by a factor of 2.5, at constant prices), increasing by an average of 2.8% a year. In 2013, average expenditure per student in higher education totalled €11,540, 40% more than in 1980. It was equivalent to the average spending for a student in a general or technical secondary school (€10,960 in 2013). However, the cost per student varied between different types of courses, ranging from €10,850 per year on average for students at state-run universities to €14,850 for those attending classes preparing for admission to Grandes Écoles. This variation is explained in large part by the level of educational supervision provided.
Staffing costs accounted for more than two thirds of expenditure on higher education. At the start of the 2013-14 academic year, the teaching and research potential in public higher education institutions under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research (Ministère de l'éducation nationale, de l'enseignement supérieur et de la recherche – MENESR) was 91,800 teachers, which included 57,000 teacher-researchers and equivalent, or 62% of all staff. Secondary teachers working in higher education and non-tenured teachers represented 14% and 24% of the teaching workforce respectively. The number of teachers working in higher education has increased by nearly 5% in ten years.
The French government provides the majority of funding for higher education, accounting for around 70% of financing in 2013, while households contributed just under 9%. At the start of the 2013-14 academic year, more than 660,000 students benefited from direct financial aid in the form of grants or loans. Financial and social support for students, including accommodation subsidies and forms of tax relief, totalled €6.0 billion, as compared with €3.5 billion in 1995 (at constant prices).
In 2011, France devoted 1.5% of its GDP to higher education, leaving it one tenth of a percentage point below the average for OECD countries (1.6%) and far behind Canada (2.8%), the United States (2.7%) and South Korea (2.6%).
625,650 of the candidates who sat examinations in 2014 were awarded a baccalauréat, equivalent to a pass rate of 88%. The proportion of people in a generation that hold a baccalauréat was over 60% in 1995 and rose to 77% in 2014.
Almost all of those with general baccalauréats and 74% of those with technological baccalauréats were enrolled on higher education courses at the start of the 2013-14 academic year. Most of those with vocational baccalauréats went straight into employment, so the proportion of this group enrolling in higher education was lower. However, it has nonetheless risen sharply in ten years (to 33% in 2013, as compared with 17% in 2000, excluding alternance programmes). Nearly 75% of those who obtained a baccalauréat (of any kind) in 2013 went on to enrol on higher education courses immediately (excluding alternance programmes). A significant number, particularly among those with vocational baccalauréats, also continued on to higher education via alternance programmes.
Given the proportion of an age group that is now obtaining a baccalauréat, and the percentage that are continuing secondary education, it follows that nearly 60% of young people are now accessing higher education.
At the start of the 2013-14 academic year, 2,430,100 students were enrolled in higher education. This represents an increase of 1.8% on the previous academic year, meaning that the number of students has never been so high, despite the fact that there are slightly fewer young people of studying age. This is explained by the fact that higher education in France now holds greater appeal for both young French nationals with baccalauréats and foreign students (who accounted for more than 12% of students in 2013). Since the early 2000s, private higher education institutions have seen the highest increase in student numbers (+ 50% between 2000 and 2012).
The overwhelming majority of those with general baccalauréats go on to university, many of whom enrol on general or healthcare courses. The most popular choices other than university programmes are vocational short courses at Technological university institutes (Instituts universitaires de technologie – IUT) or higher technical sections (Sections de techniciens supérieurs – STS) and CPGEs.
The appeal of university education varies significantly between different disciplines. In the ten years between 2004 and 2013, the number of students enrolling on healthcare courses has risen sharply (+ 30.0%). Law courses have also seen a sharp increase (+ 18.9%). Student numbers have recently returned to their 2004 levels in scientific subjects and physical education and sports science and techniques, having been in decline over the intervening decade. The number of students in the arts and human and social sciences, which together account for more than half of all students enrolled at university on general courses, fell slightly between 2004 and 2013 (- 5.5%).
Alternance programmes were first introduced in 1987 and were expanded as part of reforms to the French higher education system ('LMD reform') in 2002, consequently becoming much more widespread in higher education. The number of apprentices increased by 92% between 2005 and 2012 and by 10% over the last year alone. 135,400 apprentices were enrolled on alternance programmes in 2012, accounting for 5.5% of all students in higher education. Nearly half of all apprentices were working towards a higher technical certificate (Brevet de technicien supérieur – BTS), while one in ten were preparing for an engineering diploma or Bachelor's degree.
PhDs are the most advanced qualification awarded by higher education institutions and doctoral research contracts provide many PhD students with their first professional experience. PhD graduates are a key driving force behind research in France. Training through research has been provided by graduate schools since 2000. Students are normally required to prepare a thesis over a three-year period, although they sometimes take longer than this, particularly in human and social sciences. Nearly 13,000 PhDs were awarded in 2012. Although the number of PhD students increased by 3% between the 2000-2001 and 2013-2014 academic years, it has been in decline in recent years. However, the number of PhDs awarded rose by 54% between the 2001 and 2012 sessions, with the recent fall in enrolments seemingly offset by greater numbers of students completing their thesis within shorter periods of time. Most of the PhDs awarded (60%) were in scientific subjects.
The pass rates for certain higher education qualifications were strongly influenced by students' academic backgrounds. This was true of general Bachelor's degrees, University technology diplomas (Diplômes universitaires de technologie – DUT) and BTSs. Those with general baccalauréats were likely to do better on these courses than their counterparts with technological or vocational baccalauréats. Among those with general baccalauréats, students who had achieved a grade higher than a 'Pass' in their baccalauréat were more likely to do well on these courses. However, the type of baccalauréat held by students had little influence on the pass rate for vocational Degrees, which was high: 88.0% of students enrolled obtained their qualification in one year. By contrast, only 44.5% of students on Bachelor's degree programmes obtained their qualification in 3, 4 or 5 years. 69% of DUT students and 60% of those working towards a BTS obtained their qualification in two years.
The trajectories of students enrolled on CPGEs in scientific or business subjects showed significant levels of success. After two or three years, eight out of ten baccalauréat holders who had previously attended CPGEs in scientific or business subjects were enrolled on a baccalauréat + 5 years-level programme at a Grande École. A growing proportion of students who had attended CPGEs in the arts (a third of those who obtained a baccalauréat in 2008) were enrolled on a baccalauréat + 5 years-level programme at a Grande École after 3 years. This trend is explained by the increasing opportunities offered by the humanities test bank (Banque d'épreuves littéraires – BEL) and the fact that Grandes Écoles have diversified the ways in which they recruit students. However, given the small number of places offered at Grandes Écoles through competitive entrance examinations, the majority of arts students still went on to university (two thirds of students had enrolled after two or three years), with most entering the third year without having fallen behind on a university degree course.
In the 5th year after obtaining their baccalauréat, 72% of students enrolled at STSs and 89% of those enrolled at IUTs had obtained a higher education qualification, 22% and 52% (respectively) with a baccalauréat + 3 years-level qualification (marking the successful conclusion of three years of higher education following the baccalauréat). Nearly three quarters of those who were awarded a general Bachelor's degree stayed on at university the following year to do a Master's degree, although the situation varied between subject areas. 87% of law graduates and nearly 80% of science graduates went on to start a Master's degree. However, the proportion of students going on to study for a Master's degree was lower in other subject areas (between 64% and 71%). Of those who enrolled in the first year of a Master's degree programme in 2009-10, 57% ultimately obtained their Master's degree in either 2 or 3 years.
In 2013, 44% of young people aged between 25 and 29 held a higher education qualification. Despite this, and even though this proportion is significantly lower than the average for OECD countries, 19% of baccalauréat holders who start higher education still leave without obtaining a qualification (nearly 75,000 young people every year).
The drive to make higher education more widely accessible continues: in 2013, 60% of those aged between 20 and 24 had attended higher education courses (regardless of whether they graduated), as compared with 32% of those aged between 45 and 49.
This increase was observed among students from all social backgrounds. 79% of those aged 20-24 who came from more privileged backgrounds and whose parents worked as managers or technicians and associated professionals were studying or had studied at a higher education institution, as compared with 58% of those aged between 45 and 49. This increase was slightly higher among those whose parents were manual workers or employees, but from a particularly low starting point: 46% of those aged 20-24 were studying or had studied at higher education institutions, as compared with 20% of those aged between 45 and 49.
The two-to-one ratio between the two social groups also holds true for qualifications: on average, over the period 2011-2013, 65% of those whose parents worked as managers or technicians and associated professionals held a higher education qualification, as compared with 30% of those whose parents were manual workers or employees.
Although there was little distinction in terms of social background on technological short courses, such as BTSs and DUTs, divisions were much more noticeable in the case of universities (excluding IUTs) and Grandes Écoles. 30% of those whose parents worked as managers graduated from a Grande École or university with a baccalauréat + 5 years-level or higher qualification, as compared with only 7% of those whose parents were manual workers.
More than half of students (55%) are women. Women make up the vast majority (70%) of those studying arts or human sciences subjects, as well as paramedical and social care courses (84%). However, they are in the minority when it comes to the most selective courses, such as CPGEs and IUTs, and still account for only a very small proportion of students on science courses. In 2013-14, just over a quarter of students (27%) at engineering schools were women, despite an increase of 5 percentage points over the previous 15 years. The proportion of women doing apprenticeships is also low.
Women account for a larger share of the student population and more women hold qualifications than men. While 46% of a given generation have a higher education qualification, the figure is over 50% for women (51%), but only 40% for men. The labour market is less favourable for women and their trajectories towards access to employment are slower. They are less likely to have open-ended employment contracts and more likely to work part time. More specifically, 3 years after leaving higher education, a quarter of women are employed as managers, compared with more than a third of men.
Over the past 10 years, the number of women working as teacher-researchers has increased. In 2013-14, women held a third of all teacher-researcher posts and 43.6% of all lecturing positions, but still only accounted for 22.5% of university professors.
Those leaving higher education enjoy more favourable conditions in accessing the labour market than other applicants, particularly in times of crisis. They are less exposed to unemployment, although this varies depending on their level of educational attainment, specialism and the type of programme they attended.
A study on the occupational integration of young people with DUTs, vocational degrees and Master's degrees 30 months after graduation, and analyses of the occupational integration after 3 years of young people leaving the education system have shown that a higher education qualification offers a certain degree of protection against unemployment.
In 2013, only 13% of all those who left higher education in 2010 were unemployed, as compared with a quarter of all young people who left higher education without obtaining a qualification. However, the situation varied considerably depending on the type of qualification. The rate of unemployment for those with baccalauréat + 2 years-level or baccalauréat + 3 years-level qualifications in engineering or healthcare was very low (3% and 2% respectively) 3 years after they had left higher education. The unemployment situation for other graduates was certainly less favourable, but nonetheless confirmed the protection afforded by a higher education qualification.
The general perception that a higher education qualification offers a certain degree of protection against unemployment was confirmed by an increase in the proportion of those who had left higher education resuming their studies within 3 years of finishing their initial education. 16% of young graduates and nearly a third of those who left higher education without obtaining a qualification resumed studies within 3 years of finishing their initial education. This is nearly double the percentage recorded in the late 1990s.
In 2012, France's gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) totalled €46.5 billion, equivalent to 2.23% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), putting it behind South Korea (4.4%), Japan (3.4%), the United States (2.7%) and Germany (3.0%), but ahead of the United Kingdom (1.7%). GERD is expected to reach €47 billion (2.23% of GDP) in 2013.
The research effort came largely from businesses, which carried out 65% of all R&D conducted in France in 2012 and financed 59% of this work. Public sector GERD totalled €16.5 billion in 2012, with R&D carried out in large part by dedicated research institutions (55%), as well as higher education institutions (40%). Intramural business enterprise expenditure on R&D (BERD) stood at €30.1 billion in 2012. SMEs accounted for 86% of firms carrying out R&D in France in 2012 and contributed 16% of GERD, more than half of which was invested in the service sector. Large enterprises, which accounted for 59% of GERD, focused three quarters of their funding on high and medium-high technologies. More than 50% of all intramural BERD went towards six industry groups: 'Manufacture of motor vehicles', 'Manufacture of air and spacecraft and related machinery', 'Manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations', 'Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products', 'Manufacture of instruments and appliances for measuring' and 'Manufacture of electronic components and boards, computers and peripheral equipment'. Businesses also devoted a considerable proportion of their intramural BERD to multidisciplinary fields such as new materials, nanotechnology, biotechnology and environmental R&D.
Around a third of firms are deemed to be 'technologically innovative' and, of these, 70% carry out R&D. Institutions that carry out public research collaborate with 14% of technologically innovative firms, which are the most active in research, accounting for 70% of BERD. These firms mainly belong to the 'Scientific and technical activities' and 'Manufacturing industries' sectors.
The government helps businesses in their research effort by means of direct funding, collaborations with dedicated civil or military state research institutions and tax incentives such as the R&D tax credit (Crédit d'impôt recherche – CIR) and 'young innovative company' (YIC) status. In 2012, 6% of all business R&D was government-funded and the amount of CIR paid out totalled €5.3 billion. In this regard, France is no different from other OECD countries, where tax incentives are increasingly being used to promote R&D in the private sector, reflecting the more intense competition between different countries when it comes to attracting firms' R&D divisions. Local authorities also contribute to the research effort, often by financing property transactions and technology transfers. The 2013 research and technology transfer (R&T) budget for local authorities was estimated to be €1.3 billion.
In 2012, nearly 564,500 people, encompassing researchers and supporting staff, were involved in R&D-related activities in some capacity, accounting for just over 412,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions. The number of researchers rose sharply between 2007 and 2012 (+ 16.8%) to 259,100 FTE researchers (10,000 more FTE positions than in 2011), putting France in 2nd place within the European Union behind Germany and just ahead of the United Kingdom. This increase was more marked among businesses (+ 26%) than in government (+ 5%). In 2012, 60% of researchers worked for businesses. In the business enterprise sector, nearly half of all researchers worked in just 5 industry groups ('Manufacture of motor vehicles', 'Computer-related and information service activities', 'Professional, scientific and technical activities', 'Manufacture of air and spacecraft and related machinery', 'Manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations' and 'Manufacture of instruments and appliances for measuring'). The increase in the number of R&D personnel was largely driven by the service sector, where the number of people working in R&D rose 10 times more quickly than in the industrial sector.
The proportion of women working in R&D was 29% in 2012 and was lower in the business enterprise sector (22%) than in government (40%). The proportion of women working as researchers (26%) was also lower than that of women working as supporting staff (35%). An engineering diploma was the most advanced qualification held by more than half of all researchers working in the business enterprise sector in 2011 and only 12% of researchers in this sector held a PhD. In addition to this, a third of the PhD graduates working in the business enterprise sector also held an engineering diploma. The majority of PhD graduates went on to work in public research: 5 years after obtaining their PhD, half of all PhD graduates were working in public research, as compared with a quarter in the private sector. The remaining quarter worked in other types of roles and reported being less satisfied with their employment and receiving lower pay.
Scientific publications and patent registrations are two key measurable indicators that can be used to assess a country's R&D activities. International competition in these two areas is fierce. In 2013, France was ranked 6th in the world in terms of its share of worldwide scientific publications (3.5%). Its share of citations after two years in later publications (which reflects their impact on scientific advancement more effectively than simply measuring the number of publications produced) was 3.9%. These two shares have been in decline since 1999, due in large part to the arrival of new countries on the global scientific scene, such as China, India and Brazil. This decline can also be observed among France's major European counterparts. While their share of publications is falling, their impact indexes are increasing and exceed the global average. The breakdown of French publications by subject area is generally balanced compared with other countries, although it does reveal a marked specialisation in mathematics.
France is also well-placed internationally as regards patents. In 2012, France was ranked 4th in the world in the European patent system, with 6.4% of applications recorded, and 7th in the world in the United States system, with 2.1% of patents granted. Its specialist fields include 'Transport', 'Micro-structural and nano-technology', 'Organic fine chemistry', 'Engines, pumps, turbines', 'Civil engineering', 'Pharmaceuticals' and 'Materials, metallurgy'.
France's share of worldwide patents has been in decline in both systems since 2004 due to the emergence of new countries such as China and South Korea.
France received 11.5% of the financial contribution allocated by the European Union for the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7), making it the third largest beneficiary behind Germany and the United Kingdom. Nuclear, space and aeronautics are its strongest sectors under this programme, but its position has declined, due in large part to a weaker engagement among French participants.


One of the common approaches to frequency compensation of LDO loops is to use a very large capacitor at the LDO output. Such LDOs are called output-compensated regulators. The exact capacitor values depend on several factors such as load current, headroom available, and others. Typical values are in the range of hundreds of nF to a few F. These capacitors help with sourcing or sinking surge currents due to fast load changes. The main drawbacks with such systems are the additional cost for these external capacitors and the extra space on the PCB for mounting them. Typical Internet of Things (IoT) systems and other similar applications require several LDOs. A capacitor for each LDO output will very quickly become prohibitive.
This is a guest blog by Anand Veeravalli and Stephen M. Nola of Vidatronic. For more information on our patented LDO technology, please visit our website. To read a more in depth introduction to LDO linear voltage regulators that includes electrical characteristics definitions and application considerations, download the full white paper.


text:
package org.motechproject.security.velocity;

import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
import org.apache.velocity.Template;
import org.apache.velocity.VelocityContext;
import org.apache.velocity.runtime.RuntimeServices;
import org.apache.velocity.runtime.RuntimeSingleton;
import org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.ParseException;
import org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.SimpleNode;
import org.motechproject.config.SettingsFacade;
import org.motechproject.security.exception.VelocityTemplateParsingException;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.StringReader;
import java.io.StringWriter;
import java.util.Map;

/**
 * Responsible for loading and merging velocity templates stored as raw config files.
 */
@Component
public class VelocityTemplateParser {

    private RuntimeServices rs = RuntimeSingleton.getRuntimeServices();
    private SettingsFacade settingsFacade;

    public String mergeTemplateIntoString(String templateFilename, Map<String, Object> params)
            throws VelocityTemplateParsingException {
        try (InputStream is = settingsFacade.getRawConfig(templateFilename)) {
            StringReader reader = new StringReader(IOUtils.toString(is));
            SimpleNode node = rs.parse(reader, templateFilename);

            Template template = new Template();
            template.setRuntimeServices(rs);
            template.setData(node);
            template.initDocument();

            StringWriter writer = new StringWriter();
            template.merge(new VelocityContext(params), writer);
            return writer.toString();
        } catch (ParseException|IOException e) {
            throw new VelocityTemplateParsingException("Couldn't merge template into string", e);
        }
    }

    @Autowired
    public void setSettingsFacade(SettingsFacade settingsFacade) {
        this.settingsFacade = settingsFacade;
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The marble with the pistachio texture, Pista White marble is quite popular among those who wish to elevate the style quotient of their residential and commercial space. Pista White is ideal to give a beautiful and mesmerizing look to the space. It looks amazing on floor, kitchen countertops, vanity tops, etc. The quintessential opulence and extravagance, Pista White is also preferred by artists for their art as well a masterpieces.


text:
Home News Security guard who slapped man's face in Clarke Quay shopping centre gets...
Security guard who slapped man's face in Clarke Quay shopping centre gets fired
Jewel Stolarchuk
A security officer's employers chose to sack the employee after a video of him striking a shopper at The Central at Clarke Quay went viral this week.
In the video, the security officer can be seen in a heated argument with a shopper. While it is still unclear what the dispute was about, the officer can be seen gesticulating wildly before abruptly slapping the shopper across his face.
The officer then backs up while the shopper, caught off guard, regains his balance before storming back into the shopping centre:
#trendingonsocialmedia
Posted by The Independent Singapore on Tuesday, 28 November 2017
The incident reportedly occurred on Friday, 25 Nov.
The officer's employer, security organisation Certis CISCO has since sacked the employee. The group said in a media statement:
"Certis CISCO regrets to learn of the very unpleasant incident that happened at Clarke Quay Central on 25 Nov and would like to extend our apologies to the member of public.
"At Certis CISCO, we train and expect our staff to conduct themselves in a professional decorum and we have zero tolerance for misdemeanour that runs contrary to the code of conduct expected of our staff.
"As such, the staff involved in this incident has been terminated with immediate effect.
"We have also shared the incident with the rest of our security staff and reiterate the importance of conducting themselves professionally when interacting with members of the public."
A representative from CBRE, the managing group of The Central at Clarke Quay, also said that the group conducted a through investigation into the matter. CBRE's Associate Director of Asset Service, Serene Koh, told reporters:
"CBRE takes a serious view of the safety of the occupants in all the buildings we manage.
"Following the incident, we carried out a thorough investigation with all parties concerned including the security company Certis Cisco who employed the security officer involved in the incident.
"We understand that Certis Cisco has since terminated the employment of the security officer.
"This is the first time an incident of such a nature has been lodged and we will work closely with Certis Cisco to ensure that the security personnel deployed at the mall carry out their duties with the highest level of professionalism."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
RyanBoudwin.com
Perspectives on the World and Life
Fiscal Issues
Answering the Call to Arms: A Study of Conscription
Posted By: Ryan Boudwin February 10, 2012
Providing military protection for their citizens is a basic obligation of nation states. How to staff such a military is a choice all states face, and in the modern age, that is generally a choice between using conscription or an all-volunteer force. The developed world is increasingly turning against conscription. Some studies have shown that democracies with conscripted militaries suffer fewer casualties in war than democracies with volunteer forces because conscription affects the children of social and political elites that are better able to restrain policymakers from the brink of war or bring the war to an end faster. However, there is not a consensus on this in the academic literature, and both the financial and social costs of conscription make a compelling case for ending the practice throughout the world.
Max Weber, a German sociologist, defined the very nature of the state as the holder of the monopoly of the legitimate use of violence in a given territory.[1] All states require a military to enforce this monopoly and to defend themselves against other states' potentially aggressive behavior. They all face a similar question: how should the military obtain its manpower? Historically this was a choice between foreign mercenaries and national troops; as early as the 16th century Niccolo Machiavelli was writing about the danger of using foreign mercenaries.[2] In the modern age, national troops are a characteristic of the modern state. More recently, the question has been how to staff a national force—by conscription or by an all-volunteer force. This choice has far-reaching implications and affects foreign policy decisions by public officials.
Conscription in the World Today
Modern conscription appeared first in France in 1798,[3] and the national conscript army spread as a result of France's successes against professional mercenary armies during the Napoleonic Wars. Conscription was a national policy for virtually all European states for the next two centuries. After the end of the Cold War, however, the strategic picture changed, at least in Europe, and one by one the European states turned away from conscription to all-volunteer armed forces. Governments increasingly needed small, professional armies that could serve abroad in peacekeeping missions, rather than mass armies of conscripts to defend against a Soviet invasion. The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy all moved to a volunteer force during the 1990s.[4] Germany held onto conscription much longer because of its historically-based mistrust of professional militaries, but even it ultimately suspended all compulsory military service in July 2011.[5]
Of those few European states that yet retain conscription outside of the former Soviet sphere, conscription only has a significant role in Switzerland (where it is an important part of national identity), Finland (which is quite focused on territorial defense, thanks to "memories of the heroic Winter War against the Soviet Union in 1940 and recently reinforced by the example of Russia's invasion of Georgia in 2008"), and Turkey, where tensions with the Kurdish minority have maintained the military's strong role in society. Even Russia is taking steps towards reducing its reliance on conscription by reducing its service obligation to one year in an attempt to professionalize its military after its "mixed results" during the 2008 Georgia invasion. [6]
The map that follows, taken from The Economist, shows the use of conscription worldwide. As the map indicates, conscription remains very important in Asia. North Korea maintains the heaviest burden of conscription in the world, with five to twelve years of active service required along with reserve duty until the age of sixty.[7] Throughout Eurasia, conscript armies still are and will continue to be relevant to the struggles of power, though most of the rest of the world is moving in the opposite direction, largely because "quality, represented by the ability to use complex new weapon systems, has replaced quantity as a measurement of military power."[8]
How Democracy Affects Foreign Policy
In any discussion of how the choice of conscription affects foreign policy, we must make a fundamental distinction between democratic and non-democratic states. "Since casualties are negatively correlated with mass opinion, over the duration of a war, populations become increasingly weary of fighting and decreasingly supportive of the conflict. This induced 'war weariness' in nations [results in decreasing]… military effectiveness over time."[10] Democratic leaders face internal constraints that force them "to be more selective in the wars they fight… [because] democracies specifically are more sensitive to the prospect of casualties than other types of regimes."[11] This democratic sensitivity to casualties is a foundational principle of the theory of democratic peace.[12]
Non-democracies face fewer internal institutional constraints on their behavior. Their choice of military manpower affects them less than democratic states because the people potentially affected by conscription are less able to effect meaningful political change. Casualties thus affect decision-making less in a non-democratic regime.
With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that disputes involving two democracies generally result in fewer casualties than disputes between democratic and non-democratic states,[13] since in a democratic society, "the public holds leaders accountable for costly and unpopular wars and disputes, and leaders pay for this accountability through electoral defeat… [thus] democratic decision makers tend to avoid conflicts with high citizen casualties and consequently high political costs."[14]
It is for all of these reasons that this analysis of how military manpower choices affect foreign policy will focus exclusively on democratic regimes.
How Conscription Affects Foreign Policy
The results of the few empirical studies done on this subject are mixed. Joseph Vasquez performed a study that examined casualties in military disputes involving democracies from 1950-1985, analyzed data from both World War I and World War II, and used numerous control variables to account for his non-random selection criteria. He concluded that democracies that favor conscription over volunteers suffer fewer combat casualties than democracies with all-volunteer professional forces. This is because conscription will make the military more representative of the people by ensuring that children of wealthy elites that enjoy greater political power and access to policymakers are unable to avoid military service. This makes governments become more risk averse and more sensitive to combat casualties to avoid the political backlash that comes from the elites feeling the horrors of war on a personal level.[15]
There is some evidence of resistance from conscripts in democracies affecting change. After World War II, Western European powers sent conscripts all over the world in an attempt to retain their colonies. Two-thirds of the 135,000 troops sent to the Dutch East Indies were conscripts; many of the French forces in Algeria were conscripts as well. "Political opposition engendered by the loss of citizen-soldiers in defense of colonial rule was one reason why governments were forced to abandon those campaigns – as well as, eventually, their empires."[16]
Vasquez contrasts the more "equitable and random way" that conscription distributes the burden of military service across society with the all volunteer force, where soldiers are recruited from the lower classes who have fewer economic or career prospects in the civilian world. Casualties that affect the lower classes that have less access to the halls of power restrain policymakers less than more equitably distributed casualties.[17] However, it is important to remember that conscription does not necessarily ensure that children of elites are at risk; those in power can easily manipulate the process for their own purposes. President Lyndon Johnson chose to activate only a tiny fraction of reservists to serve in Vietnam to keep children of elites out of the war and avoid a political backlash, even though activating more could have ended the war sooner and saved American lives.[18]
Based on these findings, Vasquez concludes that "an argument in favor of the creation of the all-volunteer force in the United States was that it would not coerce citizens to serve and expose themselves to risk. Yet this study suggests that volunteer systems-driven partially by labor market economics-contribute to higher casualties for democracies when soldiers are sacrificed more readily. Thus, while a volunteer force may help democracies maximize individual freedom at home, it can have deadly implications for those who serve when not all serve, which raises concerns about issues of equality and social justice."[19]
Other studies, however, using different selection criteria, have come to very different conclusions. Koch's statistical study of combat casualties showed that "the effects of conscription are statistically insignificant… Conscription does not affect casualty levels… [and] states with conscripted militaries are more likely to engage in militarized disputes" than states with professional volunteer militaries.[20] Vasquez himself said that it was quite counterintuitive that his results favored conscription given that "conscription is associated with the carnage of the past century's two most destructive wars."[21] Perhaps this is merely evidence that his selection criteria significantly changed his results, given that other similar studies have come to very different conclusions. It appears at present to be no consensus on this issue in the academic literature available.
Power as an Alternate Explanation
If for the moment we accept Vasquez's conclusions as fact, that nations using conscripts suffer fewer combat casualties than nations with professional armies, the question remains as to why. Does the fact that a nation elects to use conscription cause it to embrace a more peaceful foreign policy because the soldiers are more representative of society? Or does it choose more peaceful foreign policy because it lacks the ability to project power effectively?
Volunteer forces are more effective in combat than conscript forces.[22] The best example is the armed forces of the United States. Since the US military moved away from a draft and became an all-volunteer force, it has become "the highest-quality military in its history and the finest armed services in the world today… The percentage of 'high quality' enlistees… jumped 50 percent between 1973 and 1997,"[23] which is why commanders prefer to command volunteers over draftees.[24]
Robert Cooper explained how the relative power of the United States and Europe determine their behavior in foreign policy: "The differences between Europe and America are shaped by their military capabilities: so runs a popular argument. To put it crudely, the United States is unilateralist because it has the strength to act on its own; Europe's attachment to treaties, the rule of law and multilateralism comes from weakness and wishful thinking. Rules exist to protect the weak and Europeans like them."[25]
The same logic provides an alternative explanation to Vasquez's premise. If states with volunteer armed forces are likely to be more aggressive and thus more likely to incur casualties than states that rely on conscription for military staffing, it may be because those states have a more effective military and can thus more easily see military options as likely to be successful. Such states will be naturally be quicker to resort to military force, because they are more confident they can win, whereas states that use conscripts, all else being equal, are at a military disadvantage and thus are likely to try much harder to avoid confrontation and settle disputes through diplomacy because their weakness forces them to do so.
The Real Costs of Conscription
One of the concerns of moving to an all volunteer force is how much it will cost. The surprising reality is that volunteer forces generally cost less than conscripted ones. In the American context this is certainly true. "A draft brings in untrained, resentful first-termers who reenlist in far lower numbers than do volunteers." Before the transition to a volunteer force, only ten percent of new American soldiers reenlisted; in 2000 that number was fifty percent. Even if pay was drastically cut, reinstituting a draft would greatly increase turnover and training costs. It costs far less to retain quality personnel than to train new ones every two to three years. The increased strain on non-commissioned officers that comes from dealing with resentful draftees reduces their retention as well. This increasing turnover would reduce the experience, stability and efficiency of the armed forces.[26]
Administering and enforcing the draft would also cost a great deal of money. President Reagan created a Military Manpower Task Force that after studying the issue at length found that returning to conscription would cost at least $1 billion dollars more than retaining a volunteer force even with all the potential savings accounted for.[27] When you factor in the loss of military effectiveness that comes from a conscript army, the case for a volunteer force becomes more compelling.
The social and political benefits of conscription are ambiguous, and consensus on the matter is lacking. The social and political costs are not. Comparing data from before and after the transformation of the American armed forces to an all-volunteer force paints quite a telling picture.
Discipline as a whole has been far better during the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts than it in previous wars, and especially during the struggle in Vietnam. The desertion rate for the Army is 9 per 100,000; in Vietnam it was 73, in World War II it was 63, and in Korea it was 22.5. In 1970, 152 soldiers serving in Vietnam were tried for mutiny; there have only been a handful of such cases in the last ten years. In two years in Vietnam, 600 fragging incidents (cases of violence against superiors) were reported by the Army; in the last ten years there have been less than five.[28] Because the volunteer force is "free to discharge soldiers who abuse drugs, perform poorly, or otherwise are ill suited to service life," drug use and other similar issues are far less common than in times past.[29]
Crucially important for the rest of the world is how moving to an all-volunteer force has reduced crimes against civilians in war zones. Vietnam had many such incidents. Five hundred people are estimated to have been killed in a single day at My Lai. The abuses of Abu Ghraib and the killings at Hadithah, though widely reported, do not approach the scale of previous conflicts. Court martial records provide some perspective. In ten years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, 22 servicemen were convicted of killing civilians; in Vietnam the number was 278.[30]
Even evading a draft produces social costs. "The Vietnam era demonstrated that the price of the inevitable avoidance activities and economic dislocations can be substantial. Conscription inspired a plethora of avoidance schemes, including early marriages, unnecessary schooling, inefficient employment, and political violence."[31]
Perhaps most important of all, it is important to realize how conscription can cheapen the value of human beings. U.S. Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig explained that "When it receives people at no cost, the military, like most institutions when this happens, tends to treat them as if they were virtually of no worth."[32] The fundamental belief that all men are created equal and the ideals of freedom that underlie the post-modern world are weakened when the survival of those ideals is based on compulsion to military service.
If modern leaders struggle to find enough willing recruits to fulfill their military needs, perhaps that is a sign that they should reevaluate their international commitments. And if this is not enough, then establishing a foreign legion that will call on volunteers looking for a better life in another country is far more conducive to the ideals of human rights we take for granted in the post-modern world than forcing men into uniform.
There is no consensus on how the practice of conscription affects foreign policy in the academic literature, and both the financial and social costs of conscription make a compelling case for ending the practice throughout the world, which explains why the developed world as a whole (with a few isolated exceptions) has largely abandoned conscription as a policy of military manpower.
Bandow, Doug. "Mend, Never End, the All-Volunteer Force." Orbis 44, no. 3 (Summer 2000): 463. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed January 20, 2012).
Cancian, Mark F. "The all-volunteer force: After 10 years of war, it's time to gather lessons," Armed Forces Journal (October 2011). http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2011/10/7691489/ (accessed January 20, 2012).
Cooper, Robert. The Breaking of Nations. (New York: Grove Press, 2003).
The Economist, "Does your country need you?" http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/07/military-conscription (accessed January 20, 2012).
Koch, Michael, and Scott S. Gartner, "Casualties and Constituencies: Democratic Accountability, Electoral Institutions, and Costly Conflicts," Journal of Conflict Resolution 49 (2005): 874-894.
Machiavelli, Niccolò. The Prince, trans. William K. Marriott (Project Gutenberg, 2006), chap. 13. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1232/1232-h/1232-h.htm#2HCH0013 (accessed January 20, 2012).
Sheehan, James. "The Future of Conscription: Some Comparative Reflections," Daedalus 140 (Summer 2011). Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed January 20, 2012).
Vasquez, Joseph P. "Shouldering the Soldiering: Democracy, Conscription, and Military Casualties," Journal of Conflict Resolution 49 (2005): 849-873.
Weber, Max. "Politics as a Vocation," (PDF received in Comparative Politics, University of Warsaw: 1919).
[1] Max Weber, "Politics as a Vocation," (PDF received in Comparative Politics, University of Warsaw: 1919).
[2] Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, trans. William K. Marriott (Project Gutenberg, 2006), chap. 13, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1232/1232-h/1232-h.htm#2HCH0013.
[3] James Sheehan, "The Future of Conscription: Some Comparative Reflections," Daedalus 140 (Summer 2011).
[5] The Economist, "Does your country need you?" http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/07/military-conscription.
[6] Sheehan, "The Future of Conscription."
[7]Ibid.
[9]The Economist, "Does your country need you?" http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/07/military-conscription.
[10] Michael Koch and Scott S. Gartner, "Casualties and Constituencies: Democratic Accountability, Electoral Institutions, and Costly Conflicts," Journal of Conflict Resolution 49 (2005): 876.
[11] Joseph P. Vasquez, "Shouldering the Soldiering: Democracy, Conscription, and Military Casualties," Journal of Conflict Resolution 49 (2005): 851.
[12] Koch and Gartner, "Casualties and Constituencies," 874.
[13] Ibid, 881.
[14] Ibid, 876-877.
[15] Vasquez, "Shouldering the Soldiering," 850.
[16] Sheehan, "The Future of Conscription."
[17] Vasquez, "Shouldering the Soldiering, 851-852.
[20] Koch and Gartner, "Casualties and Constituencies," 887-889.
[23] Doug Bandow, "Mend, Never End, the All-Volunteer Force." Orbis 44, no. 3 (Summer 2000): 463.
[25] Robert Cooper, The Breaking of Nations, (New York: Grove Press, 2003), 155.
[26] Bandow, "Mend, Never End, the All-Volunteer Force."
[28] Mark F. Cancian, "The all-volunteer force: After 10 years of war, it's time to gather lessons," Armed Forces Journal (October 2011) http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2011/10/7691489/
[30] Cancian, "The all-volunteer force."
Be the first to comment on "Answering the Call to Arms: A Study of Conscription"
Why I am a Federationist
How to make your own magnifier for $25
My First Summit on the Air
New normal: losing your vision
Life's little adventures
Chad Buttars on My First Summit on the Air
Scott Sims on My First Summit on the Air
Gayle on Diagnosis: Retinitis Pigmentosa
Dave on Legalize Chocolate! Free the Kinder Eggs!
Ryan Boudwin on Reality is complicated; quit rushing to judgment, America


Farewell to the fasting cholesterol test?
If you've ever fasted overnight before having blood drawn, you know how uncomfortable and inconvenient this can be. But for many people, fasting blood draws might be a thing of the past. Recent guidelines reinforce that fasting is not required to have your cholesterol levels checked. This move, along with the advent of a non-fasting test to monitor diabetes, means you might not have to skip breakfast before your next visit to the doctor.
Treatment options for osteoarthritis of the knee are limited, and many people turn to surgery as a last resort — so there's a lot of interest in non-invasive treatments for this common condition. Researchers have just completed a head-to-head trial of standard physical therapy versus the traditional Chinese practice of tai chi, and they've found the latter is just as good as the former. If it's something you'd like to try, go for it!
When your child has a stomach bug, it's tempting to reach for over-the-counter oral rehydration solutions. After all, doctors have recommended them in the past. But a new study has revealed that most children don't need them. In fact, juice diluted with water may be all your child needs.
As it turns out, the things your doctor spends so much time focusing on at your yearly check-up account for just 10% of your health needs. Over half of the total "picture" of your health comes from social, environmental, and behavioral factors. This means that people who have unmet environmental needs — such as being unable to afford healthy food — suffer real consequences to their physical health. We've described one initiative that aims to change that.
You probably know that smoking has enormous consequences for your health. One of the most common is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a disorder involving damage to the lungs. If you smoke, but you don't have COPD, you may be tempted to think your lungs are relatively unharmed — but a recent study suggests that some smokers without COPD might still suffer lung damage.
Recently, many parents have begun cutting gluten (a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley) out of their children's diet in an effort to be healthy. Although children with celiac disease or wheat allergy should avoid gluten, a gluten-free diet is unnecessary for the vast majority of children — and it can even endanger their health. We've identified three specific ways this diet can do more harm than good for your child.
You've probably been told all your life that spending lots of time in the sun can be bad for you. Surprisingly (and just in time for summer), a new study has reported health benefits — including an extended life span — from sun exposure. But before you shut off the computer and head for the beach, you should know that this study also comes with some important caveats.
If you've ever volunteered for a school, community center, or other nonprofit organization, you've probably felt the emotional reward that comes with helping others. But volunteering has other benefits, too. Multiple studies have confirmed that volunteering is, quite literally, good for your heart — and for the rest of your body. We've described the positive effects of volunteering on your health, plus listed some organizations that can help you get started.


text:
Oana Stroe
EMBL Press Office
Meyerhofstraße 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
media@embl.org
Personalised medicine: one data type is not enough
New computational method integrates multiple molecular data types to study the variability between patients in complex diseases
New method allows clinical researchers to integrate DNA, RNA, methylation data and more to explore patient variability. PHOTO: EMBL-EBI
To understand the biology of diseased organs researchers can use different types of molecular data
One of the biggest computational challenges at the moment is integrating the resulting multiple data types
A new computational method jointly analyses different types of molecular data and disentangles the sources of disease variability to guide personalised treatment
EMBL researchers have designed a computational method to jointly analyse multiple types of molecular data from patients in order to identify molecular signatures that distinguish individuals. The method is called Multi-Omics Factor Analysis (MOFA), and was published in Molecular Systems Biology today.
MOFA could be useful for understanding cancer development and suggesting new directions for personalised treatment.
The researchers tested their new method on multi-omics data collected from 200 leukaemia patients. MOFA identified a series of factors that highlight the molecular variability between patients. This information could help researchers understand how cancer develops at an individual level. It could also help steer personalised treatment decisions.
"The big challenge in cancer is that each patient's disease is different from a molecular point of view and has a unique set of molecular features that have led to its development," explains Ricard Argelaguet, Predoctoral Fellow in the Stegle group at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI). "Our method allows researchers to do something that couldn't be done before – to easily integrate complex molecular data from DNA, RNA, methylation and more to build a tumour's molecular profile. Using these profiles, the method can also stratify patients into groups that may benefit from different types of treatment."
"Our objective was to come up with a method that could easily be used by clinical researchers, so we worked with colleagues from the field to understand their needs and challenges," continues Britta Velten, Predoctoral Fellow in the Huber group at EMBL Heidelberg. "We combined expertise from maths, statistics, machine learning, biology and clinical medicine to come up with a robust and practical method, which will hopefully help researchers in a clinical setting to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment."
In a second application, the researchers also used MOFA to analyse multi-omics data at single-cell resolution. They are currently working on further improving the method for even larger data sets and additional experimental designs.
What is multi-omics data?
Multi-omics approaches integrate data from the genome, epigenome, transcriptome, metabolome, and other molecular data. These data types have different properties and dimensions. This makes them difficult to integrate into a comprehensive analysis to build an individual's molecular profile.
By combining multiple molecular data types (multi-omics), researchers can identify biomarkers. These are naturally occurring molecules, genes or molecular characteristics associated with a particular disease. Biomarkers are essential for clinical research and can be used to classify patients into different patient groups. By measuring biomarkers, researchers can better understand a patient's disease, and estimate what kind of treatment they will respond to best.
MOFA is available as open-source software at https://github.com/bioFAM/MOFA with extensive documentation and tutorials.
Source articles
Argelaguet, R., Velten, B et al. Molecular Systems Biology, (published online) 20 June 2018, DOI: 10.15252/msb.20178124
Stegle research group
Huber research group
Tags: Bioinformatics, Cancer, Collaboration, Computational biology, EMBL-EBI, Genetics, Heidelberg, Methods, press release, Stegle


text:
Q: logout a user by another user(admin) in laravel 5.2 lets say three user is currently logged from three device. one of the user(Admin) want to forcely logout user2 , how can it be achieved in laravel 5.2 ??
Database table structure :: users -> id|name|email|password|remember_token
Update
scenario::
user1 --> logged from device 1 [user1 is admin type and has all kind of permission]
user2 --> logged from device 2 [normal user]
user3 --> logged from device 3 [normal user]

currently all user is logged simultaniously. user1 make some changes for user2 and want to re-login user2, there is no way to tell user2 please re-login except make him logout by user1. how can user1 make a user2(remote user) logout ??
Given solution analysis:
$userIdToLogout = 2; // it is user2

if (!is_null(Auth::user()) {
    if (Auth::user()->id == $userIdToLogout) {
        Auth::logout();
    }
}

- Auth::user() will return user1 information NOT user2
- So if (Auth::user()->id == $userIdToLogout) condition will never be true

is my analysis wrong ??

A: The answer that Alexey Mezenin gave is correct. People are not looking at the other user perspective. Auth will return the current user information.
So for example, User1 wants to log user2 out, User1 clicks on a href link that will log the user2 out. When this link is clicked, $usersId will contain the id of user2. Now the function will be called when the link is being redirect to the route. Auth refers to the current session. But when user2 is login and his id belongs to the $usersID, his account will be logout.
if(Auth::check() && if (in_array(Auth()->id(), $usersId)) {
  Auth::logout()
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


In a large mixing bowl, use your hands to combine the mushrooms, beef, garlic, Italian parsley, egg yolks, salt, and pepper.
Shape the meat mixture into meatballs that are slightly larger than a golf ball.
In a large sauté pan, heat the lard, butter, or ghee over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs to the hot pan, and brown them on all sides.
Remove the browned meatballs from the pan, and set them aside.
Make the sauce by adding the tomatoes, olive oil, basil, and salt and pepper to taste to the same pan used for the meatballs. Cook over medium heat, and bring the sauce to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
Add the meatballs to the simmering sauce, cover, and simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked all the way through.


text:
package org.ops4j.pax.exam.spi;

import java.util.List;

import org.ops4j.pax.exam.TestContainer;
import org.ops4j.pax.exam.TestProbeBuilder;

public interface StagedExamReactorFactory {

    StagedExamReactor create(List<TestContainer> factory, List<TestProbeBuilder> probes);
}


text:
Officers and Members
Related Sites & Resources
Nadine Ramsey State of District "C" Address - Oct. 8, 2014
posted Sep 23, 2014, 3:17 PM by Yvonne Mitchell-Grubb
Media Advisory September 23, 2014
Councilmember Ramsey to Give
State of the District "C" Address October 8th
District "C"
Councilmember Ramsey
District "C" Councilmember Nadine M. Ramsey will give her first State of the District "C" Address in the City Council Chamber.
Wednesday, October 8th, 5:30-7:00 p.m.
City Council Chamber
1300 Perdido St.
Office of District "C" Councilmember Nadine M. Ramsey
Email:rjlee@nola.gov
NOLA City Council
The New Orleans City Council is the legislative branch of New Orleans city government. The Council considers and enacts all local laws that govern the City of New Orleans. The Council also approves the operating and capital budgets for the City, as recommended by the mayor, and continually monitors revenues and expenditures for local government operations. The City Council is also the regulatory body for public utilities. It also reviews and has final say on many land use and zoning matters, as well as considers major economic development projects for the City. As a Board of Review for Orleans Parish, the Council examines appeals of property tax assessments for real estate taxes, and certifies tax rolls to the Louisiana Tax Commission. Other responsibilities of the Council include overseeing the operation of the public access television in Orleans Parish. Streaming video and video archives of the City Council's Regular and Committee meetings can be found on the City Council website.
The City Council is comprised of five districts and two councilmembers-at-large. Council President and Councilmember-at-Large Stacy Head; Council Vice President and Councilmember-at-Large Jason R. Williams; District "A" Councilmember Susan G. Guidry; District "B" Councilmember LaToya Cantrell; District "C" Councilmember Nadine M. Ramsey; District "D" Councilmember Jared C. Brossett; and District "E" Councilmember James Austin Gray III.


text:
BPE Sponsor CIT Student of the Year Award
11th November 2019 /in Careers, Company News /by BioPharma Admin
BioPharma Engineering recently sponsored the Chemical and Biopharmaceutical Engineering Third Year Student of the Year award at Cork Institute of Technology.
We were delighted to present this prestigious award to final year student Michael Millerick who demonstrated outstanding academic achievements during the year 2018-2019. The award was presented to Michael Millerick at the 2019 Cork Mechanical, Manufacturing and Biomedical Engineering Award Ceremony held recently in Cork Institute of Technology.
"We are honoured to continue our sponsorship and presentation of this esteemed annual award. BPE are committed to continuously supporting and partnering with local academic institutions to support the next generation of engineers. Our success is largely driven by the high calibre of our employees and Cork Institute of Technology has given us a strong flow of technical talent that has been pivotal to that success" said Richard Holohan, Managing Director, BioPharma Engineering
BioPharma Engineering would like to congratulate Michael and all the students and staff at Cork Institute of Technology for executing such an impressive event and we look forward to continuing to support the future of engineering in Ireland.
https://www.biopharmaengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/19D57_0017.jpg 3712 5568 BioPharma Admin https://www.biopharmaengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/logo-biopharma.png BioPharma Admin2019-11-11 15:10:272019-12-04 13:58:54BPE Sponsor CIT Student of the Year Award
Subscribe to stay in the loop.
Inspiring the next Generation: BPE Collaborates with STEM South West in New... Recent Project Highlights