Examining the barriers and gender backlashes of women’s pathway to leadership in small- and medium-sized enterprises in Kenya

Gender inequalities and the underrepresentation of women in senior management positions in companies were the motivation for this thesis. The three research objectives aimed to assess the status quo of gender parity, examine institutional factors, and explore the sociocultural barriers that impact women’s pathways to leadership in Kenyan small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Ten semi-structured interviews with founders and managers of Kenyan SMEs were undertaken via Zoom call. The findings show that women face substantial prejudice regarding their skills and leadership abilities. The research also identified institutional factors that impact on women’s participation in the workplace. Participants reported that governmental enforcement to execute laws and policies around gender equality and discrimination are very weak. Additionally, the study found that the few women who are at the top are left out of decision making, either because of exclusion from situations where informal decision-making takes place or because women experience dismissal in senior-level meetings. Finally, the research highlighted sociocultural factors as being a large barrier for women attaining and remaining in leadership roles. The subordination of women in society leads to male domination in the workplace. Traditional gender roles require women to take sole responsibility of managing the household, which holds them back from focusing on their career. This study also confirmed the existence of gender backlashes. Sexual harassment was frequently cited as being a common occurrence and women felt this risk increased if they took on leadership positions, which represents yet another barrier to achieving equality in Kenyan SMEs.As desigualdades de género e a sub-representação de mulheres em cargos de chefia nas empresas foram a motivação para esta tese. Os três objetivos da pesquisa visavam avaliar o status quo da paridade de género, examinar fatores institucionais e explorar as barreiras sócio-culturais que afetam o caminho das mulheres para a liderança em pequenas e médias empresas (PMEs) do Quénia. Dez entrevistas semiestruturadas com fundadores e gerentes de PMEs quenianas foram empregadas via chamadas na aplicação Zoom. Os resultados mostram que as mulheres enfrentam um preconceito substancial em relação às suas habilidades e capacidade de liderança. A pesquisa também identificou factores institucionais que afetam a participação das mulheres no local de trabalho. Os participantes relataram que a fiscalização governamental para a execução de leis e políticas que buscam a igualdade de género e a antidiscriminação é muito baixa no Quénia. Além disso, do ponto de vista do local de trabalho, o estudo sugere que as poucas mulheres que estão no topo são excluídas da tomada de decisão, seja por causa de situações informais de tomada de decisão ou porque as mulheres são dispensadas em reuniões de alto escalão. Finalmente, a pesquisa destacou os fatores sócioculturais como uma grande barreira para a liderança feminina. A subordinação substancial das mulheres na sociedade leva à dominação masculina no local de trabalho. Os papéis tradicionais de género exigem que as mulheres assumam a responsabilidade exclusiva pela administração da casa, o que as impede de se concentrar em suas carreiras. Este estudo também confirmou a existência de efeitos backlash de género. O assédio sexual foi frequentemente citado como uma ocorrência comum e as mulheres sentiram que esse risco aumentava se assumissem cargos de liderança, o que representa mais uma barreira para alcançar a igualdade nas PMEs quenianas

Functional analysis of High-Throughput data for dynamic modeling in eukaryotic systems

Das Verhalten Biologischer Systeme wird durch eine Vielzahl regulatorischer Prozesse beeinflusst, die sich auf verschiedenen Ebenen abspielen. Die Forschung an diesen Regulationen hat stark von den großen Mengen von Hochdurchsatzdaten profitiert, die in den letzten Jahren verfügbar wurden. Um diese Daten zu interpretieren und neue Erkenntnisse aus ihnen zu gewinnen, hat sich die mathematische Modellierung als hilfreich erwiesen. Allerdings müssen die Daten vor der Integration in Modelle aggregiert und analysiert werden. Wir präsentieren vier Studien auf unterschiedlichen zellulären Ebenen und in verschiedenen Organismen. Zusätzlich beschreiben wir zwei Computerprogramme die den Vergleich zwischen Modell und Experimentellen Daten erleichtern. Wir wenden diese Programme in zwei Studien über die MAP Kinase (MAP, engl. mitogen-acticated-protein) Signalwege in Saccharomyces cerevisiae an, um Modellalternativen zu generieren und unsere Vorstellung des Systems an Daten anzupassen. In den zwei verbleibenden Studien nutzen wir bioinformatische Methoden, um Hochdurchsatz-Zeitreihendaten von Protein und mRNA Expression zu analysieren. Um die Daten interpretieren zu können kombinieren wir sie mit Netzwerken und nutzen Annotationen um Module identifizieren, die ihre Expression im Lauf der Zeit ändern. Im Fall der humanen somatischen Zell Reprogrammierung führte diese Analyse zu einem probabilistischen Boolschen Modell des Systems, welches wir nutzen konnten um neue Hypothesen über seine Funktionsweise aufzustellen. Bei der Infektion von Säugerzellen (Canis familiaris) mit dem Influenza A Virus konnten wir neue Verbindungen zwischen dem Virus und seinem Wirt herausfinden und unsere Zeitreihendaten in bestehende Netzwerke einbinden. Zusammenfassend zeigen viele unserer Ergebnisse die Wichtigkeit von Datenintegration in mathematische Modelle, sowie den hohen Grad der Verschaltung zwischen verschiedenen Regulationssystemen.The behavior of all biological systems is governed by numerous regulatory mechanisms, acting on different levels of time and space. The study of these regulations has greatly benefited from the immense amount of data that has become available from high-throughput experiments in recent years. To interpret this mass of data and gain new knowledge about studied systems, mathematical modeling has proven to be an invaluable method. Nevertheless, before data can be integrated into a model it needs to be aggregated, analyzed, and the most important aspects need to be extracted. We present four Systems Biology studies on different cellular organizational levels and in different organisms. Additionally, we describe two software applications that enable easy comparison of data and model results. We use these in two of our studies on the mitogen-activated-protein (MAP) kinase signaling in Saccharomyces cerevisiae to generate model alternatives and adapt our representation of the system to biological data. In the two remaining studies we apply Bioinformatic methods to analyze two high-throughput time series on proteins and mRNA expression in mammalian cells. We combine the results with network data and use annotations to identify modules and pathways that change in expression over time to be able to interpret the datasets. In case of the human somatic cell reprogramming (SCR) system this analysis leads to the generation of a probabilistic Boolean model which we use to generate new hypotheses about the system. In the last system we examined, the infection of mammalian (Canis familiaris) cells by the influenza A virus, we find new interconnections between host and virus and are able to integrate our data with existing networks. In summary, many of our findings show the importance of data integration into mathematical models and the high degree of connectivity between different levels of regulation

A dynamical stochastic model of yeast translation across the cell cycle

Translation is a central step in gene expression, however its quantitative and time-resolved regulation is poorly understood. We developed a discrete, stochastic model for protein translation in S. cerevisiae in a whole-transcriptome, single-cell context. A “base case” scenario representing an average cell highlights translation initiation rates as the main co-translational regulatory parameters. Codon usage bias emerges as a secondary regulatory mechanism through ribosome stalling. Demand for anticodons with low abundancy is shown to cause above-average ribosome dwelling times. Codon usage bias correlates strongly both with protein synthesis rates and elongation rates. Applying the model to a time-resolved transcriptome estimated by combining data from FISH and RNA-Seq experiments, it could be shown that increased total transcript abundance during the cell cycle decreases translation efficiency at single transcript level. Translation efficiency grouped by gene function shows highest values for ribosomal and glycolytic genes. Ribosomal proteins peak in S phase while glycolytic proteins rank highest in later cell cycle phases.Peer Reviewe

Polarization and Weak Mixing Angle in High Energy e^\pm e^- Collisions

At a linear collider of the next generation the large event rates expected from Bhabha and M\o ller scattering may be used to determine simultaneously sin^2\theta_w and the polarization of both beams with very high accuracy. These measurements can be performed in parallel to the other tasks of the linear collider as a free by-product. A high degree of polarization and a good polar angle coverage of the detectors turn out to be major assets.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX, 6 figures and all style files included; minor changes, few refs. added, to appear in Phys. Lett.

Einfluss der "Etch-and-rinse" Technik auf die Dentinhaftung an sklerotischem Dentin

Ziel der Studie Ziel der Studie war es, den Einfluss der „Etch-and-rinse“ Technik auf die Dentinhaftung an sklerotischem Dentin zu untersuchen. Material und Methode Für die Studie wurden 56 menschliche Front- und Seitenzähne mit sklerosierten Zahnhalsdefekten gesammelt. Nach Reinigung mittels Scaler und Bürstchen wurden die 56 Zähne in sieben Gruppen (n=8) aufgeteilt. Diese wurden im Folgenden mit zwei verschiedenen Adhäsiven (AdheSE und Syntac) in unterschiedlichen Techniken konditioniert. Auf eine vorherige Präparation wurde verzichtet. In den Gruppen 1-3 wurde als Adhäsivsystem Syntac (Ivoclar Vivadent) verwendet, dabei erfolgte in Gruppe 1 eine selektive Schmelzätzung mit Phosphorsäure für 30 s. In den Gruppen 2 und 3 wurde mit Hilfe der „Etch-and-rinse“ Technik konditioniert. Dabei wurde in Gruppe 2 das Dentin für 15 s und der Schmelz für 30 s geätzt. In Gruppe 3 hingegen betrug die Ätzzeit für Dentin und Schmelz jeweils 30 Sekunden. In den Gruppen 4-7 kam AdheSE (Ivoclar Vivadent) zum Einsatz. Bei Gruppe 4 wurde AdheSE nach Herstellerangaben ohne vorherige Phosphorsäureätzung angewendet. Die Zähne der Gruppen 5-7 wurden analog zu den Zähnen der Gruppen 1-3 mit Phosphorsäure geätzt. Im Anschluss wurden vor und nach einer thermomechanischen Dauerbelastung Replikas der Probenzähne aus einem Epoxidharz hergestellt und diese im Rasterelektronenmikroskop in Bezug auf die Randqualität vermessen und verglichen. Die Auswertung und die statistische Analyse der gewonnenen Daten erfolgte mittels SPSS für Windows. Ergebnisse und Beobachtungen Es zeigte sich, dass die „Etch-and-rinse“ Technik bei einer Ätzzeit von 30 s sowie die „Self-etch“ Technik, ergänzt durch eine vorherige Phosphorsäureätzung für 15 s, den besten Haftverbund am Dentin nach TML erzielten (48,1% und 45,1%). Sortiert nach abnehmender Randqualität und somit abfallenden Haftwerten folgten die Gruppen „Self-etch“ ergänzt durch 30s Phosphorsäureätzung (37,9%), „Self-etch“ ohne ergänzende Maßnahmen am Dentin (31,2% und 27,8%), „Etch-and-rinse“ bei 15 s langer Phosphorsäureätzung (18,0%) und zum Schluss „Selective etch“ ohne Dentinkonditionierung (10,8%). Die Ergebnisse vor TML zeigten eine gute Dentinhaftung in allen sieben Gruppen (100%). Praktische Schlussfolgerung Die gewonnenen Ergebnisse dieser Studie lassen die Aussage zu, dass sklerotisches Dentin verlängerte Ätzzeiten erfordert, um einen ausreichenden Haftverbund eingehen zu können. Zu empfehlen ist eine 30 s lange Phosphorsäureätzung. Bei der Anwendung von „Self-etch“ Adhäsiven sollte ergänzend zu diesen zu Beginn eine 15 s lange Ätzung mit Phosphorsäure erfolgen. Die Demineralisationsfähigkeit von „Self-etch“ Adhäsiven alleine reicht nicht aus, um einen sicheren Haftverbund an sklerotischem Dentin zu generieren

Emittance measurements at the TTF photoinjector

The TTF Free Electron Laser requires high current electron bunches with small emittances. The beam is produced by an injector based on a laser driven rf gun. The design aims for a bunch charge of 1 nC, a bunch length in the mm range, and a normalized transverse emittance approaching1mm mrad. Emittance measurements in the photoinjector after preacceleration to 17MeV are presented and compared to simulations

Beam dynamics studies in a TESLA positron pre-accelerator

The TESLA linear collider is based on superconducting accelerating cavities. Behind the positron production target normal conducting cavities have to be used in order to cope with high particle losses and with focusing solenoid surrounding the cavities. The main purpose of this pre-accelerator is to provide maximum capture efficiency for the useful part of the totally acceptable positron beam with technically reasonable parameters of the linac. The coupled optimization of the capture optics behind the target and pre-accelerator rf-operation has been carried out. The beam dynamics simulation results as well as the pre-accelerator peculiarities are presented

A Proteomic Survey of Host and Virus Reveals Differential Dynamics

We studied the dynamics of the proteome of influenza virus A/PR/8/34 (H1N1) infected Madin-Darby canine kidney cells up to 12 hours post infection by mass spectrometry based quantitative proteomics using the approach of stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC). We identified 1311 cell proteins and, apart from the proton channel M2, all major virus proteins. Based on their abundance two groups of virus proteins could be distinguished being in line with the function of the proteins in genesis and formation of new virions. Further, the data indicate a correlation between the amount of proteins synthesized and their previously determined copy number inside the viral particle. We employed bioinformatic approaches such as functional clustering, gene ontology, and pathway (KEGG) enrichment tests to uncover co- regulated cellular protein sets, assigned the individual subsets to their biological function, and determined their interrelation within the progression of viral infection. For the first time we are able to describe dynamic changes of the cellular and, of note, the viral proteome in a time dependent manner simultaneously. Through cluster analysis, time dependent patterns of protein abundances revealed highly dynamic up- and/or down-regulation processes. Taken together our study provides strong evidence that virus infection has a major impact on the cell status at the protein level