Verbreitung und Struktur von Arbeitszeitkonten

Arbeitszeitkonten haben sich in den letzten Jahren massiv verbreitet. Mittlerweile verfügen mindestens 37% der abhängig Beschäftigten über Arbeitszeitkonten. In mindestens 60% der Betriebe sind unterschiedliche Formen von Arbeitszeitkonten eingeführt. Sie revolutionieren das Arbeitszeitsystem und ersetzen das bisherige Leitbild der Normalarbeitszeit durch variable Arbeitszeitformen. Kennzeichnend für die Struktur von Arbeitszeitkonten ist eine Balance von Deregulierung und Reregulierung. Arbeitszeitkonten haben, weil sie zu einem Abbau von bezahlten, vor allem von unbezahlten Überstunden führen, beschäftigungsfördernde Effekte. Zugleich scheinen diese Effekte wieder durch Produktivitätssteigerungen, die ebenfalls aus dem Einsatz von Arbeitszeitkonten resultieren, zumindest teilweise kompensiert zu werden. Schließlich nützen Arbeitszeitkonten aus der Sicht der Beschäftigten den Betrieben und den Beschäftigten gleichermaßen.Working time accounts have recently become very common. At least 37 % of the dependently employed now make use of working time accounts. In at least 60 % of firms various forms of working time accounts have been introduced. Consequently, working time systems have been revolutionized; the previous model of standard working time has been replaced by variable forms of working time. Characteristic for the structure of working time accounts is a balance of deregulation and re-regulation. Since usage of this form of working time leads to an elimination of paid and above all unpaid overtime, working time accounts promotes employment. At the same time, such effects seem again to be compensated by increases in productivity which are also the result of using working time accounts. Finally, from the view of employees, working time accounts benefit equally the firm and the worker

Vergleichende Analyse der Arbeits- und Betriebszeitentwicklung im Zeitraum von 1987 bis 2007

"Das zentrale Ziel dieser 1987 begonnenen, vom nordrhein-westfälischen Arbeitsministerium finanziell geförderten Berichterstattung über die Entwicklung von Arbeits- und Betriebszeiten in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland bestand darin, ein flächendeckendes (alle Kategorien von abhängig Beschäftigten, alle Wirtschaftszweige und alle Betriebsgrößenklassen einbeziehendes), kontinuierlich fortzuschreibendes und ständig zu aktualisierendes System von empirisch gesicherten Grundinformationen zum 'Arbeits- und Betriebszeitgeschehen' bereitzustellen." (Autorenreferat

Zur Geschlechtsspezifik der Arbeitszeitformen, der Arbeitszeitwünsche und der Zeitverwendung bei den abhängig Beschäftigten (On the gender-specific features of types of working hours, wishes regarding working hours and on the utilisation of time among employees in dependent employment)

"Within the framework of the survey of working hours which has been supported financially by the Ministry for Labour, Health and Social Affairs in Nord-Rhein Westphalen since 1987, the ISO has so far carried out four representative employment surveys. The most recent of these surveys, carried out in 1995, included for the first time workers in the new federal states. 4,085 people in dependent employment aged between 18 and 65 were asked questions about the structure of their working hours, their desires regarding working hours and on the way they spent their time outside work. The study verifies a strong growth of different types of flexible working hours in western and eastern Germany. In western Germany only 17% of people in dependent employment still work under the conditions of normal standard working hours; in eastern Germany it is still 25%. In the area of so-called 'traditional' forms of flexibilisation of working hours, such as shift work, night work, weekend work and overtime, there are hardly any differences between western and eastern Germany. The differences only appear in the 'new' types of flexibilisation such as flexi-time and part-time work. Patterns of labour force participation and wishes regarding working hours show clear gender- specific differences, in particular among employed people living in two-person households. The results regarding utilisation of time show that the allocation of social work continues to follow the traditional division of roles, according to which women undertake the bulk of the informal work (housework, care of children etc.) and men work more intensively in the area of formal work (gainful employment). If there are children in the household, this usually leads to a reduction in the number of hours in gainful employment for women, but for men on the other hand sometimes to an extension of their full-time work (overtime). In this respect, however, differences can be determined between western and eastern Germany: whereas for western German women part-time employment seems to be accepted to a great extent as a means of combining work and family, this form of employment is seen by eastern German women to be at best a temporary solution, as they still orientate themselves towards continuous full-time employment. In spite of this stronger orientation towards employment and the higher ratio of full-time workers among eastern German women, there are also clear gender-specific features in eastern Germany with regard to the allocation of social work: men do more formal work, women more informal work. The doubtful nature of traditional gender-specific features lies in the fact that as a result of these features, women are permanently at a disadvantage with regard to their interests in gainful employment when they have a child. Women's attempts to compensate for these disadvantages individually by remaining in the employment system for the greatest possible amount of time lead to double burdens and a lack of time. The present situation can best be described as anomic: the traditional gender-specific features show numerous functional deficits and gender-specific disadvantages; however new forms of division of work which open up the same opportunities on the labour market for women and men with children are not yet in sight, let alone seriously established." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))Arbeitszeitentwicklung, Arbeitszeitgestaltung, Arbeitszeitflexibilität, Zeitverwendung, Erwerbsbeteiligung, Arbeitszeitwunsch, Beruf und Familie, geschlechtsspezifische Faktoren, Westdeutschland, Ostdeutschland, Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Betriebs- und Arbeitszeiten 2005: Ergebnisse einer repräsentativen Betriebsbefragung

Die Ergebnisse der repräsentativen Betriebsbefragung lassen sich wie folgt zusammenfassen: 1. Nach der Länge der Betriebszeiten ist Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich konkurrenzfähig. Dabei entwickeln sich die Betriebszeiten relativ unabhängig von den tariflichen Arbeitszeiten, d.h. die Betriebszeiten haben sich von den individuellen tariflich oder vertraglich vereinbarten Arbeitszeiten zunehmend entkoppelt. 2. Lange Betriebszeiten hängen nicht von langen individuellen Arbeitszeiten ab. Um Produktions- und Nachfrageschwankungen aufzufangen, setzen immer mehr Betriebe unterschiedliche Formen flexibler Arbeitszeiten ein. 3. Flexibilisierung der Arbeitszeit stabilisiert Beschäftigung. So ermöglicht der Einsatz von Arbeitszeitkonten, durch einen produktionsbezogenen Ausgleich von Zeitguthaben und Zeitschulden Beschäftigungsabbau zu verhindern bzw. entgegenzuwirken. 4. Flexibilisierung braucht Regulierung. Arbeitszeitkontenmodelle erfüllen nur dann die Erwartungen der Betriebe und Beschäftigten, wenn die für ein reibungsloses Funktionieren notwendigen Obergrenzen für Zeitschulden und Zeitguthaben sowie die Ausgleichszeiträume definiert und eingehalten werden. Insgesamt sind für drei Viertel der Beschäftigten die Arbeitszeitkonten über Tarifvertrag, Betriebsvereinbarung oder im Rahmen betrieblicher Bündnisse geregelt. 5. 'Regulierte Flexibilisierung' ist beschäftigungsfördernd. In Betrieben, in denen die Arbeitszeit kollektiv geregelt ist, fallen die pro Beschäftigten pro Woche geleisteten bezahlten Überstunden deutlich niedriger aus als in den Betrieben, in denen die Arbeitszeit eher individuell oder informell geregelt ist. 6. Zu dem noch unausgeschöpften Potenzial gehören: Stärkere Verbreitung flexibler Arbeitszeiten in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen, Verminderung ineffizienter, ungeregelter Flexibilisierung, Abbau bezahlter Überstunden. (IAB

EFFECTS OF ADDITIONAL LOAD ON LOWER LIMB JOINT WORK AND THE RATIO BETWEEN THE BRAKING AND PROPULSION COUNTERMOVEMENT JUMP PHASE

The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of additional load on lower limb joint work and joint work ratio between the braking and propulsion countermovement jump (CMJ) phase. Thirteen male sport students performed CMJ with five different loads up to 80% of body mass. Total joint work was significantly affected by the additional load and CMJ phase. A significant interaction effect of additional load and CMJ phase was found for ankle and knee joint work. Joint work ratio was significantly affected by load in the knee and hip joint. The braking proportion of the total joint work increased as additional load increased. The alterations in joint work and joint work ratio should be considered when prescribing loaded CMJ as training exercises in terms of changed training stimuli or interpreting performance parameters of CMJ with different load conditions

Attention as the 'glue' for object integration in parietal extinction

Patients with unilateral, parietal brain damage frequently show visual extinction, which manifests in a failure to identify contralesional stimuli when presented simultaneously with other, ipsilesional stimuli (but full awareness for single stimulus presentations). Extinction reflects an impairment of spatial selective attention, leaving basic preattentive processing unaffected. For instance, access to bilaterally grouped objects is usually spared in extinction, suggesting that grouping occurs at a stage preceding (in the patients: abnormally biased) spatial-attentional selection. Here, we reinvestigated this notion by comparing (largely between participants, but also within a single-case participant) conditions with objects that varied in their dominant direction of grouping: from the attended to the non-attended hemifield (data from Conci et al., 2009) versus from the non-attended to the attended hemifield (new data). We observe complete absence of extinction when shape completion extended from the attended hemifield. By contrast, extinction was not diminished when object groupings propagate from the unattended hemifield. Moreover, we found the individual severity of the attentional impairment (assessed by a standard "inattention" test) to be directly related to the degree of completion in the unattended hemifield. This pattern indicates that grouping can overcome visual extinction only when object integration departs from the attended visual field, implying, contrary to many previous accounts, that attention is crucial for grouping to be initiated

Ageing, resilience and depression:adding life to years as well as years to life

Wavelength-derivative of increment of refractive index of oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin solutions from Kramers-Kronig relations. Originally published in Applied Optics on 01 November 2016 (ao-55-31-8951

Cardiac T1 mapping enables risk prediction of LV dysfunction after surgery for aortic regurgitation

Background To assess whether cardiac T1 mapping for detecting myocardial fibrosis enables preoperative identification of patients at risk for early left ventricular dysfunction after surgery of aortic regurgitation. Methods 1.5 Tesla cardiac magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 40 consecutive aortic regurgitation patients before aortic valve surgery. Native and post-contrast T1 mapping was performed using a modified Look-Locker inversion-recovery sequence. Serial echocardiography was performed at baseline and 8 ± 5 days after aortic valve surgery to quantify LV dysfunction. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed to determine the diagnostic accuracy of native T1 mapping and extracellular volume for predicting postoperative LV ejection fraction decrease >−10% after aortic valve surgery. Results Native T1 was significantly increased in patients with a postoperatively decreased LVEF (n = 15) vs. patients with a preserved postoperative LV ejection fraction (n = 25) (i.e., 1,071 ± 67 ms vs. 1,019 ± 33 ms, p = .001). Extracellular volume was not significantly different between patients with preserved vs. decreased postoperative LV ejection fraction. With a cutoff-of value of 1,053 ms, native T1 yielded an area under the curve (AUC) of .820 (95% CI: .683–.958) for differentiating between patients with preserved vs. reduced LV ejection fraction with 70% sensitivity and 84% specificity. Conclusion Increased preoperative native T1 is associated with a significantly higher risk of systolic LV dysfunction early after aortic valve surgery in aortic regurgitation patients. Native T1 could be a promising tool to optimize the timing of aortic valve surgery in patients with aortic regurgitation to prevent early postoperative LV dysfunction