The Amazing Diversity of Thought: A Qualitative Study on How Human Resource Practitioners Perceive Selection Procedures

Purpose: In the field of personnel selection, a great deal of evidence shows a gap between what scientists think practitioners should do and which procedures practitioners actually use. To build a basis for an intensified dialog between practitioners and researchers, there is a need for better knowledge about how practitioners think about selection procedures. Approach: The authors used the repertory grid technique, a well-established interview method that elicits cognitions. Forty human resource practitioners were interviewed. Findings: The results highlight the diversity of the individual ways in which practitioners think about selection procedures. First, none of the constructs elicited was mentioned by two-thirds of the interviewees or more, and only five were mentioned by half or more of the interviewees. Second, interviewees often did not agree which construct pole they preferred. Third, individual maps of the constructs and procedures revealed many differences. Sample constructs were whether a procedure reveals something about the status quo or something about a candidate's past, whether the human resource department has an active or a passive role in the selection process, and whether or not a procedure is fakable. Implications: The results suggest many new research questions and will hopefully foster the dialog between scientists and practitioners. Originality/Value: This is one of the first studies to explore practitioners' cognitions regarding selection procedures, and represents a rare application of the repertory grid technique to the selection fiel

"Landmark Route": A Comparison to the Shortest Route

Most navigation systems for pedestrians output the shortest route. However, there are findings that travellers do not use the shortest route when free to choose. One alternative to minimising spatial distance is the incorporation of landmark information in a shortest route algorithm. Yet, we do not know whether pedestrians prefer such a landmark route over the shortest route. Therefore, we perform a survey and show participants videos of a shortest and a landmark route. We let participants answer questions concerning navigation satisfaction, route communication, and route comparison. Our findings show that the landmark route is more favourable.</p

Three essays on delay management for passenger rail services

Railways are confronted with several problems in their daily business. One of these operational problems is delay management. Therein the question of whether a train should wait for a delayed feeder train or depart on time is addressed. Answering this question is not trivial since the determined wait-depart decision may cause serious consequences. While the majority of models in the literature usually take the decision by aiming for minimizing disturbances in the operating procedure, delay management focuses on the impact for passengers. By minimizing passenger delay, delay management differs from the other problems on the operational level and leads to different recommendations for dispatchers. This thesis puts the scope on railway delay management and its impacts for passengers. It consists of three essays: a literature review on delay management and two models that advance the research in this field. In the literature review, a new classification scheme for operational problems in railways is developed. Literature in delay management and influence from delay management on neighboring areas are discussed. The second essay proposes a stochastic dynamic programming approach taking the dynamic nature of delays and uncertainty into account. Evaluating potential recourse actions derives policies for taking dispatching decisions. The third essay considers the capacity of trains in the decision making process. Rerouting of passengers for broken connections is further assumed and spill effects for passenger streams are measured. A nonlinear model is developed and solved by linearizing it exactly and heuristically. Both approaches, from the second and third essay, are evaluated in a numerical study on real-world data from the German railway provider Deutsche Bahn. Germany possesses a rather complex and massive railway network that will require further decision support and future research

Recolha e investigação de metabólitos secundários de organismos marinhos de duas ilhas açoreanas, Faial e São Jorge.

In March and April of 1997 a total of 35 samples of marine organisms were collected from the Azorean Islands of Faial and São Jorge. These samples included 3 species of Chlorophyta, 7 species of Phaeophyta, 10 species of Rhodophyta, 2 species of Chordata, 3 species of Mollusca, and 7 species of Porifera. Of these samples Laxosuberites rugosus (Porifera), and Pachymatisma johnstonia (Porifera), are new records for the Azores. Secondary metabolite investigations of a number of these samples led to the isolation of para-hydroxybenzyl cyanide from the sponge Laxosuberites rugosus, and oxindol from the sponge Tedania anhelans. Both these compounds are reported here from the marine environment for the first time. These compounds were assessed for their human immunodeficiency virus type 1 reverse transcriptase (HIV-1-RT) and tyrosine kinase (TK) inhibition activities, and para-hydroxybenzyl cyanide found to inhibit the activity of TK to 64% at the 200 Fg/ml level. This is the first report of the TK activity of parahydroxybenzyl cyanide

Beurteilung der Ernährungssituation der in Wechselschicht mit Nachtschicht arbeitenden Mitarbeiter der voestalpine Stahl

Um die Ernährungssituation der in Wechselschicht mit Nachtarbeit arbeitenden Mitarbeiter der voestalpine Stahl GmbH zu beurteilen, wurde ein Fragebogen erstellt. Dieser erging an alle 3000 Mitarbeiter mit Nachtschicht. Die Teilnahme war anonym und freiwillig. Alle Berechnungen und Auswertungen basieren auf den Eigenangaben der Probanden, es wurden keine zusätzlichen Messungen durchgeführt. Die Rücklaufquote von 27,5 % wird in diesem Zusammenhang als hoch erachtet. Die Auswertung der Daten erfolgte mit dem Statistikprogramm SPSS 12.0. Die Klassifizierung des Körpergewichts mittels Body Mass Index zeigte, dass beinahe 70 % der Befragten als übergewichtig beziehungsweise adipös einzustufen sind und somit weit über dem österreichischen Durchschnitt liegen. Die Mahlzeitenhäufigkeit ist insbesondere während der Nachtschicht als zu gering einzustufen. Im Zusammenhang dazu steht bei über 30 % der Befragten Zeitmangel, um Mahlzeiten in Ruhe einzunehmen. Nachtmahlzeiten werden selten warm aufgenommen. Die Flüssigkeitszufuhr kann als ausreichend beurteilt werden, während der Verzehr von Obst, Gemüse und Getreideprodukten unterdurchschnittlich und den Empfehlungen nicht entsprechend ist. Die Verzehrhäufigkeit von Fleisch und Wurst ist als überhöht anzusehen. Nur 28 % geben an, mit dem schichtspezifischen Risikofaktor Schlafstörung keine Probleme zu haben. Der Anteil der Raucher ist aufgrund einer betriebsinternen Kampagne mit 38 % als gering einzuschätzen. Körperliche Aktivitäten (Sport) werden vernachlässigt. Im Vergleich zu bisherigen Untersuchungen und Empfehlungen ist das Ernährungsverhalten der Schichtarbeiter der voestalpine Stahl GmbH als verbesserungswürdig einzustufen. Gegenmaßnahmen werden dringend empfohlen, da es im gegenwärtigen Zustand zur Anhäufung von Risikofaktoren kommen kann, welche den Gesundheitsstatus sowie die Arbeitssicherheit gefährden könnten. Die auf Basis des Ist-Zustandes ausgearbeiteten Empfehlungen zur Kompensation beziehungsweise Vorbeugung möglicher Defizite werden in ein langfristiges innerbetriebliches Schulungskonzept aufgenommen, wo die Kernaussagen dieser Arbeit nachhaltig umgesetzt werden.The assessment of the nutritional situation of the night shift working staff of voestalpine Stahl GmbH was carried out by a tailor-made survey. The questionnaire was forwarded to all night shift working employees (3000 subjects). The participation was anonymous and voluntary. All calculations and evaluations based on self-declaration of subjects and there were no additional measurements included. The response rate of 27.5% is regarded as a good result. The analysis of the data was carried out with the statistical program SPSS 12.0. The classification of body weight using body mass index showed that almost 70% of the respondents were classified overweight or obese, respectively, and thus far above the Austrian average. The meal frequency is low rated in particular during the night shift. Additionally more than 30% of the respondents report lack of time in order to take meals at rest. The intake of hot meal during nightshift is considered to be unusual. The hydration can be estimated as sufficient, while the consumption of fruit, vegetables and cereal products is below the average value and do not accord to recommendations. The food consumption frequency of meat and sausage is considered to be dramatically increased. Only 28 % of the probands are not affected by sleep disorder as a shift specific risk factor. Due to an internal campaign the percentage of smokers is low at a rate of 38 %. Physical activities (sports) are neglected. Compared to previous studies and recommendations the diet of the shift workers of voestalpine Stahl GmbH is assessed to be improved. Counteractive measures are strongly recommended as an accumulation of risk factors in the current state may result in degradation of health status and occupational safety. Based on the actual state recommendations for compensation or prevention of possible deficiency, respectively, are included within a long-term training concept, where the key messages from this work are sustainably implemented

Hexanuclear Niobium Cluster Compounds with Protonated N‐Base Cations

Octahedral clusters of the [M6X12] type offer numerous possibilities to form structural arrangements through different choices of bonding situations. In this paper a series of new cluster compounds of the transition metal niobium is described, which consist of the [Nb6Cl18]2–, and in one case [Nb6Cl18]3–, anion and protonated N‐base cations ([MIm‐H]+, [nPr3N‐H]+, [TMGu‐H]+, and [Tzn‐H]+). They all are prepared using water scavenger compounds [SOCl2 or (Ac)2O] under oxidising conditions, resulting in two‐electron (or one‐electron, respectively) oxidized cluster units with respect to the starting material [Nb6Cl14(H2O)4]·4H2O. Of five members of this group single‐crystal X‐ray structures were determined. The cluster anions exist in all structures as discrete units. The acidic H atoms of all N‐bases are hydrogen bonded to H acceptors, in 4 cases to outer, exo bonded Cl atoms of the cluster unit and in one case to the O atom of a co‐crystallized THF molecule. In [TMGu‐H]2[Nb6Cl18] chains of cluster anions exist hydrogen‐bonded through bridging [TMGu‐H]+ cations. ESI mass spectra of [MIm‐H]2[Nb6Cl18]·2SOCl2 and [TMGu‐H]2[Nb6Cl18] show the expected isotopic distribution patterns for the anions together with other peaks associated to chloride mass losses and/or reduction processes

The COPE-Trial-Communicating prognosis to parents in the neonatal ICU: Optimistic vs. PEssimistic: study protocol for a randomized controlled crossover trial using two different scripted video vignettes to explore communication preferences of parents of preterm infants.

BACKGROUND One of the numerous challenges preterm birth poses for parents and physicians is prognostic disclosure. Prognoses are based on scientific evidence and medical experience. They are subject to individual assessment and will generally remain uncertain with regard to the individual. This can result in differences in prognostic framing and thus affect the recipients' perception. In neonatology, data on the effects of prognostic framing are scarce. In particular, it is unclear whether parents prefer a more optimistic or a more pessimistic prognostic framing. OBJECTIVE To explore parents' preferences concerning prognostic framing and its effects on parent-reported outcomes and experiences. To identify predictors (demographic, psychological) of parents' communication preferences. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS Unblinded, randomized controlled crossover trial (RCT) at the Division of Neonatology of the University Medical Center Mainz, Germany, including German-speaking parents or guardians of infants born preterm between 2010 and 2019 with a birth weight < 1500 g. Inclusion of up to 204 families is planned, with possible revision according to a blinded sample size reassessment. INTERVENTION Embedded in an online survey and in pre-specified order, participants will watch two video vignettes depicting a more optimistic vs. a more pessimistic framing in prognostic disclosure to parents of a preterm infant. Apart from prognostic framing, all other aspects of physician-parent communication are standardized in both videos. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES At baseline and after each video, participants complete a two-part online questionnaire (baseline and post-intervention). Primary outcome is the preference for either a more optimistic or a more pessimistic prognostic framing. Secondary outcomes include changes in state-anxiety (STAI-SKD), satisfaction with prognostic framing, evaluation of prognosis, future optimism and hope, preparedness for shared decision-making (each assessed using customized questions), and general impression (customized question), professionalism (adapted from GMC Patient Questionnaire) and compassion (Physician Compassion Questionnaire) of the consulting physician. DISCUSSION This RCT will explore parents' preferences concerning prognostic framing and its effects on physician-parent communication. Results may contribute to a better understanding of parental needs in prognostic disclosure and will be instrumental for a broad audience of clinicians, scientists, and ethicists. TRIAL REGISTRATION German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00024466 . Registered on April 16, 2021

In Situ Monitoring of Linear RGD-Peptide Bioconjugation with Nanoscale Polymer Brushes

Bioinspired materials mimicking the native extracellular matrix environment are promising for biotechnological applications. Particularly, modular biosurface engineering based on the functionalization of stimuli-responsive polymer brushes with peptide sequences can be used for the development of smart surfaces with biomimetic cues. The key aspect of this study is the in situ monitoring and analytical verification of the biofunctionalization process on the basis of three complementary analytical techniques. In situ spectroscopic ellipsometry was used to quantify the amount of chemisorbed GRGDS at both the homopolymer poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) brush and the binary poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm)-PAA brushes, which was finally confirmed by an acidic hydrolysis combined with a subsequent reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. In situ attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy provided a step-by-step detection of the biofunctionalization process so that an optimized protocol for the bioconjugation of GRGDS could be identified. The optimized protocol was used to create a temperature-responsive binary brush with a high amount of chemisorbed GRGDS, which is a promising candidate for the temperature-sensitive control of GRGDS presentation in further cell-instructive studies