Why do chefs stay? Using repertory grid technique to map chefs’ desire to remain in their occupation and refine existing knowledge of retention in the commercial kitchen

To date, the study of Chefs as an occupational group in high-intensity work environments has tended to focus on the nature and impact of the challenging work conditions of the commercial kitchen. This focus has promoted an understanding of both the physical and mental effects of operating in this environment and has been used to explain the high turnover among professional chefs. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the reverse side of this issue, namely, given the harsh work conditions, why many chefs choose to remain in the occupation. This study focuses on this issue by drawing on theories of job embeddedness (JE) and occupational embeddedness (OE) and questioning the influence of internal locus of control (LOC) on chefs’ decision to stay in the job. Through repertory grid interviews with 23 chefs of casual/upper casual and hotel restaurants in the United Kingdom, the study reveals a series of complex and personal reasons for their desire to remain in this career and in so doing, it extends our insight into chefs as an occupation, as well as theories which can be used to explain retention in high-intensity work contexts.The above scope of the study asked for a constructivist research methodology following a qualitative research method that would reveal idiosyncratic ways of thinking towards employee retention. To that end, Personal Construct Theory (PCT) was adopted using the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT). That interviewing method offered an appropriate research platform to cognitively map chefs’ desire to stay in the occupation. In an attempt to ensure the validity of the process, RGT was followed by eliciting the research participants’ core constructs/ core values with the laddering-up process.The analysis of the findings led to two distinct personal construct categories: superordinate and subordinate. The laddering-up process did not produce any different constructs but helped in the deeper interpretation of the cognitive mapping of chefs’ retention. The results showed that chefs who stay in the occupation long term are firstly intrinsically driven and then extrinsically driven. The dynamics between those drivers indicated a single direction from the intrinsic to the extrinsic, where intrinsic drivers play a protagonist role in chefs’ retention and are not dramatically influenced by the extrinsic ones. However, the extrinsicdrivers play the role of flexible regulators, which can shake the construct of retention invarious directions but are not adequate enough to force it to collapse.The above results contribute to the literature on chefs’ occupation as they refine what is known about chefs’ retention, not only turnover. Before this study no other research had explored the thinking process of chefs to stay on the job instead of drifting to other easierand more profitable careers. The study also expands on the existing knowledge about the ability of JE and OE to predict chefs’ retention, firstly, by confirming that all domains of the two frameworks (fit, links, sacrifice) are met in chefs’ retention; secondly, by adding internal LOC as an essential contributor to the literature of retention which gives further individual meaning to the dimensions of JE and OE. From a practical point of view, the research findingsare also very timely in the post-brexit and post-covid era in hospitality when the shortage of chefs has reached high levels in the country. With the emphasis on the intrinsic drivers of chefs revealed in the study, the results open a discussion about the strategy of recruiting and selecting cooks that are investible because they have the potential to develop a long-lasting career in the commercial kitchen. Therefore, focusing on retention rather than turnover in the commercial kitchen industry looks more promising in the present period. The importance of this study, finally, goes beyond the chefs’ literature as it paves the way for further research into retaining highly skilled and talented employees in occupational environments of high intensity

On the aerosol weekly cycle spatiotemporal variability over Europe

In this work, we focus on the spatial and temporal variability of the aerosol weekly cycle over Europe as these were recorded from TERRA MODIS and AQUA MODIS satellite instruments. Aerosol optical properties retrieved from MODIS TERRA (February 2000–February 2009) and AQUA (July 2002–December 2008) were used to produce an aerosol weekly cycle index. First, the general aerosol optical depth (AOD<sub>550 nm</sub>) weekly patterns were defined at a 1° × 1° resolution using the satellite-based index and six regions of interest were selected. To remove episodic dust transport events, two different aerosol flags, employing fine mode ratio (FMR<sub>550 nm</sub>) and AOD<sub>550 nm</sub> data, were applied diagnostically, showing that the observed weekly cycles over Europe are due to continental aerosols. A second spatial averaging method was then used for the investigation of the weekly variability and the statistical significance of the weekly cycle over each of the previously selected regions. Three major weekly cycle plumes are observed over Europe. A strong positive (higher values during midweek) weekly cycle plume appears over Central Europe, while a strong negative (higher values during weekend) weekly plume appears over the Iberian Peninsula and the North-eastern Europe. The temporal examination of the weekly cycles shows that in some areas there are seasonal differences in the sign of the weekly cycle. The aerosol weekly variability over different regions in Europe was examined in conjunction with the dominating synoptic wind patterns from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis, showing that the seasonal weekly cycle plumes over regions situated in the eastern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea could be partly attributed to the westerly transport of continental aerosols

Effects of methane outgassing on the Black Sea atmosphere

International audienceMethane in air and seawater was measured in the Eastern Black Sea during the 10?18 December 1999 BIGBLACK project cruise. The measurements allowed for the calculation of supersaturation ratios and methane fluxes across the air-sea interface. CH4 mixing ratios in air were generally in the 1.8?2.0 ppmv range, while surface (4 m depth) seawater concentrations varied from 5 to 100 ppmv. Above active seep areas, the water was supersaturated at around 500% with respect to the overlying atmosphere. Accordingly, flux densities varied greatly and were up to 4000 umol m-2 day-1. In the Sevastopol harbour, supersaturations up to around 3000%, similar to those at the Danube Delta, were observed, while in the Istanbul harbour supersaturations could not be determined because the very high values of water concentrations have led to detector saturation. Simple modelling shows that the observed fluxes do not have any substantial impact in the methane content of the Black Sea atmosphere, as they could only raise its concentrations by less than 1 ppb. On the other hand, calculations performed as part of the CRIMEA project, show that mud volcano eruptions could episodically raise the methane concentrations well above their regional background for several tens of kilometres downwind

Encouraging vaccination against COVID-19 has no compensatory spillover effects

Effective communication is essential for delivering public health messages and enabling behaviour change. Little is known about possible backfiring, or spillover effects, of COVID-19 vaccine messaging. In a study with n=1,848 United Kingdom (UK) adults, we assess whether communication strategies that target vaccine hesitancy have any unintended, positive or negative, spillover effects on people’s intention to engage in protective, compliance and prosocial behaviours. In June–July 2021, we conducted an online experiment to assess the potential spillover effects of three messages, emphasising (a) the medical benefits of COVID-19 vaccination, (b) the non-medical collective benefits of vaccination or (c) the non-medical individual benefits of holding a vaccination certificate. Exposure to different messages did not significantly affect people’s intention to engage in protective, compliance, or prosocial behaviours. Instead, vaccination status (being vaccinated vs not) was positively associated with intentions to engage in protective, compliance and prosocial behaviours. Our results suggest that communication strategies that aim to increase vaccination uptake do not have any unintended effects on other health behaviours and vaccination campaigns can be tailored to specific populations to increase uptake and compliance

Greek Accounting Standards and Debt Covenants. Changes in Contracting

Businesses, organizations, and even more governments are strongly related with information provided by accounting in order for CEO’s or managers and even more members of parliament to make decisions. Financial statements which contain multiple criteria, and how managers or shareholders treat them influence the decisionmaking of organizations and all types of businesses, public and private. Auditing financial statements ensures their reliability and validity. Both lenders and borrowers must choose the right set of debt covenants to minimize risk from their respective perspectives. It is critical to use and select debt covenants in relation to the side of interest. For instance, in past decades, financial covenants based on balance sheet variables are more likely in debt contracting. Nowadays, the trend of choosing a batch of covenants in contracting changed. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between changing the Greek direction and accounting standard setting. Greek accounting standards are moving away from “old-fashioned” book- and record-keeping standards. This was a great change that took place in 2015, and since then, new notions of accounting practice have been introduced. Fair value, net realizable value, present value, cash equivalents, and useful economic life are some concepts that were first used in accounting the process in Greek economy. Changes were massive and everyone involved with accounting, financial statements, and the way they were introduced should change the way they are analyzed. We hypothesized that this significant shift in accounting standard setting reduces the value of analyzing balance sheets in debt contracting. Since 2015, balance sheet-based covenants started to vanish, especially from private debt contracting. We tried to correlate borrowers and their likelihood in using balance sheet-based covenants. The correlation between the change in accounting standard setting and the concurrent change in trend of choosing accounting-based covenants in debt contracting is being investigated. The results are consistent with our hypothesis. A mechanism that separates multiple covenants and correlates them with significant debt characteristics will be an innovative tool for managers and credit institutions, as well as a more definite way of auditing, for instance, by digitalizing it, which will be a great tool for everyone involved in businesses. Keywords: accounting-based covenants, debt contracting, Greek accounting standard

Investigation of catalytic reduction and filter techniques for simultaneous measurements of NO, NO2, and HNO3 in the stratosphere

A concept for measuring stratospheric NOy-species is presented which utilizes the catalytic reduction of NO2 and HNO3 over heated metal catalysts and the chemisorption of HNO3 on Nylon. Using the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy (MPAE) chemiluminescent balloon-borne sonde, stratospheric NO and NO2 profiles have been measured since 1983. NO is detected by chemiluminescence produced in reaction with O3 while NO2 needs first to be converted to NO over a heated stainless steel catalyst. To improve this technique for simultaneously measuring HNO3, the catalytic reduction of NO2 and HNO3 over several metal catalysts and the chemisorption of NO2 and HNO3 on Nylon have been investigated in laboratory tests. The results of these tests under simulated stratospheric conditions are presented in detail in this paper. They demonstrate that the simultaneous measurement of NO, NO2 and HNO3 is indeed possible with the combination of stainless steel or Au as a catalyst and a nylon filter

Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki: common use objects and their bacterial burden

The aim of this study was to determine the microbial burden on common use objects in the Medical School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The research took place in the seven departments of the central building of the Medical School, from January to February 2010. Fifty samples (29 doorknobs, 21 faucet handles) were collected from various places of the departments using swabs moistened by nutrient broth. The samples were inoculated into nutrient broth, MacConkey agar and blood agar. Isolates were identified and typed by conventional procedures.From the samples collected, 1-5 types of bacteria were isolated per object, presenting a growth scale from negligible to high. The most common isolate was coagulase negative Staphylococcus (27), followed by Staphylococcus aureus (17), Bacillus spp (16), Enterobacteriaceae (10), Diphtheroid spp (8), Pseudomonas spp (2) and the least occurring microorganism was β-haemolytic Streptococcus (1). The members of the Enterobacteriaceae isolated were: Escherichia spp (5), Enterobacter spp (3), Pantoea spp (1) and Klebsiella spp (1).In conclusion, doorknobs and faucet handles in the Medical School bare a sufficient microbial population, which however mostly belong to the normal flora or to potential pathogens. The level of hygiene, at least regarding the cleaning of hands and objects of common use, appears satisfying

Dynamic Response of Face Symmetrical Hardfill Dams (FSHD)

94 σ.Αναλύεται η δυναμική συμπεριφόρα ένος σχετικά νέου είδους φράγματος, του (κακώς) ονομαζόμενου «Αξονοσυμμετρικού» Φράγματος Σκληρού Επιχώματος, δηλαδή ενός επιχώματος με ίδιες κλίσεις στα δύο πρανή. Αρχικά εξηγούμε τα χαρακτηριστικά αυτού του φράγματος και έπειτα παρουσιάζουμε το θεωρητικό υπόβαθρο για να επαληθεύσουμε τα αποτελέσματα της ανάλυσης. Τέλος δείχνουμε τα αποτελέσματα των αναλύσεων που έγιναν με πεπερασμένα στοιχεία. Το κύριο συμπέρασμα είναι ότι ακόμη και με υπό μετρίως ισχυρή σεισμική διέγερση οι αναπτυσσόμενες επιταχύνσεις στην κορυφή του φράγματος είναι πολύ μεγάλες, με αποτέλεσμα η δημιουργία επικίνδυνων εφελκυστικών ρωγμών να είναι αναπόφευκτη.Analyze the dynamic behavior of a relatively new type of dam, the (wrong) so-called "axisymmetric" Hardfill dam, ie a hardfill dam with the same slopes. FIrstly we explain the characteristics of this dam and then we present the theoretical background to verify the assay results. Finally we show the results of the analyses which were made by finite elements. The main conclusion is that even under moderately strong earthquake motions, the developing seismic accelerations at the top of the dam is very large, resulting in dangerous tensile cracks to be unavoidable.Αριστείδης Κ. Κουρτίδη

The spindle assembly checkpoint is satisfied in the absence of interkinetochore tension during mitosis with unreplicated genomes

The accuracy of chromosome segregation is enhanced by the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC). The SAC is thought to monitor two distinct events: attachment of kinetochores to microtubules and the stretch of the centromere between the sister kinetochores that arises only when the chromosome becomes properly bioriented. We examined human cells undergoing mitosis with unreplicated genomes (MUG). Kinetochores in these cells are not paired, which implies that the centromere cannot be stretched; however, cells progress through mitosis. A SAC is present during MUG as cells arrest in response to nocodazole, taxol, or monastrol treatments. Mad2 is recruited to unattached MUG kinetochores and released upon their attachment. In contrast, BubR1 remains on attached kinetochores and exhibits a level of phosphorylation consistent with the inability of MUG spindles to establish normal levels of centromere tension. Thus, kinetochore attachment to microtubules is sufficient to satisfy the SAC even in the absence of interkinetochore tension