Flexibilisierung von Arbeitszeiten und Arbeitsformen in Bibliotheken

Die vorliegende, von Studierenden der Fachhochschule für Bibliothekswesen in Frankfurt am Main erstellte Projektarbeit befaßt sich mit Fragen, Aspekten und Möglichkeiten der Flexibilisierung von Arbeitszeiten und Arbeitsformen in Bibliotheken. Im ersten Teil der Arbeit werden die wichtigsten Arbeitsteilzeitmodelle vorgestellt und deren Vorteile für Arbeitgeber und nehmer herausgearbeitet. Anschließend erfolgt eine durch Graphiken und Tabellen veranschaulichte Untersuchung von drei ausgewählte Universitätsbibliotheken (Gießen, Marburg, Mainz) in bezug auf bereits existierende Arbeitszeitflexibilisierung. Ein Ausblick geht der Frage nach, ob die dargestellten Teilzeitmodelle für Bibliotheken notwendig und ausreichend sind. Der zweite Themenkomplex befaßt sich mit der Telearbeit als einer innovativen Arbeitsform in Bibliotheken. Ausgehend von einer Begriffsbestimung werden verschiedene Formen der Telearbeit sowie deren Vor und Nachteile geschildert. Es wird erläutert, welche Bedingungen an den Telearbeiter und seinen Arbeitsplatz geknüpft sind, welche rechtlichen Voraussetzungen erfüllt werden müssen, welche finanziellen Aspekte eine Rolle spielen und welche Anwendungsmöglichkeiten für Telearbeit in Bibliotheken bestehen. An drei konkreten Beispielen wird dann geschildert, wie Telearbeit in Bibliotheken bereits verwirklicht wurde. Abschließend wird der Frage nachgegangen, welche Perspektiven der Einsatz von Telearbeit in Bibliotheken hat. Der dritte Abschnitt der Ausarbeitung stellt das bibliothekarische Call Center als neue Form einer benutzerorientierten Einrichtung vor. Zielsetzungen und Dienstleistungsformen des Call Centers werden ebenso abgehandelt wie Aspekte der Planung, Einrichtung und Arbeitsplatzergonomie sowie des Einsatzes von Telearbeit. Anhand des Beispiels der Zentral und Landesbibliothek Berlin wird schließlich dokumentiert, wie sich ein bibliothekarisches Call Center in der Praxis bereits bewährt hat

MiR-16-5p is frequently down-regulated in astrocytic gliomas and modulates glioma cell proliferation, apoptosis, and response to cytotoxic therapy

AIMS Aberrant expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) is frequent in various cancers including gliomas. We aimed to characterize the role of miR-16-5p as a candidate tumour suppressor miRNA in gliomas. METHODS Real-time PCR-based approaches were used for miRNA and mRNA expression profiling of glioma and non-neoplastic brain tissues as well as glioma cell lines. Protein levels were determined by Western blotting. In vitro analyses were performed following overexpression of miR-16-5p, trichostatin A treatment, and siRNA-mediated knock-down of HDAC3 in glioma cells. Effects of miR-16-5p on glioma cell viability, apoptosis and response to irradiation and temozolomide were assessed. RESULTS Expression of miR-16-5p was reduced relative to control brain tissue in isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-mutant astrocytomas of World Health Organization (WHO) grades II, III, and IV, and a subset of IDH-wildtype glioblastomas WHO grade IV. MiR-16-5p expression was lower in IDH-mutant than in IDH-wildtype gliomas, and down-regulated in IDH-wildtype glioma lines. MiR-16-5p overexpression reduced expression of important cell cycle and apoptosis regulators in glioma cells, including CDK6, CDC25A, CCND3, CCNE1, WEE1, CHEK1, BCL2, and MCL1. In line, CDK6, WEE1, CHEK1, BCL2, and MCL1 transcript levels were increased in WHO grade III or IV gliomas. Trichostatin A treatment and HDAC3 knockdown in glioma cells induced miR-16-5p up-regulation and reduced expression of its targets. Moreover, miR-16-5p overexpression inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis in various glioma cell lines and increased sensitivity of A172 glioma cells to irradiation and temozolomide. CONCLUSION Reduced expression of miR-16-5p contributes to glioma cell proliferation, survival, and resistance to cytotoxic therapy. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Perceived links between climate change and weather forecast accuracy: new barriers to tools for agricultural decision-making

The accuracy of weather forecasts has experienced remarkable improvements over the recent decades and is now considered important tools for developing the climate resilience of smallholder farmers, particularly as climate change upends traditional farming calendars. However, the effect of observations of climate change on the use of weather forecasts has not been studied. In an analysis of smallholder farming in Zambia, Kenya, and Jamaica, we document low weather forecast use, showing that perceptions of changes in the climate relate to views on forecast accuracy. Drawing on detailed data from Zambia, we show that weather forecast use (or not) is associated with perceptions of the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the forecast, with rates of weather forecast use far lower among those who believe climate change impacts forecast accuracy. The results suggest a novel feedback whereby climate change erodes confidence in weather forecasts. Thus, in a changing climate where improvements in weather forecasts have been made, farmers thus experience a double disadvantage whereby climate change disrupts confidence in traditional ways of knowing the weather and lowers trust in supplementary technical forecasting tools

Farmer forecasts: Impacts of seasonal rainfall expectations on agricultural decision-making in Sub-Saharan Africa

Seasonal climate variability frequently undermines farm yields, reduces food availability, and lowers income. This is particularly evident among small-scale agricultural producers in both irrigated and non-irrigated agroecosystems in the Global South where maize cultivars constitute a critical component of food production. In these systems, farmers make climate-sensitive decisions that include the selection of late- and/or early-maturing seed varieties, the diversity of seed varieties sown, and when to plant. Farmers’ expectations of future rainfall would therefore seem to be critical determinants of agricultural outcomes and foreshadow climate impacts. However, few studies have quantified the linkages between on-farm decisions and farmer seasonal predictions. We report on detailed household and phone surveys of 501 smallholder farmers in central Kenya based on the 2018 growing seasons and expectations for the 2019 March-April-May growing season. We show that farmers’ expectations of the upcoming seasonal rainfall have important associations with selections of seed maturity varieties and the number of maturing varieties farmers expect to plant and less important associations with the seeds’ planting dates. Furthermore, we show that 79% of the farmers form an expectation of the future seasonal climate and about two-thirds of them formed expectations based on a heuristic that connects the past climate to future seasonal conditions. More problematically, one-third of the farmers formed their rainfall expectation based on the prior season, and we show that no such correlation exists in observational data nor is correlation of seasonal rainfall supported by current understanding of climate variability. These results highlight the challenges farmers face in anticipating seasonal rainfall, which has implications for crop diversification and choices to adopt drought tolerant cultivars. The results suggest that farmers’ expectations of upcoming seasonal climate are important measures of farm decision-making.</p